RICHMOND, Va. — Democratic state Sen. Ralph Northam defeated Republican E.W. Jackson in a race sharply defined by social issues.
Northam easily beat Jackson on Tuesday following a campaign that centered on Northam’s defense of abortion rights and Jackson’s Christian-based anti-abortion platform. Jackson also opposes same-sex marriage, while Northam supports it.
Jackson, a Chesapeake, Va., minister with a track record of vehemently anti-gay remarks and who has called LGBT people “perverse,” and pedophiles, said “homosexuality is a sexual behavior and it is a behavior that the Bible says is wrong and unacceptable.”
“To equate that with civil rights for black people or for women is so specious that it just amazes me that people buy into it, but they buy into it because it is emotionally appealing, it has no logic to it whatsoever,” said Jackson.
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Northam succeeds Republican Bill Bolling. A Democrat hasn’t occupied the office since U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine was lieutenant governor in 2006.
The lieutenant governor presides over the state Senate and casts a ballot on tie votes.
