No Republican Is Safe

Heritage Action gives liberal John Cornyn a liberal 86%.—
Drew Brandewie (@DBrandewie) December 11, 2013



This week, Congressman Steve Stockman announced that he is going to try to primary Senator John Cornyn (R-TX). A letter Stockman wrote to his supporters calls Cornyn a traitor:


You are in a foxhole fighting to save our constitutional Republic… …and the last thing you need is a Republican bayonet in your back. But that’s what liberal John Cornyn has been doing to you every day.


Cornyn spokesman Drew Brandewie responds with the above tweet. Daniel Strauss adds:


Stockman’s attack is what a number of tea party challengers have been making against the Republican incumbents they’re challenging. The problem for Stockman is that Cornyn is rated as one of the most conservative lawmakers in his chamber, according to a National Review analysis of Senate voting records.


Molly Ball wonders why Cornyn is being challenged:


[I]f even staunch conservatives like Cornyn can’t satisfy the right, the Tea Party has truly entered its dada period.



Before, right-wingers were content to purge actual moderates, like former Indiana Senator Richard Lugar and Delaware Representative Mike Castle, or patrician establishmentarians like Dewhurst. Now all it takes to provoke their wrath is the belief that government ought to be allowed to function. Next, perhaps they’ll they turn on Cruz, who serves on several Senate committees and is vice chair of the senatorial committee. I asked a GOP consultant who follows Senate races what Cornyn’s supposed sin against conservatism had been—what transgression earned him the wrath of the right. “Well,” the consultant answered, “the honest answer is that he’s not crazy.”


Weigel sees Stockman as little threat to Cornyn:



Steve Stockman? He was a one-term congressman in 1995-1997, narrowly won a primary to return in a new seat in 2012, has $38,000 on hand, and was being derided by fellow Republicans for having failed to disclose a substantial amount of charity money. This should not be seen as some bellwether of Tea Party power. This will be a highly quotable but un-serious primary.


John Sides looks beyond the immediate rate:


The issue for the GOP isn’t so much the 2014 Texas Senate race.  The issue is that, in general, the party would be better off — that is, it would control more seats and be better-positioned to steer policy — if it could discourage primary challengers in races where negative consequences are more likely.  And Stockman’s example — particularly if successful — may only reinforce the desire of other conservatives in the party to mount similar challenges.   When those challenges happen in states or districts that aren’t quite as red as Texas, the party may suffer, just as it has in Nevada, Delaware, Indiana, and Missouri.




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Published on December 11, 2013 14:13
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