The Fascists Are Coming For The Conservatives
After New York Democrats tried stealing 4 red seats from the GOP, a Republican judge declared the move unconstitutional and decided to teach the Democrats a lesson by screaming them over... and over and over and over. You would never see anything like this in a deep red state, but the Republican in NY have been avenged and for all Sean Patrick Maloney's and Hakeem Jeffries' moaning and groaning, there's nothing they have been able to do about it. One of the Frankenstein's Monster districts that was created for the Republicans was the new 24th district.
The old 24th, John Katko's Syrcause-based swing district, no long swings and no longer has Syracuse. It went from being a D+4 district to an unassailable R+22 GOP bastion. It cobbles together red areas of was was NY-27, NY-25, NY-24, NY-22 and NY-21. Biden easily won the old 24th-- 53.4% to 44.4% (and even Hillary managed to beat Trump there-- 48.9% to 45.3%). But under the new lines Trump would have easily won the district, the reddest in the state.
Claudia Tenney, was the most right wing member of the state Assembly from 2011 to 2017, when she was elected to serve one term in Congress and where she was, by far the most right-wing New Yorker in Congress. She was Marjorie Traitor Greene when Greene was still back in Alpharetta persuading men to sign up for her gym by giving them blowjobs. Tenney was "reelected" in 2020 when a Republican judge ordered a recount that included fake ballots and she "won" by 109 votes. This cycle, she's running in the new 24th. And... she isn't even the most far right candidate in the race!
Local neo-fascist Mario Fratto-- endorsed by the Conservate Parties of Seneca, Genesee and Ontario counties and by the Republican Party of Seneca County-- is trying to label Tenney a carpetbagger (she doesn't live in the district) and a "liberal" for voting for the Ukraine aid package. Keep in mind that Tenney has been endorsed by Trump and part of her campaign is based on impeaching Biden. Fratto is to the right of that! he said that he "looked at her record, and it’s atrocious, to be honest. I can’t imagine the people here would go for some of those votes." He claims she supports red flag laws, taxpayer funding for sex changes in the military and worst of all for an "ultra-MAGA" Putin-supporter like Fratto, aid to Ukraine.
NY-24 is certainly not the only district where a hard right Republican incumbent is being challenged in a primary by a fascist. This morning, The Hill's Emily Brooks wrote about races in coming up Tuesday that pit mainstream conservatives, none of as right as Tenney, against neo-Nazis. She singled out 3 districts in New Jersey, South Dakota and the Orange County race we covered a few days ago, in which Young Kim has two extreme rightists-- Greg Raths and Nick Taurus-- challenging her.
In South Dakota, the fascist candidate challenging Dusty Johnson is crackpot state Rep Taffy Howard who is backed by the Ultra-MAGA SuperPAC, Drain the Swamp, which has spent about half a million dollars on her behalf so far. The anti-Johnson ad they're running insinuates he was in cahoots with "Communists" who stole the election from Señor Trumpanzee.
Johnson, who is seeking a third term, has shot back with his own ads, saying that out-of-state actors have “littered your mailbox with attacks and lies.”
The 45-year-old incumbent Johnson has far outraised Howard, reporting $2.5 million in his campaign war chest as of May 18 to Taffy’s $132,000. A South Dakota State University poll conducted in early May found Johnson with a 36-point lead over Howard.
...Another member heading to a primary on Tuesday was one of the 13 House Republicans who voted in favor of the bipartisan infrastructure bill last year: New Jersey 4th District Rep. Chris Smith, who has been in office since 1981. Trump called for someone to primary Smith following his vote on the bill.
Smith challenger Mike Crispi, a commentator for Right Side Broadcasting, got an endorsement from Michael Flynn, Trump’s former National Security Adviser who resigned 22 days into the Trump administration.
Former Trump adviser Roger Stone is also reportedly consulting for Crispi.
One video from Crispi knocking Smith said that he “cosponsors gun control legislation with” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). The claim appears to refer to Smith cosponsoring the Bipartisan Background Checks Act that passed the House last year.
Steve Gray, a retired FBI agent who bills himself as an “America First patriot,” is also in the race. In one interview, he knocked Smith for being first elected “when Jimmy Carter was president” and has called to “take back our country from the establishment RINOS.”
Trump, though, has not made an endorsement in the race despite challengers paying homage to his platform.
Smith also has a cash advantage, with $700,000 in the bank as of May 18, compared to almost $19,000 for Crispi and just over $15,000 for Gray.
Trump has also not endorsed Johnson, Kim, or any of their challengers in those primary races.
NJ-04 is the reddest district in New Jersey-- and it just got even redder. The legislature wanted to make Andy Kim's 3rd district safer and it went from an R+6 swing district to a safe blue D+9 district. To do so, they dumped every Republican they could find into NJ-04, which went from R+15 to R+28. Smith will never have to worry about a challenger again-- at least not in a general election. But, it makes him much more vulnerable to a fascist in a primary. This is what he's contending with:
UPDATE: California
Rudy Salas, one of the most despicable Sacramento politicians and a leader of the corrupt Mod Squad-- the California legislature's equivalent of the Blue Dogs-- is running for Congress in a swing Central Valley district that has gone from D+9 to D+10. The incumbent, Republican David Valadao, keeps winning because the Democratic Party keeps putting up shitty Republican-lite candidates. Salas is the worst of the lot and probably couldn't beat Valadao because so many Democrats will just not come out to vote for someone as blatantly corrupt as Salas. But... in Tuesday's primary there's a wild card-- far right crackpot Chris Mathys. Pelosi's House Democratic PAC is spending close to $300,000 running a 30-second TV ad that keeps repeating the Valadao voted to impeach Trump, while boosting Mathys. The DCCC think Salas' only chance to win is if he runs against Mathys, not Valadao, in November. (McCathy's Congressional Leadership Fund PAC has spent $500,000 bolstering Valadao and McCarthy persuaded Trump not to endorse Mathys or call Valadao a RINO.) Salas is from the Manchin wing of the Democratic Party and if he wins-- God forbid-- he will constantly be in contention to be the worst Democrat in Congress.