There is a lot of talk lately about Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania switching parties to the GOP. This is because he has shown strong support for Israel.
Make no mistake about it, Fetterman votes with democrats 90% of the time. Yet there is serious talk of a primary challenge in 2 years. My advice? Do so at your own peril! About 12 or so years ago, Democrats did a primary challenge to a sitting senator in Arkansas. The far-left candidate challenger won, and got blown out in the general, they lost the seat. Now it’s a Republican who seldom votes with the Democrats. It’s called cutting off your nose to spite your face.
The Republicans do similar things; they despise the senators from Alaska and Maine. Those senators, while they aren’t MAGA, they do vote about 70% of the time with the GOP. How often will a Democrat who wins the seat vote with the GOP? I’d say not very often. Folks, if these ladies, and they typically do; vote in favor of the Supreme Court nominees, support tax cuts, and want to try to reduce spending I’m good with them. Also, Maine and Alaska are very different from other Republican traditional states. Note that party line votes are very rare in nature except when it comes to tax cuts and judges. A bill to regulate the seafood industry more or less strictly, may draw a different vote than from an Oklahoma Republican. It is far more important to vote for what’s best for your constituents, state, or district, not a party-line vote on a bill that could have a serious impact on your state.
Finally, I need someone to explain this logic to me
Everyone’s favorite jagoff, Leo Naranjo, was spouting off on a blog about how we need to get rid of two Republicans in Sacramento (the capital), one from this area. Yes, replace them with Democrats in November because they aren’t MAGA.
He belongs to the CRA, so his take makes sense in his mind. One of them he is attacking is Josh Hoover. Hoover occupies a seat that has a Democrat registration edge; he beat a Democrat entrenched incumbent. His district is suburban in nature, as opposed to the typical, more rural Republican traditional district. The timber industry or cattle ranching business is likely not the most salient of topics for him to vote on. I know Republicans who are angry in various groups because he has been fighting for remote work for state workers. He has a lot of state workers in his district, and they are likely the crossover voters who picked him and got his re-elected. Nothing wrong with this. Hoover is also a great retail politician, he goes to just about every event in his district, not just the Republican ones. He knows how to work a room, Republicans could learn a lot from him. But they would rather he be gotten rid of.
The other issue they do not see, from their perch typing angry comments in a blog, is they are killing the farm team. I witnessed this firsthand after Dan Lungren lost, we had zero good candidates to run for his seat the next cycle. We had no farm team in place to step in when needed. A candidate like Hoover has a built-in fundraising network, connections at most groups/clubs/events, and knows how to campaign. But instead, these types want a whacko who writes comment-after-comment in other people’s blog comment section after he doesn’t win. (Oh, who, by the way, has never uttered a single word about any Democrat). Look at the types that are backed by the CRA, the door-to-door vacuum salesman, the soda jerk at Woolworth’s, the local ice cream man, or the chimney sweep gets their backing as candidates because they agree on far-right ideology! Really, that’s all they need? Christine Bish and Craig DeLuz never came close to winning an election (full disclosure, I’m referencing state or federal, Craig is a school board member, I believe still).
In closing, I’m not saying every elected needs to be a moderate, Marjorie Taylor Greene and her personality played well in rural Georgia, AOC and her crazy ideas play well where she is.
But MTG won’t play well at all in a district like Hoover’s and AOC won’t play well outside of a very populated city. Two things can be true. If a squish is elected in a far left/right district by all means get them.
The Chief