CHAMPIONED is upheld. On the promise date (2023-06-21), Merkley acted as the lead Senate sponsor of S.5, the Equality Act, in the 118th Congress. The congressional record — confirmed via WebSearch of the congress.gov S.5 page after WebFetch was blocked (403) — shows the bill was "introduced by Mr. Merkley for himself and numerous co-sponsors including Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Booker..." and "read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary." The "for himself and [co-sponsors]" formulation is the definitive congressional marker of SOLE lead sponsorship: Merkley is the sponsor; Baldwin and Booker are cosponsors. This is documented LEADERSHIP (authoring/introducing the bill as named sponsor), not merely a vote or generic support. Merkley's own Senate press release (reachable, quotes verified verbatim) states he "teamed up with U.S. Representative Mark Takano ... to introduce the bicameral Equality Act," which "would amend the landmark federal anti-discrimination laws to explicitly add sexual orientation and gender identity to longstanding bans on discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations..." — matching the promise to lead the Senate reintroduction and amend the Civil Rights Act to prohibit SOGI discrimination. The bill stalled in the Judiciary Committee (no floor vote), but the promise was to LEAD the reintroduction, which Merkley fully did. CHAMPIONED (drove/led rather than merely supported) is the correct rating.