Connecticut GOP Senate candidate Linda McMahon has lost the endorsement of one of the state’s leading social conservatives after she reversed her position to support the repeal of the federal same-sex marriage law.
Peter Wolfgang, executive director of the Family Institute of Connecticut, said that his Sept. 18 endorsement is "no longer accurate," the
Hartford Courant reports. He supported McMahon after she announced her backing of the federal Defense of Marriage Act.
McMahon reversed her position, saying she supported repeal of the law — defining marriage as between a man and a woman — after a debate on Sunday with Democratic incumbent Sen. Chris Murphy.
"I'm still voting for Linda because her victory could mean the end of Roe v. Wade,” Wolfgang said on Monday on his personal Facebook page, the Courant reports. “But because Linda McMahon flip-flopped and now supports a repeal of DOMA — the one federal law that stops Connecticut's judicially imposed re-definition of marriage from being imposed on the rest of the nation — my September 18th endorsement of her is no longer accurate."
After the debate, McMahon said: "I have changed my position on DOMA because, with ... gay marriage approved in the state of Connecticut, I just . . . don't think it's fair . . . so I would vote to repeal DOMA.”
She added that her position on gay rights has “just been evolving,” the Courant reports.
The McMahon campaign said it intends to discuss the issue with Wolfgang on Tuesday.