At least 66 branches of the 99 state branches are under GOP control as the
past election. Nebraska has a unicameral legislature.
Posted on 11/06/2014 4:53:45 PM PST by Viennacon
As an accompanying piece to my Midterm analysis located here
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3223860/posts
I wanted to maybe give some positive news to those real conservatives who, while happy the Dems have been kicked to the curb, are annoyed that the establishment seems to have 'won the day'.
Yes, the establishment robbed us of many high profile primary races, with Mike Simpson hanging on in Idaho as the most liberal Republican of that delegation, Boehner stooge James Lankford winning the senate nod from Oklahoma, and of course the despicable ruination of Chris McDaniel in Mississippi to save the dribbling Cochran.
But in the House in general, the story was not so clear cut in the final numbers. We did lose some members, half of whom lost while pursuing higher office, but we have MANY new members coming in who promise to be very solid.
Here is a special Tea analysis of the House changes this cycle.
Michelle Bachmann (MN-6) – Retired.
Kerry Bentivolio (MI-11) - Lost primary to establishment hack David Trott who won the seat in the general.
Steve Southerland (FL-2) - Lost general election to Democrat Gwen Graham.
Steve Stockman (TX-36) - Abandoned seat to try and unseat Republican senator John Cornyn. Lost that primary.
Paul Broun (GA-10) - Abandoned seat to run for senator. Lost that primary.
Phil Gingrey (GA-11) - Abandoned seat to run for senator. Lost that primary.
So, a total of 6 Tea Party losses in the House.
BUT what about the gains?
John Ratcliffe (TX-4) - Shot down incumbent Ralph Hall in the Republican primary. Ran unopposed.
Dave Brat (VA-7) - Astonishingly demolished incumbent house majority leader Eric Cantor in arguably the cycle's biggest upset. Won the general.
Tom Emmer (MN-6) - Succeeding Bachmann, Emmer has a solid fiery conservative record. He won easily.
Jody Hice (GA-10) - Succeeding Broun, this guy is infuriating Democrats who are calling him 'the most evil republican of 2014!'... so you know he's solid gold! Easily won in the deep red district and has said he won’t vote for Boehner.
Barry Loudermilk (GA-11) - Succeeding Gingrey, Loudermilk is actually more conservative than his predecessor, endorsed by SCF, ran unopposed and won't vote for Boehner.
Mia Love (UT-4) - Early Tea Party favorite, after much struggle, she is IN!
Alex Mooney (WV-2) - Solid conservative wins the seat previously held by moderate now-Republican-senator Shelly Moore Capito in a walk.
David Rouzer (NC-7) - Been waiting to come to congress for a while, this was his year. Replaced retiring blue dog Democrat Mike McIntyre.
Ken Buck (CO-4) - Likely to be a little more conservative than now-Republican-senator Cory Gardner, former 2010 senate candidate is now a congressman.
Barbara Comstock (VA-10) - A Mark Levin pick for congress, she won easily the seat of retired RINO Frank Wolf.
Bruce Poliquinn (ME-2) - A very conservative candidate who won the primary in an upset. Establishment thought he'd lose. He didn't.
Cresent Hardy (NV-4) - Conservative state assemblyman. He beat Democrat Steven Horseford in an upset. Democrats already griping that he's a radical.
Mike Bost (IL-12) - Dubbed Meltdown Mike for his explosive defenses of the 2nd Amendment on the floor of the state house, he is going to be giving as much hell to the democrats and RINOs as Steve Stockman did.
Rick Allen (GA-12) – Finally laid to rest hard-to-hit Democrat John Barrow, the last white Democrat in the deep south. Tea endorsed.
Gary Palmer (AL-6) - Seizing the seat held by retiring RINO Spencer Bachus is a solid Alabama conservative.
French Hill (AR-2) – Retiring representative Tim Griffin had a pathetic conservative rating of 52%. Hill was Tea Party endorsed and won a narrow race against the rat.
Lt. Col. Steve Russell (OK-5) – Replacing Boehner acolyte James Lankford who won the senate race for the seat of retiring Tom Coburn, Russell will be much more likely to buck the establishment.
John Moolenaar (MI-4) – Replacing retiring Dave Camp, who scored a pathetic 50% with Heritage, Moolenaar has a solid record behind him and was Tea endorsed.
Glenn Grothman (WI-6) – Retiring Tom Petri was a little too cozy with the establishment. Grothman is a hair on fire conservative who the dems absolutely despise and he just won by over ten points.
Johnny Tacherra (CA-16)??? - Seems on course to unseat Democrat incumbent Jim Costa in an upset nobody saw coming. He comes out of the Tim Donnelly school of California right wing thought. This one is NOT yet secure, and Costa will likely try to steal it with provisionals.
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Well, that means the Tea Party 'radical' wing of the Republican Party lost 6 and gained 20 (from both Democrat and Republican seats), for a net total of 14 pickups for the Tea Party in the house. This more than makes up for disappointing defeats we suffered in 2012 as well with the loss of Chip Cravaack, Nan Hayworth, Joe Walsh, and Allen West from the House.
Now, it is true that overall, the Republicans picked up a likely 17 seats formerly held by Democrats (some in very blue states), and so this dilutes it a little, but it seems like a wash to me.
Rumors that Boehner now has enough 'spare' votes to ignore his Tea caucus are false. He's in exactly the same position he was in before, perhaps even moreso a hostage as he did lose a couple of moderates himself (Bachus, Hall, Wolf). Boehner cannot just ignore his right flank regardless of what Bob Beckel thinks, and amnesty is going to be murder with the tide against illegals considerably bolstered. It’s also a fact that certain moderate Republicans won’t be as Boehner-friendly this time around, like Michael Grimm of New York who had the plug viciously pulled on him by the establishment and won his seat anyway.
I hope this provides some encouragement. The Tea Party is ALIVE AND WELL. The media will focus on our defeats, but really, under the surface, there was no big establishment victory here. They won big battles, but they are still losing the war.
NOW THAT`S WHAT I`M TALKING ABOUT!
The only place the tea party did not do well was in Senate primaries against incumbants, and it wasn’t much different than the past two cycles. In 2010, Lee picked off the Utah incumbant, but in a convention or caucus vote (can’t recall Utah politics 4 years later). Other than that, we won the open primaries. In 2012, we picked off Lugar. Why? He was older than dirt, out of touch and didn’t even in live in Indiana. That was it. In 2014, we didn’t defeat an incumbant, but McDaniel was an inch from winning one with the same dynamics as Lugar’s defeat. The only difference is the overwhelming force of the crony-class dollars and the Misssissippi boss-hog political machine run by the Barbors. Without the mischief we pick up that one and have the same incumbent defeats as the previous two cycles.
We got Sasse in against a very powerful attempt by McConnell to black ball him. We got Ernst, who is a solid addition. We got Cotton who should be a good asset, especially on foreign issues. The only open seat we might have been able to get otherwise was NC. Tillis was not the best choice, but it is what it is.
This will be spun as something it’s not, but it was a very good tea party year and the new majority will give our conservative caucus much more influence than in the current Senate. No doubt, there are going to be skirmishes with the McConnell wing, but we’ll have some better results than 2011-2014.
Thanks for the conservative update.
This is how you do it. I hate to tell some folks this, but we’re not going to win much by running unknowns in state-wide races right off the bat. Tea Partiers need to win state house and state senate seats, win the US House, and build up name recognition and a solid record. THEN move on to governourships and Senate seats. It’s slow, but it will work. Replace retiring GOP-E types with real conservatives.
I also think there is now potential for some of those who fell short this year to return in 2016 to mount House challenges.
For instance, Rob Maness who outperformed polls in the Louisiana senate race, could definitely mount a credible challenge to RINO Charles Boustany Jr.
In North Carolina, I would love to see a Brannon challenge to someone in North Carolina (unfortunately, moderate Ellmers seems pretty safe).
Chris McDaniel should definitely seek something in Mississippi
Over time. being inside the DC beltway can cause strange voting behavior. I would say most have held true to Tea Party principles.
Create a platform and recruit candidates. Entice them with support. That’s how it has been done for centuries. It’s not rocket science. However, it is real work. And, yes, it’s better to start small at the state level and build a working model that you replicate.
Great work! Better than most crap I find in “legitimate” media circles.
Some have drifted of course. Great example is Kinzinger, the Illinois congressman.
But I think disloyalty is over-exaggerated. On the big issues, most of them fall in line behind the top Cruz allies in the House (Jordan, Labrador, Gohmert, King, and Meadows)
What’s more, the fight for the squishy middle members who are conservative, but a little gutless is more often now won by us than Boehner and co. They are scared for their seats.
Another update, it seems I forgot a guy called Mark Walker, who replaced Republican retiree moderate, Cobel, in North Carolina. He has said he won’t vote for Boehner.
At least 66 branches of the 99 state branches are under GOP control as the
past election. Nebraska has a unicameral legislature.
Wow! Great analysis!!
Excellent, Thank You.
Really hoped IL 17 was coming back, but while Bobby Schilling is a good man he is not superman. The worst example of gerrymandering in the nation, as demanded by Dick Dirtbin
Thanks so much!
Why Freepers ignore the people’s House our Founders put so much importance upon is beyond me. Conservatives would be ruling the Republican Caucus there if we had a lick of sense.
But the media has everyone looking at the ‘shiny objects’...
I’m still annoyed we will see the disrespectful Tammy Suckworth back in congress.
The narrative that the Tea Party was ‘crushed’ this cycle is just false, and even some reporters are acknowledging it, quizzing Boehner on how he plans to deal with incoming members who have made ‘shocking’ statements about women’s rights and apparently one calling Hillary the antichrist.
I had to look up who said that. It was Ryan Zinke, the replacement for Steve Daines in Montana’s at-large house seat. Maybe I’ll add him to the list of gems. haha
Jim Jordan says it all in this quote
“It’s going to be more conservative. You see some of the guys who are going to win these seats. Walker, Loudermilk, Palmer, Ratcliffe. These are pretty conservative folks. I think that’s helpful.”
I think that map is inaccurate. Both West Virginia’s chambers are now under Republican control thanks to a late defection.
The West Virginia Senate has flipped as well—the map as it stands reflects the voting result, which was a Pub takeover of the Assembly, and a tie in the Senate, but one of the Senators in the off-year class decided to break the tie on Wednesday, switching from Dem to pub, leaving just seven or eight chambers that aren’t on the coasts in Democratic hands, with half of those in Vermont and Illinois.
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