John,

Yesterday, the House passed the “Respect for Marriage Act” (RFMA), which repeals the anti-LGBTQ+ “Defense of Marriage Act” (DOMA) and provides federal protections for same-sex and interracial couples.

The bill was introduced in the wake of SCOTUS’s devastating decision overturning Roe v. Wade, and with it, the precedent underpinning the 2015 Obergefell decision legalizing same-sex marriage … and in the wake of an explicit warning by Justice Clarence Thomas that he wants to come for gay marriage and contraception next.

Much has been made about the fact that the bill passed with “bipartisan support” – 47 House Republicans joined every House Democrat in voting to protect gay and interracial couples’ civil rights. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer even said he was “really impressed” by the number of Republicans who voted in favor of the bill.

Well, with all due respect to Senator Schumer, we strongly disagree!

There is nothing impressive about 157 Republicans voting against protecting fundamental human rights in response to a threat by a sitting Supreme Court justice who says he wants to strip those rights away.

We understand that Senator Schumer is trying to make nice with the GOP in hopes that he can find 10 Republican Senators willing to cross over and support the bill when it reaches the Senate to bypass their own party’s inevitable filibuster.

But the fact that there’s even a question about whether he’ll be able to find 10 GOP Senators willing to fight for the basic human rights of their LGBTQ+ constituents – and those in interracial marriages – is a sign there is something very, very wrong with the Republican Party.

Look, we appreciate the 47 Republicans who embraced common human decency and bucked their hateful colleagues to defend the rights of the people they were elected to serve – at least this one time. But we aren’t holding our breath for it to become a regular occurrence, nor do we hold much hope that Senator Schumer is going to find 10 more of them in the Senate to bypass a GOP filibuster.

Folks, the only surefire way to fix the mess SCOTUS has landed us in is for us Democrats to protect our House majority and expand our Senate majority by at least 2 seats in the upcoming midterms.

Everything else is just spitballing.

Only by expanding our Senate majority can we end the filibuster, increase the number of SCOTUS justices, and finally codify Roe v. Wade, same-sex marriage, interracial marriage, and the right to contraception into federal law.

That’s why we’re laser-focused on building up our No Dem Left Behind Senate Fund – because the candidates we’re investing in are the ones with the very best chances of flipping seats from red to blue to give Democrats a REAL majority in the U.S. Senate.

Please, chip in now to help us expand our Senate majority, get rid of the filibuster, and save our civil rights from a rogue, Trump-stacked Supreme Court.

Our endorsed Senate candidates – John Fetterman in Pennsylvania, Tim Ryan in Ohio, Sarah Godlewski in Wisconsin, Val Demings in Florida, Raphael Warnock in Georgia, Lucas Kunce in Missouri, and Brian Bengs in South Dakota – have all pledged to do whatever it takes to defend our rights, starting with ending the filibuster.

They’re all facing tough but winnable races in toss-up states, and they desperately need your support!

So please, chip in what you can today to help give them their very best shot.

Thanks so much for your continued support – we can’t do any of this without you.

In solidarity,

--The No Dem Left Behind team