The Iowa Republican Party on Wednesday issued a statement in support of voters removing state Supreme Court Justice David Wiggins, one of seven judges whose unanimous 2009 ruling brought gay marriage to the Midwest.

According to the Pioneer Press, state party chairman A.J. Spiker, speaking on behalf of the party, criticized the ruling as being based on “the whims of unelected activist judges attempting to impose their personal views on the public.”

Wiggins faces a nonpartisan retention vote in the fall. In 2010, social conservatives, angry over the gay marriage decision, axed three judges from the bench. The remaining three justices are up for retention votes in 2016.

Iowa Democratic Party Chairwoman Sue Dvorsky criticized the GOP's move, warning that a campaign to oust Wiggins would likely be financed by out-of-state special interest groups.

“We are very concerned about the risks these out-of-state special interest groups are bringing to our state, and we will not sit quietly as they crusade to eliminate an independent judiciary and taint the entire democratic system,” she told the paper.