Brian Brown, the president of the
National Organization for Marriage (NOM), on Tuesday predicted
election defeats for Senators Rob Portman of Ohio and Mark Kirk of
Illinois over their support for gay marriage.
During an appearance on the Janet
Mefferd Show, Brown told radio host Janet Mefferd that
embracing marriage equality “would be the death knell for the
Republican Party.”
“Right now the Democratic Party has
changed its platform, has wholeheartedly embraced the redefinition of
marriage. … We need to be encouraging Republican lawmakers to be
speaking out more on the importance of marriage, not attempting to
imitate the Democratic Party in embracing the redefinition of
marriage.”
Brown said that Portman and Kirk might
decide to retire from the Senate in 2016 to avoid facing Republican
voters in a primary.
“They need to be primaried, period.
I think that folks in Ohio, if Rob Portman decides to run again, he
will be primaried. He may not run again because there's been such a
backlash in his state, and I think the same is true of Mark Kirk,”
said
Brown.
According to a recent survey, Portman's
approval rating among Ohioans dipped slightly from 44 percent to 40
percent after he announced his support for marriage equality.
However, disapproval among Republicans increased 13 points and 41
percent said they view Portman less favorably because of his reversal
on the issue.
(Related: Rob
Portman loses GOP support over gay marriage endorsement.)