Rare enough but even more so in North Carolina
Jim Neal, the Democratic dark horse challenging North Carolina Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole, has disclosed he is gay — making him one of the nation’s few openly homosexual candidates for a statewide office.
Neal, 50, a Chapel Hill investment banker, discussed his sexual orientation during an online interview with a liberal blog, NCBlue over the weekend. He said his family, friends and business associates already know.
“It’s no secret,” Neal said in an interview Monday. “Why would you not talk about the color of your eyes?”
Neal’s quest is unusual: He is seeking to become the second openly gay Senate nominee of a major political party in American history. The first was Ed Flanagan, who was the unsuccessful Democratic Senate nominee in Vermont in 2000, losing to then-Republican Jim Jeffords.
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