Kathy Barnette Can Win in the General Election

When Republicans make choices to vote for a candidate based on their stances, credentials, personality, or any other valid criteria, I never hold it against them. We may disagree, but one of the beauties of our constitutional republic lies in the way individual voters judge candidates. It’s the job of candidates, their campaigns, and their supporters to make cases for them and against their opponents. Whoever does the best at this generally wins.

There is only one criteria that chaps my khakis when cited by conservatives as their reasoning for voting for or against someone: Electability. While I completely understand the surface-level logic behind it, the Republican Establishment uses this as their primary angle of attack against America First patriots they don’t like. That’s why when I hear people say U.S. Senate candidate Kathy Barnette from Pennsylvania is unelectable, I shake my head.

Let’s look at reality. Those in corporate “conservative” media at Fox News, Newsmax, Breitbart, and others are playing the “baggage” card against her. They are playing on the gullibility of Republican voters who fall for the Republican Establishment’s scam over and over again. If it were true that “baggage” based on past remarks or controversial opinions were disqualifying, then Donald J. Trump would never have won the primaries, let alone the 2016 and 2020 elections (the latter of which was stolen, of course).

By the Republican Establishment’s standards, Ron DeSantis and Greg Gianforte should never have won their gubernatorial elections. Like Trump, DeSantis and Gianforte had major baggage attached to them, FAR more than what’s being attached to Barnette. By the Republican Establishment’s standards, Mitt Romney and John McCain should have won their presidential elections while Jeb Bush should have been the 2016 presidential nominee.

Their standards are dead wrong. It’s a con. It has been proven time and again that their semi-logical but mostly flawed approach to primary candidate selection is the antithesis of how elections actually play out. We need bold candidates who paint with bright colors, not people like Dr. Mehmet Oz whose policy stances are bland pastels. He likes to stay on the fence on nearly every issue because he fears controversy. He wants to seem electable.

Those who don’t want to vote for Kathy Barnette because they don’t like the things she’s said in the past or they believe her resume is questionable are absolutely fine in my book. You’ve done your research and you chose a different candidate, which I absolutely respect and even admire. I disagree, but we don’t have to agree on the right path for every issue. We love America and we want to make things better, so I have no ill will to those who make that choice. We will still fight side-by-side against the radical leftists regardless of how the primary on Tuesday turns out.

However, those who think they’re doing the right thing to beat the Democrats by picking the “strategic” choice of someone with less baggage do not earn my respect. They are the gullible people who allow the Republican Establishment to stay in power. They are the people who encouraged Donald Trump to surround himself with “strategic” choices like H.R. McMaster, Rex Tillerson, John Kelly, Mike Pence, Omarosa, Anthony Scaramucci, Mark Esper, Jim Mattis, John Bolton, Jeff Sessions, and Reince Priebus.

Anyone who thinks Kathy Barnette has too much baggage to win in the general election denies what Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Greg Gianforte, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, and Lauren Boebert taught us in recent years.

As I noted in a previous article, the rumor spread by Sean Hannity and others that she had an “embarrassing” loss to a “weak” Democrat in the 2020 congressional race is absolutely false:

What Hannity doesn’t mention is that the “weak” Democrat was Madeleine Dean, a Democrat incumbent in a very blue district. Compared to Dan David who ran against Dean in 2018, Barnette dramatically outperformed him, getting 48% more votes than David got in his race against Dean two years earlier.

Hannity and others are hoping that voters will equate losing in 2020 in a congressional race to a loss in 2022 in a senate race. This is unambiguously false and extremely disingenuous for them to rely on the ignorance of many voters. Her very strong performance in a very blue district is why she would almost certainly win in a statewide senate race.

Kathy Barnette is a fighter. She is a passionate Christian and a staunch America First patriot. If you disagree with her stances or qualification, I accept that. If you’re trying to strategize to get another RINO to DC, I stand athwart.

Pennsylvania U.S. Senate candidate Kathy Barnette appears to have been caught making a false claim about voting for Donald Trump during the 2016 primaries.

In an interview on the Chris Stigall show, Barnette was asked about her first vote in the state of Pennsylvania, to which she responded that she voted for Trump in the 2016 primaries.

“The one that really pops out in my mind is 2016 for the primary for President Trump, as well as for the general election for President Trump,” she said on the show.

While Barnette might be telling the truth about her primary vote, her comments certainly contradict what she herself wrote in her past memoir, as Republican strategist Matt Wolking, who works with Pennsylvania Senate candidate David McCormick, pointed out on Thursday.

“Praise God for second chances,” she wrote in her book. “Though I didn’t vote for Trump in the primaries, by the time the general election rolled around I was firmly on the first car of the Trump train.

In the book she published in 2020, Kathy Barnette wrote that “I didn’t vote for Trump in the primaries.”

What else is Kathy Barnette lying about? #PAsen @ChrisStigall pic.twitter.com/cfVB7r7PEY

— Matt Wolking (@MattWolking) May 13, 2022

Whether Barnette meant to intentionally mislead during the interview or if she simply misspoke remains unknown, but falsely claiming to have voted for Trump in the 2016 primary as a MAGA badge of pride makes for a rather odd hill to die on considering some of the president’s most ardent supporters initially opposed him (some quite virulently) in the primary. Some, such as Ohio Senate candidate J.D. Vance, outright opposed his candidacy and yet still found the president’s favor after changing course. Aside from the passage in her book, Barnette’s past tweets show that she firmly opposed President Trump throughout the primary, routinely knocking his moral character and demeanor.

@Mark60644 Did u c d last Presidential Debate. #Trump2016 was horrid. Even #Rubio challenged d moderator 2 ask him a demanding question.

— Kathy Barnette (@Kathy4Truth) September 27, 2015

#Trump2016 is good 4 beers & barbeque. BUT, not as President.

WE r so morally bankrupt WE c/n c d differ http://t.co/djJRNDlJ2C #WAARadio

— Kathy Barnette (@Kathy4Truth) September 29, 2015

@Mark60644 #Trump2016 is JUST AS LIBERAL as d leaders we currently hv n office. #MoralityMatters & Trump does not rank high in it…

— Kathy Barnette (@Kathy4Truth) September 27, 2015

@Mark60644 NO, we have #Cruz & #BenCarson. I like #Trump2016…he’s a riot. But, he’s nothing more than HEADLINES…very little substance.

— Kathy Barnette (@Kathy4Truth) September 27, 2015

#Trump2016 moral character is questionable!

Braggadocious+constant jabs+4 bankrup+brags bending rules. http://t.co/djJRNDlJ2C #WAARadio

— Kathy Barnette (@Kathy4Truth) September 27, 2015

I agree, there is a real disconnect, for me, in #DrBenCarson endorsing #Trump over #Cruz.

Yet, I can’t throw… https://t.co/oh8JDN76yU

— Kathy Barnette (@Kathy4Truth) March 11, 2016

Whatever her past positions on Trump, Barnette has been vocal in her support of the former president throughout the campaign.

Barnette’s dubious comments come after questions have been raised regarding her military service and after Trump publicly said she would have a tough time winning the general election against Lt. Gov. John Fetterman.

“Kathy Barnette will never be able to win the General Election against the Radical Left Democrats,” Trump stated, noting that she has “many things in her past which have not been properly explained or vetted, but if she is able to do so, she will have a wonderful future in the Republican Party—and I will be behind her all the way.”

UPDATE 5-13-22 10:27 a.m. ET:

After the publication of this article, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette uncovered that Barnette did not even vote at all in Pennsylvania in 2016–in the primary or the general election:

Another lie:

“Despite her staunch support for Mr. Trump, she didn’t vote in Pennsylvania in 2016, according to state voter records. Ms. Barnette registered to vote in Pennsylvania in August 2015, but didn’t vote until 2018, according to voter rolls.”https://t.co/9PaoP7PNT6

— Matt Wolking (@MattWolking) May 13, 2022

This means that she did not, per voting records from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, vote for Trump–or anyone else–in 2016.

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