U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan declares her support for gay marriage; others follow suit

[CoolBlue71]

U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan declares her support
for gay marriage

By Rob Christensen | March 27, 2013
http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/03/27/2783263/us-sen-kay-hagan-declares-her.html

Sen. Kay Hagan said Wednesday that she supported the right of gay people to marry, saying “we should not tell people who they can love or who they can marry.”Hagan, one of the few Democratic senators who had not previously come out in support of gay marriage, announced her support as the U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments on a U.S. law that denies federal benefits to married same-sex couples.

I post this article because, with more and more movement in support from elected members of both houses of Congress (the U.S. Senate seems to get more attention) as well as from former elected leaders and some in the beltway (David Frum, at The Daily Beast, is on board), Kay Hagan coming on board to support marriage equality is important.

The Democrat from North Carolina is up for re-election next year. But N.C. is a state trending away from the Republicans and toward competitive (that is, in how many points more red or more blue is a given state; at the presidential level, N.C. is no longer advantageous for the GOP as other states from the Old Confrederacy like ex-bellwether Tennessee). Sorry if that seems that I'm interpreting this based on electability reasons, which would be cynical, but it is not avoidable. (I think Susan Collins, up for re-election next year in Maine, will become the second Republican to join in. Collins may be more at risk, frankly, if she doesn't sign on.)

So, it's good that U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) is joining in … and every member of the party should be on board. The article notes that nine are still left (without having declared support): Arkansas's Mark Pryor; Delaware's Tom Carper; Florida's Bill Nelson; Indiana's Joe Donnelly; Louisiana's Mary Landrieu; North Dakota's Heidi Heitkamp; Pennsylvania's Bob Casey; South Dakota's Tim Johnson; and West Virginia's Joe Manchin.

 

[CoolBlue71]

Re: U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan declares her support for gay marriage

JockBoy87,

Are you a moderator?

 

[CoolBlue71]

Re: U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan declares her support for gay marriage

Am I wrong?

If you were to post about every politician who came out for marriage equality in the last month it would take up the entire first page of CEP.

Yes.

I will add this: If there is a forum member who would like to create a thread (baring the specific topic name) which tracks elected or former politicians (or other figures) coming out in support of marriage equality, it can be someone other than me.

 

[CoolBlue71]

Re: U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan declares her support for gay marriage

Actually, I DO THINK this deserves its own thread. Having a democrat endorsing gay marriage from a traditionally conservative state does deserve its own thread. This shows North Carolina is shifting. And it is indeed. In 2008, Obama managed to get the state, but only narrowly lost it in 2012. The urban centers are moving more towards democrats. It's very much the same story as Virginia, which has shifted towards the democrats.

Election margins for President Barack Obama were as follows:

2008 President: D+7.26 (pickup) | 365 electoral votes
2008 North Carolina: D+0.33 (pickup)

2012 President: D+3.84 (hold) | 332 electoral votes
2012 North Carolina: R+2.04 (pickup)​

Had the 44th president been re-elected with an increased national margin and likewise electoral-vote score, which has been applicable to all two-term-elected presidents except Woodrow Wilson (1912, 1916) and Barack Obama (2008, 2012), he would have carried with re-election the state of North Carolina.

This is a politically critical state. Not quite the level of Virginia, the No. 1 best state (statewide margin vs. national margin), over the last two elections. Ditto that N.C. isn't on par with Colorado. But it's trending. It's trending away from being Core Republican to becoming more routinely Competitive. If Hillary Clinton does end up winning the Democratic nominee in 2016… Or if a different Democratic candidate wins the party nod in 2016… And it turns out that Democratic candidate performs better, and wins for the party a third straight victory and does so even better than the 2012 re-elected Obama, well N.C. will be a part of that map.

So Kay Hagan, facing re-election next year, has taken a political risk. (In terms of how today's Democratic party operates with their ConservaDems, she has taken a political risk.) But, with this move it can also be a benefit to those residing in the Tar Heel State who will remember that she did that. Rather than her not move support for the LGBT, and their Bill of Rights, this can result in a better re-election outcome than some may otherwise anticipate. (Normally the midterms are won by the party opposite a sitting president. But 2002 was more favorable not to the Democrats but the Republicans, who won back majority control of the Senate. Four years earlier, the 1998 Republicans were so dismal in their midterms that their performance resulted in Newt Gingrich resigning his post as speaker of the House.)

 

[Ninja108]

Re: U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan declares her support for gay marriage

Kay Hagan is indeed taking a risk here,so she deserves kudos for it even though she was late to the party.

 

[CoolBlue71]

Re: U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan declares her support for gay marriage

Kay Hagan is indeed taking a risk here,so she deserves kudos for it even though she was late to the party.

What is taking so long for Tom Carper of Delaware?

Is he considering his state a part of the south?


Bob Casey, the pro-life Democrat of Pennsylvania (which, in the Keystone State, which is blue, is so insulting!), should already be on board.


I think, of the remaining nine Senate Democrats, the following will come through in this order:

1. Tom Carper (D-Delaware)
2. Bill Nelson (D-Florida)
3. Bob Casey (D-Pennsylvania)
4. Joe Donnelly (D-Indiana)
5. Tim Johnson (D-South Dakota)
6. Mary Landrieu (D-Louisiana)
7. Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia)
8. Heidi Heitkamp (D-North Dakota)
9. Mark Pryor (D-Arkansas)​

 

[Ninja108]

Re: U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan declares her support for gay marriage

Jon Tester is the senator who should have his own thread. Said it elsewhere and I'll say it here,Rob Portman is not the only senator with a gay son,Tester is as well.
And he couldn't come out for full marriage equality until this week. Tester was NOT happy with Obama talking about gay marriage before the election,for fear it could cost him the election.
Don't get me wrong,I know there are a couple of different factors that differ him from Portman but the fact remains Tester hasn't done much to get rid of the gay marriage ban in the state he represents either.
As for the other senators,Mary Landrieu and Mark Pryor aren't going to say anything,period.

 

[mbamike]

Re: U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan declares her support for gay marriage

Someone should as Senator Lindsey Graham about his true feeling on the subject. That guy needs to come out and be counted!

 

[Ninja108]

Re: U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan declares her support for gay marriage

Btw,today in NOrth Carolina the Hispanic Outreach center created by a Democratic governer was shut down today. Keep that outreach going GOP!

 

[CoolBlue71]

Re: U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan declares her support for gay marriage

Btw,today in NOrth Carolina the Hispanic Outreach center created by a Democratic governer was shut down today. Keep that outreach going GOP!

That was mentioned on Rachel Maddow's program.

It doesn't surprise me.

 

[CoolBlue71]

Re: U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan declares her support for gay marriage

Alaska's Lisa Murkowsi could be the next Senate Republican supportive of marriage equality.

@ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/29/democrats-gay-marriage_n_2978046.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

@ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...sa-murkowskis-views-on-gay-marriage-evolving/

 

[scream4ever]

Re: U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan declares her support for gay marriage

I'm amazed she may beat Susan Collins to the punch. She's supported every other gay rights issue and now represents a state with marriage equality.

 

[Ninja108]

Re: U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan declares her support for gay marriage

Keep in mind even if she hints that she's coming around to the idea of same sex marriage,she's doing so in a deep red state.

 

[Ninja108]

Re: U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan declares her support for gay marriage

If DOMA is struck down,I expect the nine states that offer civil unions to see lawsuits filed. That's what it's so stupid for Prop 8 to be kicked down the road even though it looks like that is what is gonna happen.
The bigots on the court know gay marriage is coming but they will due their best to make sure it doesn't happen in their lifetime.

 

[CoolBlue71]

Re: U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan declares her support for gay marriage

It's a completely faulty comparison. California already had domestic partnerships. California is not like Alaska at all. i am not calling Alaska similar to Texas or Mississippi... but I don't get all these comments about this so called "libertarian" bent.

Oh and Prop 8 only passed by a narrow margin. And California is much closer to having marriage equality than Alaska. I give Alaska... perhaps 3-4 years.

Use my home state of Michigan as an example.

In the Democratic presidential primaries of 2004, only Al Sharpton showed up right around voting day. Word was that John Kerry would win the state and good Democrats needed to make it official.

In the general election, I wonder how many of those saying to get behind Kerry, because it was necessary to unseat President George W. Bush, voted against the LGBT and voted "yes" for a state constitutional amendment defining marriage as "between one man and one woman."

John Kerry carried the state by close to 3.50%. That election-ballot proposal passed with a margin of about 20%. That couldn't have been done with 100 percent of Bush-supporters voting on that proposal.

We cannot go back in time.

So, I'd rather not get caught up in that.

Alaska's Lisa Murkowski potentially becoming the second Senate Republican, after Ohio's Rob Portman, to get on board for marriage equality is great. Maine's Susan Collins was my prediction for No. 2. My guess is that she may be having an internal poll conducted, so the numbers can be run, in order to determine whether she should also "come out."

 

[scream4ever]

Re: U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan declares her support for gay marriage

I felt the same way until I read something recently that made sense to me: Maine has a much stronger Tea Party presence than one would assume. Their current governor Paul LePage is a Tea Party Republican. Collins is facing re-election in 2014, so she might well be terrified of a primary challenge. I'll be shocked if she doesn't come around on this by 2016, though. I doubt she wants to get left in the dust that much by the rest of her party's moderate wing.

I'm still fucking burnt up about Bob Casey in PA. What the hell is he waiting for!?

The Tea Party in Maine is on life support. They lost both chambers of the state legislature and Paul Lepage is one of the most unpopular governors in the country.

 

[CoolBlue71]

Re: U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan declares her support for gay marriage

When is [Maine Gov. Paul] LePage up for election? Someone needs to boot him out... that guy is a nutcase... I've read some of the things he said, especially about transgendered people... LePage is a psycho.

^ 2014.

According to Wikipedia.org, gubernatorial elections are scheduled for 2014 in the following states:

​

Color Code:
Light red: Term-limited Republican | Dark red: Incumbent Republican | Light blue: Term-limited or Retiring Democrat | Dark blue: Incumbent Democrat | Green: Incumbent Independent | Light Gray: no election

 

[Ninja108]

Re: U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan declares her support for gay marriage

Don't be shocked to see PA,MI,ME,and possibly WI be blue after that. They are very,very,VERY unpopular governers. Rick Snyder in MI is almost sure to be gone due to his anti-union bill.

 

[CoolBlue71]

Re: U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan declares her support for gay marriage

Pennsylvania's senior U.S. senator Bob Casey, who unseated Rick Santorum in the 2006 midterms elections wave (for the Democrats) and was re-elected for a second full term last November, is on board for marriage equality.


Bob Casey Backs Gay Marriage

By Sabrina Siddiqui
April 1, 2013 | http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/01/bob-casey-gay-marriage_n_2994199.html

Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) announced his support for gay marriage Monday, at last joining the growing number of Democrats to embrace marriage equality over the last week.

"After much deliberation and after reviewing the legal, public policy and civil-rights questions presented, I support marriage equality for same-sex couples and believe that DOMA should be repealed," Casey said in an exclusive statement to the Philadelphia Gay News.

"I began to focus on the issue of same-sex marriage much more intensely than I had before,” he added, reflecting on the Supreme Court's consideration of landmark gay marriage cases on California's Proposition 8 and the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

 

[Ninja108]

It's nice to see these Democratic senators on board but such a pity they had to wait to see which way the political wins blew before making this choice.
We've come a long way since 96 but while DOMA was a Republician made creation,many Democrats jumped on board too.
And Jockboy's point about PA is sadly noted. Republicians in PA or any state like it are NEVER going to drop the idea that gay marriage should be illigal,period.