The Associated Press published an article today profiling Victory endorsee Jared Polis, who will likely become the third openly gay person in the U.S. House of Representatives after the Nov. 4 general election. According to the article, which also mentioned key races like those of Polis’ fellow Victory Fund endorsees Kate Brown and Kevin Lee, Polis’ win could send an encouraging message to LGBT youth nationwide.

The article reads:

“Sexual orientation has been a non-issue in our district. …If any of my opponents tried to raise it, it would backfire,” Polis said in a telephone interview.

“Outside the district, it has taken on a larger significance,” he added. “Young gays and lesbians who might want to run for office look to examples and role models.”

Polis is one of a record 100 gay, lesbian and bisexual candidates for federal, state and local offices winning endorsements this year from the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, a national group founded in 1991 to increase the number of openly gay elected officials. The number has risen — steadily but slowly — to more than 420 out of the nation’s roughly 500,000 elected officials.

“We don’t have to accept sitting on the sidelines and hoping others will do the heavy lifting,” said the Victory Fund’s president, Chuck Wolfe. “We can roll up our sleeves and do it ourselves.”

While Polis, Frank and Baldwin are all heavy favorites, another congressional candidate endorsed by the Victory Fund, Democrat Linda Ketner, is an underdog in her race in South Carolina’s 1st District, which includes Charleston and other coastal communities.

Ketner, 58, whose father founded the Food Lion grocery store chain, has been a major financial supporter and organizer of several gay-rights campaigns, including a failed attempt to defeat a ban-gay-marriage ballot measure in 2006.

However, neither Ketner nor her opponent, four-term Republican incumbent Henry Brown, has raised her sexual orientation as an election issue, and Ketner’s campaign has turned down requests for interviews that would highlight the topic.

“She happens to be gay — she’s not a gay candidate,” said Tony Snell of the South Carolina Gay and Lesbian Pride Movement.