CHEYENNE, Wyo., Oct. 7 (UPI) -- A television ad in the U.S. Senate battle between incumbent Michael Enzi and Republican challenger Liz Cheney hits Cheney on same-sex marriage.
Little separates Enzi from Cheney, the daughter of the former vice president, on issues, turning the contest for the GOP nomination in the reliably red state into one of personalities, personal connections and celebrity, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday.
The 30-second TV ad, sponsored by an outside group, features clips of Cheney from a 2009 appearance on MSNBC in which she expressed opposition to a constitutional amendment banning the marriage of same-sex couples and support for a State Department move extending benefits to the same-sex partners of Foreign Service employees, the Times said.
The spot ends with the tag line "Wrong for Wyoming."
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"I am strongly pro-life and I am not pro-gay marriage," Cheney said in a statement issued by her campaign. "I believe the issue of marriage must be decided by the states, and by the people in the states, not by judges and not even by legislators, but by the people themselves."
Her sister, Mary, who is gay and married to a longtime partner, also responded: "For the record, I love my sister. But she is dead wrong on the marriage issue."
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a spokeswoman for American Principles Fund, the political action committee behind the spot, defended the ad by saying Cheney said same-sex marriage was an issue best left to individual states.
"It's very clear she doesn't support a constitutional amendment" banning same-sex marriage, Sanders told the Times. "There's not one thing she would do to protect traditional marriage at the federal level."
