We’ll now see his true colors, probably. Not having to face the electorate again sometimes free up a politician to vote his “conscience”.
We had a squishy moderate/liberal Senator — Richard Schweiker — here in Pennsylvania many years ago who eventually became a decent Senator, but only after two things happened:
1. He was named as VP candidate on the Reagan ‘76 ticket, and saw firsthand that while Reagan was a staunch conservative he actually wasn’t — gasp! — a monster.
2. Schweiker announced that he wasn’t running for re-election in 1980 (Arlen Specter won that election).
After that announcement, Schweiker went from being noticeably left of center to noticeably RIGHT of center though not to be confused with being 100% conservative or anything close. He went from being 60-70% liberal to being about 60-70% conservative (rough figures).
His record through most of his career was well to the left of even Toomey and pretty much a match for most of Arlen Specter’s career. Once he decided to think for himself, he was a very pleasant surprise for a couple of years. I’m not counting on Toomey AT ALL to do the right thing, but I suppose there’s a small chance that he could pull a “Schweiker”.
My mom was actively involved with a Pro-Life group here in PA. She had met Richard Schweiker while lobbying him back in the 70’s. He was not on her side when they met but he came around. She always liked him.