The fine Republican voters in Arizona put Gosar in office, in case anyone was like me and didn’t know.
Gosar had two Democratic opponents, both write-in. Neither had any campaign expenditures listed. The Democratic primary also had two write-in candidates, neither of which were the two listed in the general election. Ballotopedia notes No candidate advanced from the primary. I am not sure why.
We need to cross the streams.
So, can Gosar be impeached or censured or reprimanded or fined or jailed or something for violating his oath of office?
I don’t think anyone ever thought that an elected official would openly and blatantly call for the elimination of the Constitution in order to secure a single party dictatorship for his party.
The thinking was, I suppose, that it would just not be possible for the public to elect someone who openly advocated for the destruction of the country.
I guess the alt-right conspiracy nuts got tired of nobody intelligent believing that already happened so they said screw it and went ahead and did it themselves and are proud to say they’ll vote for him again.
But who could have ever thought that the Founding Fathers wanted the Constitution to say that state legislatures can do whatever they want when it comes to elections?
I would not be really surprised if some of the current Justices on the bench think that we should go back to a time when only white male property owners should be allowed to vote.
And the really weird thing about that is that one of them is black!
I can’t believe no one used the “Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor” joke.
Because the correct line there was “Forget it, he’s rolling.”
IIUI, the House (and Senate) is a law unto itself in matters like this. They can expel a member, but since the QOP is taking over in January, they’d just let him back in (and we know they are too afraid of Trump to make a big deal about this).
There are certain strategists who think there’s no point in the opposing party running serious candidates in districts like this, because they’re so gerrymandered that there’s no way to win, so why waste the money/effort?
Of course, there is the moral point that you can say, “We didn’t just let the anti-Constitutional whackjob have the job”, but they apparently put little weight on that. No one wants to be the sacrificial lamb to moral authority.
Of course, there’s a more practical effect, in that an actual contested election gets this guy more into the general news, where you can say, often and loudly, that the GOP is actively supporting a candidate who hates the Constitution, while the Democrats are defending the Constitution. That might not change the outcome in this particular race, but it could have effects on other, closer races.
Sean Hannity thinks that Democrats aren’t concerned about candidate quality. Pretty rich coming from somebody who endorsed Herschel Walker.
Previous election, Worst Congressman Currently Sitting, Andy Biggs, had a decent Dem candidate, and she got 42(?) % of the vote. Of courser, his fanbois said it was a “landslide”, but it showed that he is vulnerable with a full effort campaign.
Thank goodness due to redistricting he is no longer my rep. We have a democrat now.
This is the obvious weakness of Gerrymandering your way to victory. If you’ve got 50% + 1, it shouldn’t take too much effort to flip that seat.
Every Accusation Is A Confession
That part I get. None of the four, the two write-in candidates in the primary and the two other write-ins in the general election had any expenditures listed. What I didn’t understand is how someone can presumably win the primary – even with a literal handful of votes – and then not have a spot in the general election.
Well, winning the primary doesn’t obligate the person to run. They may have dropped out due to sheer embarrassment, if they really did only pull a “handful” of votes.