There are 55 members of the Senate Democratic caucus, and of this morning, 47 of them have now publicly declared their support for marriage equality. The latest is Pennsylvania's Bob Casey.
Sen. Bob Casey told The Morning Call on Monday he now supports same-sex marriage. [...]In a statement Casey said he wrote over several days, the senator asks, "If two people of the same sex fall in love and want to marry, why would our government stand in their way? At a time when many Americans lament a lack of commitment in our society between married men and women, why would we want less commitment and fewer strong marriages?"
As we talked about last week, with each similar announcement, the pressure rises on the remaining eight Senate Democrats who have not yet endorsed marriage equality: Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Bill Nelson of Florida, Tom Carper of Delaware, Tim Johnson of South Dakota, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, and Joe Donnelly of Indiana.
Of those nine, Tom Carper is the only Democrat from a reliably "blue" state who remains on the fence.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the aisle, the news is less encouraging.
My colleague Cory Gnazzo flags this item out of Arizona, where Republican Rep. Matt Salmon refuses to reevaluate his position, despite his own family.
In a recent interview with 3TV, Salmon said that while he has a son who is gay, he's not a supporter of same-sex marriage."I'm just not there in believing in my heart," said Salmon, adding, "My son is one of the most important people in my life. I love him more than I can say."
When a political ideology directs lawmakers to support discrimination against their own kids, it demonstrates a real commitment to a particular worldview.