Speaker John Boehner is poised to hit the California campaign trail for openly gay Republican legislative hopeful Carl DeMaio, over the objections of several conservative groups.
Mr. Boehner’s trip is part of the GOP’s tries to expand the Republican voter base in normally Democratic territories, The Hill reported. But groups like Family Research Council and National Organization for Marriage said conservatives backing Mr. DeMaio, or gay Massachusetts Republican Richard Tisei, are wrong, The Hill reported.
“Carl DeMaio, Richard Tisei and [Oregon’s] Monica Wehby are antithetical to the Republican platform,” the conservative groups wrote in a letter to Mr. Boeher, to the National Republican Congressional Committee’s chairman, Greg Walden, and to Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, The Hill reported. “Mr. DeMaio supports and aggressively advocates for the redefinition of marriage, and welcomed the judicial activism of the federal courts which stripped the people of California of their votes in support of maintaining marriage as the union of one man and one woman.”
But conservative leadership is standing strong in the camp of gay rights.
“Our decisions on the Republican nominees we support will not be based on race, gender or sexual orientation, but will be based on the strength of their candidacy and their ability to defeat Democrats,” NRCC spokesman Ian Prior said, in The Hill.
Mr. Boehner called for the Republican Party last December to reach out to gays, women and minorities for the upcoming elections. He’s donated $14,000 to both Mr. DeMaio and Mr. Tisei this cycle, via his various fundraising committees, The Hill said.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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