From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 08 Jun 94 17:29:35 EDT

Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund
1012 14th Street NW  Suite 707
Washington DC  20005
phone: 202/842-8679
fax: 202/289/3863
email: [email-masked]

---NEWS RELEASE---

Victory Fund Candidates Win Three in California Primary

               WASHINGTON, D.C.    8 June 1994     The Victory
Fund's California candidates Tony Miller for Secretary of State,
Sheila Kuehl for State Assembly and Bonnie Dumanis for San
Diego Municipal Court all won their primaries by large margins,
according to Kathleen DeBold, Political Services Coordinator at the
Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, a national donor network
committed to electing openly gay and lesbian candidates to public
office.  All three candidates were recommended by the Victory
Fund, which provides financial and technical and support to it's
recommended candidates.

     With his resounding win in California's Democratic primary,
Secretary of State candidate Tony Miller moved one step closer to
becoming the nation's highest-ranking openly gay elected official. 
Miller's captured 38% of the vote to beat out former Los Angeles
mayoral candidate Michael Woo (32%) and long-term State
Assemblymember Gwen Moore (30%) in one of the most closely
watched races in California's history.  "Secretary of State is one of
California's most important state constitutional offices," notes
political activist and Victory Fund Board Member David Mixner. 
"Given the radical right's current use of the ballot initiative process
to promote narrow and  discriminatory agendas it is especially
important to have someone like Tony Miller there who has the
power, the expertise and the motivation to protect the rights of
lesbian and gay citizens."  Miller will face unopposed Republican 
Bill Jones in the November 8 general election.  

     In a major landslide victory, 41st Assembly District
candidate Sheila Kuehl won the Democratic primary with 46% of
the vote; runner-up Eddie Tabash received only 15.5%.  Kuehl, a
former actress who played the irrepressible Zelda Gilroy on "The
Dobie Gillis Show," is a nationally known civil rights attorney and
law professor who has helped draft over 40 pieces of landmark 
California legislation.  Mixner credits Kuehl's victory to "her
impeccable qualifications, unmatched knowledge of the issues
facing her District and outstanding skills as a coalition builder."  If
Kuehl beats Republican nominee Michael Mehan in the November
8 general, she will become the first openly gay or lesbian member
of the California State Assembly. 

     The Victory Fund's third winner, San Diego Municipal Court
candidate Bonnie Dumanis, is a Judicial Court Referee and former
county prosecutor with almost 18 years of legal experience.  She
came in an easy first in the primary with 32% of the vote to
runner-up Anthony Brandenberg's 18%, a difference of 20,000
votes.  Dumanis and Brandenberg will compete in a run-off on
November 8.

     "These victories are a milestone for the lesbian and gay
community," says Mixner.  "The voters have made it clear that
they want to elect the most qualified candidates regardless of
sexual orientation."

[For more information about these races, please contact Kathleen DeBold at
(202) 842-8679 or [email-masked]]