Alison Fox, Pervaiz Shallwani and Aaron Rutkoff for the Wall Street Journal:

Voters interviewed Wednesday pointed to their opposition to same-sex marriage and Turner’s pro-Israel politics as factors that swayed them to pick a Republican.

... Chaim Klein, a 26-year-old bookkeeper in Brooklyn’s Midwood neighborhood, said the election came down to issues, not party politics.

State Assemblyman David Weprin, the defeated Democratic candidate, voted in favor of gay marriage earlier this year, “so people went out against him,” said Klein, a self-described Democratic voter in the past. “Now because of this people voted Republican.”

Tzirel Zlotnick, a teacher and self-described Orthodox Jew and Republican voter in Kew Gardens, Queens, said she didn’t think much of former Rep. Anthony Weiner, the Democratic lawmaker who resigned from the seat following a scandal over sexually charged online messages. But she would have voted for Weprin, who also identifies as an Orthodox Jew, if not for same-sex marriage.

“How can he call himself an Orthodox Jew and vote for gay marriage?” Zlotnick said. “If not for that, I probably would have voted for him.”

Bella, a principal at a Jewish school for girls in Midwood who declined to give her last name, echoed the decisive nature of Weprin’s same-sex marriage vote. “We felt as a community this is where we wanted to take a stand,” she said.

 

NOM Founding Chairman Prof. Robert George explains at the Mirror of Justice blog:

In the run up to the election, a group of Orthodox rabbis, most from Brooklyn, but including others, notably Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky and Rabbi Simcha Bunim Cohen, two nationally prominent Orthodox Jewish authorities, published a letter stating that "it is forbidden to fund, support, or vote for David Weprin." The reason? As a member of the New York state legislature, Weprin, despite his Orthodox Jewish beliefs, voted to redefine marriage to include same-sex partnerships. This, the rabbonim declared, was chillul Hashem---a desecration, or bringing of shame, on God's name. The rabbis went on to say that "Weprin's claim that he is Orthodox makes the chillul Hashem even greater.

The letter from the rabbonim went farther [...] by asserting that under Jewish law "it is incumbent on every Jew" to support and vote for Weprin's opponent, "if the opposing candidate is committed to safeguarding the moral values that made made this Republic great, including the educational, religious. and parental freedoms of Torah adherents, defending family values, opposing abortion on demand, protecting the moral environment, opposing the radical LGBT (To'aiva) agenda, including opposing legislation of civil unions, as well as defending the security of our brothers internationally, particularly in Eretz Yisroel."

Let's not forget that Andrew Cuomo couldn't save the Democrat in this race, how will he be able to protect Republicans who voted for SSM?

"...in May’s upstate New York special election, Cuomo didn’t get behind now-Rep. Kathy Hochul until the last minute when the picture was clearer. But he gave Weprin, an establishment party figure, a forceful seal of approval and went so far as to cut a robo-call for the assemblyman." -- Politico's Alex Isenstadt on NY-9 Losers

Alex Isenstadt in Politico, on NY-9's winners and losers:

National Organization for Marriage – The socially conservative organization helped to sow unrest with Weprin and Orthodox Jewish Democrats over his support for same-sex marriage. The organization dropped $75,000 on mailers highlighting Weprin’s position and dispatched Rabbi Zecharia Wallerstein to record an anti-Weprin robocall.

Robert Costa writes that the President's unpopularity was not the only factor in Bob Turner's surprise 8-point victory yesterday over David Weprin:

Marriage matters. Democrats may think the debate is over, but in a district they’ve held for decades, it is a hot-button issue, and may have cost David Weprin a seat in Congress. Orthodox Jewish leaders hold major sway in Brooklyn and Queens and many of them campaigned against Weprin for supporting same-sex marriage, which was legalized by the state legislature in June. Queens assemblyman Dov Hikind, a Democrat, endorsed Turner due to Weprin’s vote. Sensing opportunity, the National Organization for Marriage poured thousands into the district.

And the polls encouraged them: One Public Policy Polling survey showed district voters opposing same-sex marriage, 45 percent to 41 percent. PPP’s numbers also showed that nearly 30 percent of locals viewed marriage as a deciding factor. In an interview with an Orthodox Jewish news outlet, Weprin, on the ropes, fumbled, awkwardly tiptoeing away from the law. He may have convinced a scattering of conservative Democrats to stick with him, but he let down his base, generating ire from his Democratic colleagues for questioning, of all things, the procedure used to pass the bill. “I find this offensive,” complained one Democratic state senator. “Once people think you’re not being honest about your position, then they question all of your positions.” Turner, who spent months reaching out to rabbis and their flocks, cleaned up.