continue to oppose same-sex marriage even though his son is openly gay. Salmon's stances have been unmoved despite his acceptance of his son's homosexuality. Salmon's son led the Arizona Log Cabin Republicans; he left the group to focus on medical school. Civil Rights Salmon is strictly opposed to the surveillance of personal emails and phone calls currently allowed and has called for legislation to reduce it. He introduced a bill that would better protect privacy rights by limiting the ability of the government to perform unwarranted searches. Environment Salmon has been a moderate supporter of environmental protection. He voted to enforce environmental standards on new pipelines, prohibit the EPA from being barred from investigations, reduce nuclear waste, and provide larger forest conservation. Budget Salmon is a fiscal conservative and has often caused rifts and defections in his own party to oppose increasing the deficit. He has strictly opposed raising the debt limit and any new spending without matching cuts. He believes government agencies and institutions should undergo reform, not expansion, to meet their needs. Taxes Matt Salmon signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, stating he would never vote for legislation to increase taxes on Americans. He opposes new government spending unless it has a plan to initiate some spending cut that will offset the loss. He has voted to cut various taxes, such as the estate and marriage taxes. Following the recent IRS scandal and the wake of investigation, Salmon called upon Attorney General Eric Holder to hold independent investigation on the IRS for its alleged targeting of its political opponents due allow for an unbiased non-government council to look into the matter. He is a cosponsor to a bill that would prevent political bias causing any discrimination in tax treatment. In 2011 Salmon signed a pledge sponsored by Americans for Prosperity promising to vote against any climate change legislation that would raise taxes. 2022 Arizona gubernatorial campaign In June 2021, he declared his candidacy in the 2022 race for Arizona governor, to succeed term limited incumbent Republican Doug Ducey. He had been endorsed by Ted Cruz and the Club for Growth, among others. Salmon dropped out of the race on June 28, 2022. Electoral history References Further reading 2002 Arizona Governor's Race USA Today November 11, 2002 Salmon holds vision for Arizona's GOP "Ex-congressman eyes chairman seat" The Arizona Republic November 28, 2004 External links |- |- |- |- |-