NJ Spotlight: Democrats Line Up the Votes to Pass Gay Marriage Bill

New Jersey’s Democratic legislative leaders declared the legalization of same-sex marriage a civil rights issue and named it their top priority in the new session that begins today, setting the contentious issue up for a veto showdown with Gov. Chris Christie.

Although the last attempt to legalize gay marriage in the state ended losing in , this time Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester), said he has at least the 21 votes needed to pass the bill in the upper house. Unlike the December 2009 vote, when he abstained, Sweeney will be among those supporting the effort.

Still, during a Trenton press conference at which Sweeney, Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-Essex), and more than a dozen other Democrats vowed to pass legislation enabling gays to marry, Sweeney sidestepped questions about whether he had enough votes to override an expected Christie veto.

Even if Democrats in both houses have simple majorities, as Sweeney and Oliver state, it will be hard to muster the necessary 27 votes in the Senate and 54 in the Assembly to override, when the Democrats have just 24 votes in the Senate and 48 in the Assembly.

“We’ll work to do what we have to do … We’re going to work toward an override if necessary,” said Sweeney, adding he wants the full Senate to vote on the measure by mid-year. “We have many more Democratic votes.”

Read the full story here on NJ Spotlight.