By DAN TOMASELLO
WAKEFIELD — Sixth Congressional District candidate Richard Tisei has been targeted by a coalition of anti-gay groups who oppose his candidacy.
The Washington D.C.-based Family Research Council and the National Organization of Marriage, along with Colorado-based Citizen Link, sent a letter last week to House Speaker John Boehner, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republican leaders urging them to oppose Tisei’s candidacy because he is gay and supports gay marriage.
The groups also oppose the candidacy of Carl DeMaio, a San Diego councilman who is challenging Democratic Rep. Gary Peters in California’s 52nd Congressional District and Oregon U.S. Senate candidate Monica Wehby.
Tisei and DeMaio are the only gay candidates the GOP is fielding this election cycle. Wehby is a supporter of gay marriage.
According to an article published in Mother Jones, the three groups said Tisei, DeMaio and Wehby are “antithetical to the Republican platform.” The groups also told GOP leaders they would be launching a campaign to “urge voters to refuse to cast ballots for them” in the Nov. 4 midterm elections.
“We cannot in good conscience urge our members and fellow citizens to support candidates like DeMaio, Tisei or Wehby,” the letter reads. “They are wrong on critical, foundational issues of importance to the American people. Worse, as occupants of high office they will secure a platform in the media to advance their flawed ideology and serve as terrible role models for young people who will inevitably be encouraged to emulate them.”
While Tisei has yet to hear from the three groups attacking his candidacy, he expressed his disappointment that they have come out against his campaign.
“It’s unfortunate that national groups would target any candidate for this reason,” said Tisei.
In an interview with Mother Jones, Tisei said most people will oppose the outside groups’ tactics because support for marriage equality continues to grow.
“I think that the majority of people at this point look at organizations like that as going backward rather than forward,” Tisei told Mother Jones. “I think [DeMaio] and myself represent the threat that we’re people who will be able to move the debate forward and help change the Republican Party. That scares a lot of those groups that are in existence primarily to hold people back.”
Regional and national GOP groups have also come out against the three groups who oppose Tisei’s candidacy.
“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,” National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Ian Prior said in a statement to the State House News Service.
Boehner spokesman Cory Fritz told the State House News Service the House speaker supports Tisei’s second run for Congress.
“While they don’t agree on every issue, Richard Tisei and Speaker Boehner have a lot of respect for one another,” Fritz said.
Tisei said during a speech at the Northeast Republican Leadership Conference in Nashua, N.H. last March that the GOP needs to expand its platform and welcome more people into the party.
“The Republican Party must promote freedom in our personal lives and among other things, that means the freedom to marry the person that you love,” Tisei told attendees at the convention. “Throughout our history, our party has always led the way when it comes to freedom and expanding civil rights. Today, I see a party that is in danger of losing its own history and in turn, losing the country.”
