Democrats Delay Senate Vote to Protect Gay Marriage as G.O.P. Balks
nytimes.comWASHINGTON — Senator Tammy Baldwin, Democrat of Wisconsin, said on Thursday that the Senate would postpone an expected vote on legislation to provide federal protections for same-sex marriage until after the midterm elections in November, amid dimming hopes of drawing enough Republican support to ensure its passage.
Leading proponents of the Respect for Marriage Act said that delaying action would increase their chance of getting the 10 Republican votes needed to push it through the evenly divided Senate, where 60 would be necessary to move it forward.
The decision to do so came as a relief to Republicans, the vast majority of whom oppose the measure and were worried that voting against it so close to the elections would alienate voters.
It spared Republican senators in difficult re-election races a fraught choice between casting a vote that would anger the party’s conservative base and one that would sour independent voters.
