Daniel P. Gordon

Daniel Peter Gordon Jr. (April 12, 1969 – March 25, 2017) was an American politician and construction contractor. Gordon was a Libertarian member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives. Gordon was elected as a Republican Representative in November 2010 for the 71st District, defeating Democratic candidate George S. Alzaibak.

In September 2011 he was expelled from the Republican caucus for allegedly making derogatory comments about other Republicans online. Gordon changed his party affiliation from Republican to Libertarian, becoming the only Libertarian Party member in any United States legislature during that time.

Background Gordon was born in Bristol, Pennsylvania. He served in the United States Marine Corps.

Controversies In March 2011, he received media attention over a controversial comment on an online article reporting that Tiverton High School started the school's first Gay-Straight Alliance. His comment read "And this is why if I have anything to say about it, Tiverton will lose school funding to local charter schools. It doesn't matter if gay or straight, if sexual meet-up groups are being promoted in our schools rather than improving test scores, that school is failing. Is it really more important for our children to get 'sexed-up', than learning advanced math?".

On September 16, 2011, Gordon was arrested on a Massachusetts warrant for failure to appear in court.

2012 Election Gordon ran for re-election in the November 6, 2012 election as a Libertarian, but failed to get enough signatures to get on the ballot. He ran as a write-in candidate, but lost the election to Democrat Dennis Canario by a wide margin, thus leaving no Libertarians in any state legislature in the country.

Death Gordon died on March 25, 2017.