The special election that was held in Virginia to fill the House of Representatives seat that had been held by Donald McEachin, who died soon after winning re-election in November, was won by Democrat Jennifer McClellan who becomes the first Black woman to be elected to Congress from Virginia. The district is strongly Democratic so the result was not a surprise. This means that the House of Representatives has no vacancies (until George Santos is kicked out for some or all of the many reasons that we have learned about) and is now split 222-213 in favor of Republicans.
Meanwhile, Republicans continue to purge their party of anyone seen as deviating from the extreme right wing direction that the party has taken under Donald Trump. Take, for example, Mark Racicot, who would once have been considered to have sterling Republican credentials.
Former Republican Gov. Marc Racicot said over the weekend that the Montana Republican Party recently informed him of a resolution voted on and approved by party leadership declaring he is no longer considered a Republican.
Racicot was elected governor on the GOP ticket twice in Montana, and also was the chair of the Republican National Committee until he was appointed to chair the re-election campaign for former Republican President George W. Bush.
His crime? Not being supportive of Donald Trump, views that he expressed in an op-ed.
In that piece, Racicot wrote “As responsible, though admittedly not perfect, citizens, we are obliged, before automatic commitments to political parties, ideologies or candidates, to give consideration to those timeless and eternal qualities of genuine leadership that transcend ever-changing political charters, programs and affiliations.”
As a result of those principles, he had backed Joe Biden over Trump in 2020, supported some Democratic candidates in state elections, and also Biden’s nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson for the US Supreme Court. So the decision to kick him out is not that much of a surprise.
In an interview, he added, “The hierarchy for me in values and loyalty is first of all to my country and my state, and then to my party… In 35 years I don’t think I’ve changed one bit. I don’t feel like I have changed my views of the world.”
He still considers himself a Republican which raises the interesting question of whether the party can forbid him from referring to himself as such. Given the weak party structure in the US, probably not. The party has asked all media outlets to refrain from referring to Racicot as a Republican.
Purity tests attract some, but turn off others. They are playing a risky game. Increased loyalty from those who stay, but your numbers are likely to drop. The Catholic Church has a similar problem.
When a person who chaired the campaign to re-elect Dumbya is considered a principled Republican, the Overton Window has been launched so far to the right that it must be in orbit at this point.
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I guess that means Racicot has been deOvertonfenestrated by those Republicans.
He was politically incorrect.
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It’s pretty popular on the left, too.
Nonsense, Holms. so tired of people who have given up applying rational standards comparing this right wing government to, well, anything short of historical extreme right wing governments. Just stop, you don’t appear nuanced in doing that, you appear… ignorant.
Really? Oh I’m so happy to learn that. There I was, thinking progressive organisations and affiliations had also repeatedly fallen apart over small differences, but now you’ve told me that that never happened. What a relief!
So if five Republicans get exposed to some dangerous bug they refused to get vaccinated for, the house could flip
(too bad if someone would bring the more dangerous, pre-Omricon variant to next CPAC).