Two Jewish candidates were elected to Congress for the first time.
One of them—Jared Polis, 33—has made history as the first openly gay non-incumbent male elected to Congress. He will represent Colorado’s heavily Democratic 2nd Congressional District, which includes Boulder and other Denver suburbs.
Polis is a multimillionaire Internet entrepreneur who founded the Internet site for his parents’ Blue Mountain Arts greeting card company and donated more than $5 million to his campaign. In the campaign, he emphasized his background as a champion of public education—he is a founder of two Colorado charter schools and a six-year member of the state Board of Education. He also supports a universal health-care system and a quick end to the war in Iraq.
Also elected to Congress on Tuesday was John Adler, a Democrat who won an open seat in Trenton, N.J., that had been held for 20 years by Republican Jim Saxton, who is retiring. Adler, a longtime state legislator, is Jewish.