Let the gay marriage political backlash begin.
Roy McDonald and Shirley Huntley, two incumbent state senators who voted to redefine marriage in New York, have been soundly defeated.
What’s more, Neil DiCarlo, a National Organization for Marriage (NOM)-backed challenger to Stephen Saland, was locked in a razor-close battle and expects to defeat the incumbent when final absentee votes are counted.
“Marriage was redefined in New York because of six turncoat senators, and we vowed we would not rest until they were removed from office,” says Brian Brown, NOM’s president. “We’ve now taken out four of the six who betrayed marriage, and we’re going to finish the job with the remaining two.”
Sen. James Alesi was driven from his re-election race by NOM’s pledge to defeat him. Sen. Carl Kruger was forced to resign, and NOM helped elect pro-marriage Republican David Storobin to replace him.
McDonald was defeated in the Republican primary by pro-marriage candidate Kathy Marchione. NOM was a major supporter of Marchione, sending two district-wide mailers and launching thousands of telephone calls. And Huntley was defeated in the Democratic primary by pro-marriage candidate James Sanders. NOM also sent two mailers and thousands of telephone calls opposing Huntley.
“When marriage was redefined, Andrew Cuomo and his billionaire friends like Paul Singer and Michael Bloomberg said they’d protect anyone who voted against marriage from political harm. Now look at the political carnage they have wrought,” says Brown.
“The people of New York have sent a clear and unequivocal message—they will not tolerate politicians, Democrat or Republican, who redefine marriage. It’s laughable when groups like the Human Rights Campaign say that nobody has ever lost a race for supporting same-sex marriage. The landscape is littered with the failed political careers of such politicians, including now these four (soon to be six) incumbents in New York.”
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