Maryland Delegate Sam Arora's Political Career May Be Over After 'No' Vote On Same-Sex Marriage

WASHINGTON -- Although marriage equality legislation cleared the Maryland House of Delegates on Friday and is anticipated to be green-lighted by the state Senate this week, there may be some unfinished business in Annapolis' lower legislative chamber: Del. Sam Arora.

The freshman Montgomery County Democrat, who campaigned on a progressive platform in 2010 and has been supportive of gay rights, voted against the bill that would allow same-sex marriage rights in the Free State.

Arora, who worked on Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign, had been heavily lobbied by his Democratic colleagues in Maryland, including Gov. Martin O'Malley, and heavy hitters outside the state like former President Bill Clinton and former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe.

Even actor Kal Penn called Arora.

@kalpenn
Kal Penn

Had a nice convo w/Delegate @sam_arora at 410-841-3528 & respectfully urged him 2 do the right thing & vote yes on marriage equality in MD.

February 16, 2012 4:31 pm via web Reply Retweet Favorite

Penn also lobbied Arora's legislative director, Josh Lapidus, who subsequently resigned in protest because of Arora's vote.

@JSLapidus
Joshua Lapidus

@kalpenn I couldn't get him around -tried my best. Bill passed 71-67 -thanks for callin- I'm on the right side of history #resignedINprotest

February 17, 2012 11:52 pm via web Reply Retweet Favorite

Now the LGBT community and its supporters want Arora out of Maryland politics.

As AmericaBlog's Jon Aravosis put it following Friday's vote:

Regardless of what Arora is hiding in his political closet, his career in Democratic politics is over. A number of high-level Democratic political operatives in DC are talking ... about the best way, legally and politically, to move ahead with ending Arora's career, starting with his next election.

Arora's vote was being closely watched ever since his "no" vote on marriage equality legislation last year surprised many of Arora's supporters and his colleagues in Maryland politics. At the time, gay rights activists called Arora's "no" vote an act of betrayal.

As Aravosis blogged last week before the House of Delegates vote, ratcheting up the pressure on Arora:

I can think of little better for a young politician looking to his future in Maryland Democratic politics (what other politics is there in Maryland?) than to ingratiate himself to the Democratic governor and party, and to one of the most powerful and tenacious constituencies in the Democratic base, the gay community.

Sam Arora has been given a rare gift in politics -- the chance to do it all over again and wipe the slate clean.

As WTOP reports, Arora has been silent since Friday's vote.

"It wasn't a surprise," the radio station quotes openly gay Del. Heather Mizeur (D-Montgomery County). "We had a lot of heart-to-heart conversations, and I knew of Sam's struggle to reconcile his head and his heart on this issue," she said.

Photo of Sam Arora by Flickr user MDFriendofHillary

Related on HuffPost:

Comments

[Norcal2]

07:35 PM on 02/24/2012

I think he should switch parties and move to Georgia.

[stonecannon]

10:56 PM on 02/22/2012

Arora has now issued a statement on his marriage vote. This is apparently all he is intending to say about it:

"This has been an emotional debate and I understand there are those who disagree with my vote. Now that the bill has passed, I've turned my focus to close special interest tax loopholes and protecting senior citizens in Maryland."

[paul87920]

05:01 PM on 02/22/2012

We'll move forward without him!

[RJofDC]

11:45 AM on 02/22/2012

Good Riddance Little Man.

[Pho3n1xSun]

10:43 AM on 02/22/2012

you know what i don't even want to hear what he may have to say about what he did. the silence and actions speak louder and more honestly than his own words right now. we all have to deal with consequences for our actions. he must deal now deal with his

[Jose Hill]

10:38 AM on 02/22/2012

There is no "maybe" about it. His career is over, unless he switches over to the GOP. If that's the case then they can have him. The GOP is pretty much done anyway.

[piperflyer]

10:09 AM on 02/22/2012

Hallelujah! One less career phony.

[norepublicanleftbehind]

03:22 AM on 02/22/2012

His career may be over? It's over. Sam maybe you could just stick an R behind your name now that you've come out so to speak.

[rockysparks]

11:27 PM on 02/21/2012

Arora looks like the Rutgers dude who's on trial for putting his roommate's sexual activities on the Internet --- an act that contributed to the roommate committing suicide.

If you campaign and promise that you'll be supportive of gay rights and then welch on the promise, you shouldn't be surprised if some of your constituents don't like you anymore, pardner.

[stonecannon]

10:30 PM on 02/21/2012

Hmmm... openly gay MD rep Heather Mizeur says his 'no' vote wasn't a surprise. So why is it such a surprise to his constituents? It makes me kind of disappointed in her -- both that she so easily forgives him for his betrayal of the progressive values he trumpets on his facebook page ("A CAREER IN PUBLIC SERVICE, FIGHTING FOR PROGRESSIVE VALUES") and also that she didn't seem to have shared this information she had with anyone else.

So he couldn't reconcile his head and his heart... I'd be curious to know whether it's his head or his heart that believes tax-paying gay and lesbian Americans should be relegated to second-class citizenship.

[Sean Lawlor]

09:52 AM on 02/22/2012

Everyone knew, not just her; he flip flopped on it before but people were still holding out hope...stupidly I guess. I think it was a "surprise" because this time it actually went through, and his vote almost changed the balance...I can only imagine the mini-Montgomery County revolution against him had it not passed this time.

[Dana Chilton]

09:04 PM on 02/21/2012

He should lose his seat because his constituents want him out not because he took an unpopular vote with his party. It is unfortunate that he has a large number of LGBT constituents. He did nothing but give them all his middle finger. A "yes' vote meant helping Marylanders; his "no" vote meant hurting families, it was nothing more than a sad and confused action by a scared freshman and is one he will likely come to regret as he matures.

[piperflyer]

10:11 AM on 02/22/2012

Is not the "middle finger" the code of ethics gays endorse?

[practiceempathy]

11:31 AM on 02/22/2012

When it's appropriate.

Oh, look, a bird!

[pavementends42]

11:50 AM on 02/22/2012

Like the one we get to look at every time we turn on the tv to Fox News or any Republican debate?

[David in Dallas]

04:34 PM on 02/21/2012

From the movie "Deliverance" - He got a real pretty mouth.

Do we have a closeted AZ Sheriff in the MD legislature?

My gaydar is going "ding-ding-ding-ding".

[JackNasty]

03:41 PM on 02/21/2012

Another Clintonista true to form!

Remember Bill gave us his rousing endorsement of DOMA before it was even written in 1996. Hillary is on record as still supporting it. She even offered the improbable rationalization that DOMA was intended to protect gay Americans from worse, a Constitutional Amendment that had not even been proposed at the time.

[practiceempathy]

03:49 PM on 02/21/2012

The GOP designs our oppression, and the Democrats capitalize on it.

It's time for a third party. For scores of reasons. This being one of them.

[Ioan Lightoller]

06:22 PM on 02/21/2012

Exactly.

[falsy]

03:27 PM on 02/21/2012

Get rid of this guy. This shouldn't be an issue for a progressive.

[memull]

03:18 PM on 02/21/2012

If he did this in some misguided way to curry favor with the GOP, he has been smoking too much happy weed. Clearly there is more to this story and the fact that he has stayed silent is speaking volumes.