Sean Eldridge, a gay rights activist and husband of Facebook
co-founder Chris Hughes, announced Sunday that he's running for
Congress.
“I'm excited to announce that I'm running to represent New
York's 19th District in Congress,” Eldridge tweeted.
“I have been very blessed in my life. I'm proud to live in the
greatest state in the greatest country on Earth. I'm running for
Congress because I know we can do better,” Eldridge said in a
nearly 3-minute video announcing his campaign. (The video is
embedded on this page. Visit
our video library for more videos.)
New York's 19th District, which sits north of New York
City, is currently held by two-term Republican Chris Gibson.
Gibson handily beat his 2012 Democratic challenger, Ulster County
Democratic Party chairman Julian Schreibman. Gibson's campaign was
endorsed by all the major papers in the district and he won with 53
percent of the vote. President Barack Obama won the district in 2012
with 52 percent of the vote.
Eldridge was heavily involved in Obama's first presidential
campaign. In 2010, he joined Freedom to Marry, the nation's largest
non-profit working solely on expanding marriage rights for gay and
lesbian couples. He currently serves as the group's senior advisor.
Eldridge is the president of Hudson River Ventures, an investment
fund focused on the Hudson Valley.
If elected to Congress, Eldridge could help increase the number of
openly LGBT House members, of which there are currently 6.
(Related: Facebook's
Chris Hughes, Sean Eldridge marry in New York.)