Sen. Thom Tillis, RN.C., was censured by Republican delegates from North Carolina for his votes on LGBTQ rights, gun violence and more.
Saturday’s vote took place behind closed doors at the North Carolina Republican Party’s annual convention. A two-thirds majority of the party’s 1,801 voting delegates was needed for the measure to pass.
Many delegates criticized Tillis for his work on the Respect for Marriage Act. The legislation guarantees federal recognition of a marriage between two people if the union was valid in the state where they married, enshrining rights for same-sex and interracial marriages.
State and national Republican platforms oppose same-sex marriage, but Tillis was a supporter of the legislation and lobbied fellow Republicans to support the law.
Delegates also criticized Tillis for supporting a measure to fund red flag laws, which allow courts to authorize the removal of firearms from individuals who may pose a risk to themselves or others.
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Daniel Keylin, spokesman for Tillis, told The Associated Press that the lawmaker is “delivering on promises and delivering results.”
“He will never apologize for his work in passing the biggest tax cut in history, introducing legislation to secure the border and ending sanctuary cities, providing desperately needed funding to bolster the security of schools and protecting the rights of churches to practice freely based on their belief in traditional marriage,” Keylin said.
Jim Forster, a delegate from Guilford, North Carolina, told the outlet that Tillis’ actions “do not reflect the party’s shift to the right — in fact, they are going in exactly the wrong direction.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Republican NC senator censored for LGBTQ positions and on gun violence