NEW YORK — Two-term Republican U.S. Rep. Chris Gibson has turned back a well-financed challenge from openly gay Democrat Sean Eldridge to keep his House seat in a sprawling upstate New York district.
Gibson is a retired Army colonel with four combat tours in Iraq.
Eldridge is married to Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes and pumped $1.84 million of his own money into his first race for Congress.
In addition, Eldridge’s venture capital firm made investments in businesses across the district he moved to last year.
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Eldridge was derided by Republicans as a rich dilettante. He argued he had the independence to reject special interests. He portrayed Gibson as too conservative for New York’s 19th District.
Eldridge worked for the successful push for same-sex marriage in New York in 2011 and has advocated for campaign finance reform.
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