In his tenure as US ambassador in Denmark under the Obama government, the easy-going and charming Rufus Gifford endeared himself to the Danes as few ambassadors have done before.
As well as marrying his partner at Copenhagen’s Town Hall, Gifford even had his own TV show, ‘I am the Ambassador’, which was later picked up by Netflix as a two-season documentary series.
In the bosom of the family
Gifford has now thrown his hat into the ring to run for Congress in the Massachusetts Third Congressional District.
He is nothing if not a ‘local boy’. His family grew up in the neighbourhood, he has just moved into a new home in Concord with his husband Stephen DeVincent, and a number of his relatives live close by.
If his popularity in Denmark is anything to go by, who knows where his political career might carry him?