Sanders fundraised for congressional candidates running against gay men. Does that matter?

Bernie Sanders recently sent out an email urging supporters to donate to three congressional candidates who have endorsed his presidential campaign: Lucy Flores (running for Nevada’s 4th District), Pramila Jaypal (Washington’s 7th) and Zephyr Teachout (New York’s 19th). The email represents Sanders’s first effort to fundraise for down-ballot races, and came amid criticism that he had not yet done so.

However, as the Washington Blade pointed out yesterday, two of the candidates Sanders raised money for are running against three openly gay candidates in their respective primaries. Teachout will face off on Tuesday against Will Yandik, who is described by the Blade as “an openly gay farmer and Livingston deputy town supervisor who recently had a child with his same-sex spouse.” Jaypal is running against two openly gay candidates: Joe McDermott and Brady Walkinshaw, a former and current member of the Washington legislature, respectively.

According to the Blade, “Both McDermott and Walkinshaw told the Washington Blade they objected to Sanders’ endorsements of their opponents at a time LGBT people aren’t proportionately represented in Congress.” Roughly one percent of the House and Senate are openly gay, lesbian or bisexual, compared to 3.5 percent of the US population.

McDermott went on to argue that it was improper for presidential candidates or other out-of-state politicians to make endorsements in the race at all, arguing that the debate over who should represent Washington’s 7th should be a debate held by citizens of that district.