Politician of the Year: ‘Vote No’ campaigns defied the odds in constitutional referendums
On the night that House Republicans voted to place an amendment prohibiting gay marriage on the ballot in 2012, Sen. Scott Dibble stood outside the chamber and vowed that Minnesota would become the first state in the country to defeat such a proposal.
“We love our families and our families are strong,” said Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis, who is openly gay and married his partner in California. “People will know that in the next 18 months. And you know what? Thirty-one states, there’s not going to be 32.”
The statement proved prescient. Following a historic, statewide campaign that recruited 27,000 volunteers, raised more than $13 million in contributions and seemingly covered the state in orange “Vote No” yard signs and T-shirts, Minnesota voters defeated the proposed constitutional amendment by roughly 75,000 votes. It was part of a national wave that suggests a cultural turning point on the divisive issue. Voters in Maine, Maryland and Washington all backed ballot measures legalizing same-sex marriages.
