Voters in Rhode Island on Tuesday decided in favor of allowing Providence Mayor David Cicilline to join three openly gay House members.

Cicilline easily trounced his Republican rival John Loughlin in his bid to represent the people of Rhode Island's First Congressional District.

He now joins Democratic incumbents Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, Barney Frank of Massachusetts and Jared Polis of Colorado, all of whom kept their seats in Tuesday's election.

A fifth gay candidate, however, won't be joining the party.

Stephen P. Pougnet lost his bid to unseat California Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack, a Republican who recently voted to keep the military's ban on open gay service, known as “Don't Ask, Don't Tell.” If elected, Pougnet, the mayor of Palm Springs, would have become the first openly gay family man.

In July, the Young Republicans of Dane County claimed Baldwin should be eliminated from the race because her paperwork, which lists her campaign office as her address instead of her voting address, is invalid. Baldwin, however, overcame the objection, arguing that she has faced threats of violence in the past, and went on to trounce her opponent, businessman Chad Lee, with 62 percent of the vote.

In Massachusetts, Frank, 70, defeated Republican Sean Bielat, who had defended “Don't Ask, Don't Tell.”

“Men under the height of 5 feet, 2 inches can't serve – I don't see anybody protesting. Where are the people standing in front of the White House, the short guy standing in front of the White House? You don't see it,” the thirty-five-year-old candidate who enjoyed the endorsement of Tea Party favorite Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska, said.

Claiming victory, Frank blasted the rhetoric of many Republican candidates.

“The campaigns run by most Republicans were beneath the dignity of a democracy and I'm delighted that they were repudiated,” he said.

Colorado voters decided to return millionaire Polis to Washington, shunning his Republican rival, Stephen Bailey.