Sister Of Republican Candidate Heading Lesbian PAC To Further Gay Rights

For most of us, political disagreements among family are relegated to the Thanksgiving table and the occasional trying phone call.

But for the super rich, it’s all about where the checks go.

Laura Ricketts, co-owner of the Chicago Cubs (and the first openly gay woman owner of a major league baseball franchise), is the board chair of LPAC. That’s Lesbian Political Action Committee, naturally.

And as you’d expect, the list of candidates it’s backing is a who’s who of socially progressive would-be legislators including gubernatorial hopefuls Wendy Davis of Texas, Heather Mizeur of Maryland, Martha Coakley of Massachusetts and Pat Quinn from Illinois.

How about we take this to the next level?

Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.

Daily

Weekly

Promotions and Partner Emails

But Laura isn’t the only politically-minded member of her family. Her father is Joe Ricketts, founder of TD Ameritrade which is hellbent on “ending spending” by backing fiscally conservative candidates from both parties. And this week her brother Pete won the Republican nomination for governor of Nebraska.

So that’s gotta be fun.

She says the family loves each other, but she’s not expecting any familial financial support.

And even though LPAC’s current list of elected hopefuls skews exclusively Democrat, she’s not the left-wing liberal you might expect:

I would love it if we could endorse Republican candidates as well. Our intention is to be bi-partisan,” backing candidates “who meet our values and goals.”

Those values and goals are mainly to end discrimination of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. An issue Laura hopes moves to the center of the aisle.

She’s also looking out specifically for her sisters in politics:

“My hope is that we will inspire more lesbians to get politically engaged. For too long, lesbian women have been left out of politics. Our goal is to give lesbians a real and meaningful voice in politics and then to influence the political landscape.”

In the age of insane contributions flooding the political landscape, it’s nice to know there are people like Ricketts in the game.

H/t: Washington Post