Melvin Nimer, the President of the Utah Log Cabin Republicans and board member of the Utah Pride Center has been chosen by the Utah Republican Party to run against gay-friendly Mormon Democrat Ben McAdams in a state senate race there after McAdams' original opponent, Nancy Davis, failed to rile the appropriate paperwork on time.
"Mel has built a reputation as a hard-core conservative in this state, but also as someone who has tried to build bridges with current elected Republicans like Governor Herbert and slowly persuade them to support LGBT rights. 'The Party called me at 10am this morning,' says Nimer, 'after accepting their nomination I had to have all my paperwork submitted by early this afternoon to make it official.' So why Mel? Why would the Utah Republicans nominate a gay man? 'Well I think it's precisely because I'm gay,' said Nimer, 'we've made a lot of inroads over the years with the party and helped them get many important people elected and this may be the Party's way of slowly moving [onto the side of equality].'"
ABC4 reports: "Choosing Nimer could help Republicans' chances against Democratic State Sen. Ben McAdams. The person who previously held McAdams' seat was the only openly gay member of the Senate, although Scott McCoy was also a Democrat."
