NC House Republicans united against same-sex marriage recognition, but Tillis is wild card

North Carolina’s Republican members of the U.S. House all opposed recognizing same-sex marriages at the federal level on Tuesday, but one of the state’s Republican senators is a wild card for the next vote.

All five House Democrats from North Carolina voted in favor of the Respect for Marriage Act, while all eight of the state’s House Republicans voted against it. The bill passed the House with a 267-157 vote: All Democrats and 47 Republicans supported sending the bill to the Senate.

The bill repeals the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which prevented the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages and granting all the rights that come with them. It also codifies that states legally recognize interracial and same-sex marriages from other states. This follows a push by many Democrats to enact a slew of protections following Dobbs v. Jackson, the Supreme Court ruling which overturned Roe v. Wade’s protections for abortion.

In North Carolina, opponents included Ted Budd, the GOP’s candidate for U.S. Senate, who is on the ballot in the state’s general election on Nov. 8.

Budd’s Democratic opponent, Cheri Beasley, threw her support behind the bill and denounced Budd’s vote on Twitter. “Ted Budd just voted against protecting our constitutional freedoms. Again. This time, he voted against legislation to protect same-sex and interracial marriage,” she wrote.

“With our rights at risk, we owe it to families to defend their right to marry the person they love. Love is love.” Beasley also called out his support of abortion bans via an email blast to the press.

Beasley is a former chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, while Budd has represented North Carolina’s 13th Congressional District since January 2017.

Budd’s office and campaign did not respond to emails from The News & Observer about his vote.

It is unclear if the U.S. Senate will pass the bill, and whether it will ultimately be enacted into law. Democrats hold a majority in both chambers but would need some Republican support for the bill to advance in the Senate. Some lawmakers told CNN they expect some Republicans to vote in favor.

Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, told reporters Wednesday he “probably will” vote in favor of the bill, CNN reported.

That would be a sharp turnaround for Tillis, who led North Carolina’s House in 2012 when a same-sex marriage amendment was passed. That bill, ratified by voters but later overturned, banned same-sex marriage in the state constitution.

Tillis’s office did not provide a comment following a call and email from The N&O about his position.

Concerns for rights have been front and center following conservative Justice Clarence Thomas’s concurring opinion in the abortion case that the court “should reconsider” past precedent codifying rights to contraception access, same-sex relationships, and same-sex marriage.

How NC lawmakers voted

Voting in favor of the bill: Democrats Alma Adams, G.K. Butterfield, Kathy Manning, David Price, Deborah Ross.

Voting against the bill: Republicans Dan Bishop, Ted Budd, Madison Cawthorn, Virginia Foxx, Richard Hudson, Patrick McHenry, Greg Murphy and David Rouzer.