Laura Ricketts, incoming chair of LPAC, lesbian SuperPAC, announces 2014 endorsements

Laura Ricketts, sister of GOP nominee for governor of Nebraska, Peter Ricketts, who "previously served as a member of the Democratic National Committee Finance Committee and chaired its LGBT leadership panel, will announce that the organization will take a stand against a Tennessee constitutional ballot initiative that LPAC says will repeal reproductive rights protections."
    Her announcement revealed a million-dollar fundraising goal for 2014, in addition to $1.2 million raised since LPAC's inception, in 2012. LPAC supported the election of the country’s first openly gay senator, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin.
(via JMG) 



Ricketts said she hopes that her group will be able to find GOP candidates to support:

“I would love it if we could endorse Republican candidates as well,” she said. “Our intention is to be bi-partisan,” backing candidates “who meet our values and goals,” which include ending discriminatory treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals and their families.

LPAC has three endorsement criteria:

Ending discriminatory treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals and their families, protecting access to reproductive freedom and quality healthcare, and advancing social, racial, and economic justice for all Americans.

     Ricketts, a co-owner of the Chicago Cubs, also is on the Democratic National Committeeʼs executive committee and the board of EMILY's List, dedicated to electing Democratic women to office.
     LPAC supports three men: Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn (D), who signed a bill legalizing same-sex marriage in November, Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes' spouse, Sean Eldridge, a congressional candidate, and openly gay gubernatorial candidate Rep. Michael Michaud (D-Maine).
     LPAC's slate:

• Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.);
• Congressional candidate Sean Eldridge (D-N.Y. 19th District);
• Congressional candidate Gwen Graham (D-Fla. 2nd District);
• Congressional candidate Amanda Renteria (D-Calif. 21st District);
• New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan (D);
• Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn (D);
• Gubernatorial candidate, state Sen. Wendy Davis (D-Texas);
• Gubernatorial candidate, Rep. Michael Michaud (D-Maine);
• Gubernatorial candidate, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley (D);
• Gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke (D-Wis.);
• Gubernatorial candidate, state Del. Heather Mizeur (D-Md.);
• Lieutenant Governor candidate, state Assemblywoman Lucy Flores (D-Nev.);
• Secretary of State candidate, state Sen. Nina Turner (D-Ohio);
• Attorney General candidate Maura Healey (D-Mass.)