Date:         Fri, 16 Sep 1994 11:41:18 EDT
From: VictoryF@aol.com
Subject:      VF Cands Win Primaries

News
Release

                  Three More Openly Gay Candidates Win
                            Big in Primaries

              Fourteen Victory Fund Candidates Advance to
                           General Elections

WASHINGTON, DC - 14 September 1994 - Three more openly gay and lesbian
candidates won their September 13 primaries, bringing the total number of
Victory Fund candidates in the November 8 elections to a record high of
fourteen, according to Victory Fund Deputy Director Kathleen DeBold.

      With all but the absentee ballots tallied, Karen Burstein appears to
have beaten her three tough opponents in the Democratic primary for New York
State Attorney General.  The tally now stands at Burstein 31
percent/incumbent Attorney General Oliver Koppell 29 percent, with Burstein's
two point lead running pretty much across the board at all polling places.


     Will Fitzpatrick won the Democratic primary for Rhode Island State
Senate with 55 percent to his closest opponent's 39 percent.  Incumbent
Fitzpatrick was gay-baited in the three-way race by both his "moderate"
challenger and a right-to-life candidate who garnered only 6 percent of the
vote.  Unless a write-in candidate appears, Fitzpatrick will be unopposed in
the general.

     Phoenix businessman Ken Cheuvront won the Democratic primary for Arizona
State House of Representatives with 44 percent of the vote to his nearest
opponent's 36 percent.  Ken and the second-place Democrat will face the two
top Republican vote-getters in the November 8 general election for the two
available House seats.
     Burstein, Fitzpatrick and Cheuvront join the Victory Fund's other
primary winners in advancing to the November 8 general elections.  The 14
Victory Fund recommended candidates running in this year's general election
are:

- Tom Ammiano for San Francisco Board of Supervisors
- Derek Belt for Massachusetts House of Representatives
- Karen Burstein for New York State Attorney General
- Chuck Carpenter for Oregon House of Representatives
- Ken Cheuvront for Arizona House of Representatives
- Bonnie Dumanis for San Diego Municipal Court
- George Eighmey for Oregon House of Representatives
- Will Fitzpatrick for Rhode Island State Senate
- Sheila Kuehl for California State Assembly
- Susan Leal for San Francisco Board of Supervisors
- Tony Miller for California Secretary of State
- Teri Schwartz for Los Angeles Superior Court
- Cynthia Wooten for Oregon House of Representatives
- Tim Van Zandt for Missouri House of Representatives

     "These outstanding results are a tribute to the dedication of our
members and the quality of our candidates," DeBold said.  "Our entire
community wins when qualified openly gay candidates have the resources they
need to run competitive races."  Members of the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund
contributed more than $350,000 directly to the campaigns of openly lesbian
and gay candidates in 1994 races, easily surpassing their 1993 record of
$202,883.  Two Victory Fund candidates, Cal Anderson for Washington State
Senate and Don Moreland for Washington State House of Representatives have
September 20 primaries.


For more information please contact Kathleen DeBold at (202) VICTORY, via
  e-mail at VICTORYF@AOL.COM, or by mail at
1012 14th Street NW, Suite 707, Washington, D.C. 20005.