Congressional candidate Grethe Cammermeyer won Tuesday's Democratic primary for Washington's 2nd District seat by a margin of more than 2 to 1.

A retired Army colonel who served as chief nurse of the state National Guard, Cammermeyer will face Republican incumbent Jack Metcalf in this swing district. Swept into office in the GOP tidal wave of 1994, Metcalf fared poorly for an incumbent, garnering less than 49% of the vote in yesterday's Republican primary.

"The District's history and Tuesday's primary results clearly show that Metcalf is vulnerable and Grethe Cammermeyer has the qualifications, courage and character to win this race," says Victory Fund Deputy Director Kathleen DeBold.

This historic win makes Cammermeyer the third openly lesbian Congressional candidate to advance to this year's November 3 general elections, following in the footsteps of San Diego City Councilwoman Christine Kehoe, who won the Democratic nomination for California's 49th District seat in June, and Wisconsin State Assemblywoman Tammy Baldwin, who won last week's Democratic primary for Wisconsin's open 2nd District seat.

Incumbent openly gay Congressmen Barney Frank [D-MA] and Jim Kolbe [R-AZ] also won their primary elections this month. "The unprecedented number of openly gay Congressional candidates is a tribute to the quality of these candidates and to their ability to build strong coalitions of fairminded voters," said DeBold.

"In an election year where religious political extremists have turned political gay-bashing into an art form," she continued, "the American people are sending a clear message that they are much more concerned with a candidate's qualifications than with his or her sexual orientation."

Because Representatives Frank and Kolbe came out while already serving in Congress, Baldwin, Kehoe and Cammermeyer are poised to become the first openly gay non-incumbents to win election to the U.S. Congress.