Presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg
In an email sent on the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, the LGBT Victory Fund announced it is endorsing Pete Buttigieg for president of the United States.
In its announcement, Sean Meloy, senior political director of Victory Fund, wrote:
I’m incredibly excited to announce — for the first time in Victory Fund’s 28-year history — we are endorsing a candidate for President of the United States! We’re standing with Mayor Pete Buttigieg, the first openly LGBTQ Democratic presidential candidate in American history.
The Victory Fund only supports LGBT candidates, and its endorsement was not meant to be divisive for those who are in the LGBT community but supporting other candidates.
“No matter which presidential candidate you support, this is an enormous moment for our community,” Meloy’s email explained. “We finally have a viable, openly LGBTQ candidate running in a major political party.”
In the latest quarterly filing of financial reports for presidential candidates, Buttegieg reported taking in $25 million, expected to be among the highest amounts of any of the 25 Democratic candidates. That total includes donations from 294,000 donors. Of those, 230,000 are new donors. In all, he has gotten donations from 400,000 people. That number is among the highest number of donors of any of the candidates.
Financial reports from all of the candidates are due by July 15. In the first quarter, Kamala Harris and Bernie Sanders led in fundraising with $12 million and $18 million respectively.
— David Taffet
