Two openly gay Republicans backed by
House Speaker John Boehner lost their House bids on Tuesday.
Voters in Massachusetts' Sixth
Congressional District picked first-time candidate Seth Mouton, an
Iraq war veteran, over Richard Tisei, who conceded defeat on Tuesday
night around 9:40 PM.
Tisei's loss is his second in two years
for the same seat. In 2012, Tisei lost by less than one percentage
point. This year, he trailed Mouton by nearly 14 percentage points.
The 52-year-old married Tisei is a real
estate agent who served in the Massachusetts Legislature for 26
years.
The race to represent the people of
California's 52nd Congressional District was much tighter,
with freshman Democratic Rep. Scott Peters narrowly edging out
Republican Carl DeMaio (51.25% to 48.75%). The race was so tight
that it wasn't called for Peters until Friday.
DeMaio, a former San Diego city
councilman, was handicapped by last-minute
accusations of sexual harassment by a former campaign staffer.
Todd Bosnich, who is gay, told CNN in
October that DeMaio had sexually harassed him during his time with
the campaign and that he was offered $50,000 by the campaign to sign
a non-disclosure agreement.
DeMaio denied the allegations, calling
them “absolutely untrue.”
A DeMaio spokesman said
at the time: “The individual making the claims was fired from
the campaign months ago for plagiarism. The individual only made
these false allegations after the San Diego Police Department started
investigating him as the suspect for the campaign office break-in.”
While open about his sexuality – in
campaign ads, he declared himself a “proud gay American” and was
shown holding hands with his boyfriend at San Diego's Gay Pride
Parade – DeMaio has faced criticism in the past over placing a low
priority on issues related to gay rights.