Family and Social Policy

Same-sex marriage

56 public statements from 2026 candidates · 1 related bill

§1The range of views

Why this matters: Marriage brings legal rights over taxes, inheritance, health care decisions and parenting, so this decides whether same-sex couples share them in every state.

Drafted by AI, then checked for neutral wording in a separate AI review. It describes the question and the main positions, not any candidate's view. Facts link to their sources.

Whether same-sex couples can marry on the same terms as other couples, which the Supreme Court made the law nationwide in 2015.1

  1. Keep same-sex marriage legal in every state
  2. Let each state decide whether to allow it
  3. Recognize only marriages between one man and one woman

These options describe policies, not people. The order is not a ranking.

§2What candidates have said

Why this matters: Statements candidates made publicly, summarized in plain words with a link to where they said it. Candidates who haven't spoken publicly on this issue aren't listed.

Drafted by AI from the public sources cited. Each sentence links to its source.

Keep same-sex marriage legal in every state (36)

  • John Garamendi CA-8
    His campaign website says he supports full equality for LGBT people, including marriage equality.2
  • Jimmy Gomez CA-34
    His campaign website says he helped pass the Respect for Marriage Act, which requires federal and state governments to recognize same-sex and interracial marriages.3
  • Marni von Wilpert CA-48
    Her campaign website's LGBTQ+ rights section says she will protect the freedom to build a family through marriage, adoption or assisted reproductive care.4
  • Shimon Blau CO-1
    His campaign website says he supports the freedom of consenting adults to marry the person they love, without government interference.5
  • Jason Crow CO-6
    His campaign website says the country should keep working to expand marriage equality.6
  • Erik Underwood CO Governor
    His campaign website says he would write marriage equality into state law and defend it.7
  • Luke Bronin CT-1
    His campaign website says he will fight to enshrine protections for marriage equality.8
  • Jahana Hayes CT-5
    Her campaign website says LGBTQ+ people should have the right to marry whomever they want.9
  • Kimberly Overman FL-12
    Her campaign platform says she supports marriage equality.10
  • Mark Davis FL-16
    His policy platform says LGBTQ+ Americans deserve the same marriage rights as everyone else.11
  • Lois Frankel FL-23
    Her campaign website says Congress needs to act to enshrine marriage equality and other LGBTQ+ rights into law.12
  • David Jolly FL Governor
    His campaign website says he would protect marriage equality in Florida and supports repealing the state's 2008 constitutional amendment against it.13
  • Josh Turek IA Senate
    His campaign website says he would defend Americans' right to marry who they love.14
  • Todd Achilles ID Senate
    His campaign website says he would defend Idahoans' freedom to marry the person they love.15
  • Terri Pickens ID Governor
    Her campaign website says people should be free to love and marry whomever they choose.16
  • Sean Casten IL-6
    His campaign website lists cosponsoring and voting for the Respect for Marriage Act to codify the right to same-sex and interracial marriage.17
  • Melissa L. Bean IL-8
    Her campaign website says she will fight efforts to reverse constitutional protections for marriage equality, and that she voted against the 2006 Federal Marriage Amendment.18
  • Brad Schneider IL-10
    His campaign website says he strongly supported the Respect for Marriage Act to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, and it describes the Supreme Court's 2015 marriage decision as a great victory for the nation.19
  • J.D. Ford IN-5
    His campaign platform says he would stand by protections for marriage equality.20
  • André Carson IN-7
    His campaign website says he has long been involved in the fight to achieve gender fairness, religious freedom and marriage equality.21
  • Megan Wingfield KY-2
    Her campaign website says she supports codifying same-sex marriage in federal law.22
  • Dan Koh MA-6
    His campaign website says he supports marriage equality.23
  • April McClain Delaney MD-6
    Her campaign website says she would advocate against initiatives to end marriage equality.24
  • Troy D. Jackson ME Senate
    His campaign website says he would defend marriage equality.25
  • Lydia Christensen MI Senate
    Her campaign website says government should get out of licensing marriage and that until then she would defend equal marriage rights for everyone under federal law.26
  • Matt Little MN-2
    His campaign website lists protecting Obergefell v. Hodges and ensuring everyone has the right to marry among his LGBTQIA2S+ commitments.27
  • Erik Osberg MN-7
    It also says he supports marriage equality and would resist attempts to roll it back.28
  • Jordan Herrera MO-4
    His campaign website says marriage equality is settled law and that he will defend the Respect for Marriage Act and federal protections that require all states to recognize lawful marriages.29
  • Alani Bankhead MT Senate
    Her campaign website says she would defend the Respect for Marriage Act.30
  • Seth Bodnar MT Senate
    His campaign website says he would defend the right to marry the person you love and oppose any effort to roll it back.31
  • Steven Feldman NC-10
    His campaign website says government should not decide whom individuals marry or require religious organizations to marry particular couples, and that any two people who want to marry should be free to.32
  • Mark Cohen NE-3
    His campaign website says gay couples should be able to enter the same legal relationships as everyone else.33
  • Chris Pappas NH Senate
    His campaign website says he helped introduce and pass the Respect for Marriage Act to protect marriage equality.34
  • N'Kiyla Jasmine Thomas OK Senate
    Her campaign website says she would codify marriage equality.35
  • Lauren Pinkston TN Governor
    Her campaign website supports protecting the right of adults to marry the partner they love, while letting clergy decline to perform weddings that conflict with their beliefs.36
  • James Talarico TX Senate
    His campaign website says he would protect the legality of same-sex marriage.37

Let each state decide whether to allow it (2)

  • Matt Loesby ID Senate
    His campaign website says marriage is a covenant between a man, a woman and God, and that he would push to undo the Supreme Court's Obergefell v. Hodges decision and leave the question to states and localities.38
  • "Clay" Higgins LA-3
    His campaign website's 2016 Issues page says he defines marriage biblically as between one man and one woman but supports every American's right to pursue happiness in choosing whom to love, and supports a state's right to regulate marriage and its definition according to the will of the people of that state.39

Recognize only marriages between one man and one woman (4)

  • Pro-Life ID Governor
    His campaign website says same-sex marriage should not be accepted and that Idaho should ignore the 2022 federal law recognizing it.40
  • Whitfield Harrington Jr IL Senate
    His campaign website says that if called on to vote on the definition of marriage, he would vote for marriage as a union of a man and a woman, while no one should be mistreated because of sexual orientation.41
  • Tim Walberg MI-5
    His campaign website says he believes marriage is defined as the union of one man and one woman.42
  • David Rouzer NC-7
    His campaign website's issues page says he believes marriage, as the Bible defines it, is between one man and one woman, that he co-sponsored the marriage amendment to the North Carolina Constitution, and that he will fight court or legislative efforts to overturn it.43

Statements that don't match one option (14)

  • Mike Cargile CA-35
    His campaign website says he stands for the Biblical definition of marriage.44
  • Manny Rutinel CO-8
    His campaign website lists among his accomplishments his cosponsorship of a measure to protect marriage equality in Colorado's constitution.45
  • Mike Quigley IL-5
    His campaign website says he consistently opposed the Defense of Marriage Act and advocated for its repeal.46
  • JB Pritzker IL Governor
    His campaign website lists expanding health care and marriage equality protections for LGBTQ+ people among his accomplishments.47
  • Collin Corbett IL Governor
    His campaign website says that in 2013 he defended the Republicans in Springfield who voted for marriage equality, which cost him business clients.48
  • Richard E. Neal MA-1
    His campaign website lists among his record voting no on a proposed constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman and signing an amicus brief in a lawsuit challenging the Defense of Marriage Act.49
  • John "Johnny O" Olszewski, Jr. MD-2
    His campaign website says that in the Maryland House of Delegates he was a deciding vote for marriage equality.50
  • George E. McDermott MD-4
    A 2010 statement posted on his campaign website says he personally opposes same-sex marriage on biblical grounds and wants a constitutional amendment, letting the people speak, before such a change is imposed.51
  • Jamie Raskin MD-8
    His campaign website lists marriage equality among his accomplishments in the Maryland State Senate.52
  • Hannah M. Pingree ME Governor
    Her campaign website says that as Speaker she led the Legislature's passage of one of the nation's first marriage equality laws.53
  • Chris Dardzinski MI-13
    His campaign website says marriage and civil unions are a matter between two adults, and asks everyone to stop bringing the Constitution, politics and the media into the question.54
  • Doug Chapin MN-6
    Its LGBTQ+ rights section says people should be free to be themselves, to love whom they love and to marry and start families without interference from the government.55
  • Don Kissick OH Governor
    His campaign website supports a proposed state constitutional amendment to protect same-sex marriage in Ohio if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns its earlier ruling.56
  • Mark R. Warner VA Senate
    His campaign website says he will work to pass an amendment to Virginia's constitution protecting same-sex marriage.57

§3Related bills

Why this matters: Bills from 2023–2026 that bear on this issue, with how Congress handled them.