Tea Party Incumbents May Face Tea Party Challengers
Many Republican freshmen, who benefited from an anti-incumbent mood in 2010, are now having to face voters as incumbents. Some of those 2010 Tea Party candidates will likely face a Tea Party challenger in 2012.
Members of the U.S. House of Representatives who first won their seats in 2010 have only been in office for nine months, but with a short two-year term, they are already thinking about the next election.
Reelection is generally a top concern of members of Congress in a normal year, as Yale political science Professor David Mayhew pointed out in his classic 1974 text, Congress: The Electoral Connection. In 2012, Members face low congressional approval ratings, an unpredictable electorate, and redrawn congressional districts, which add even greater uncertainty and angst for many Members.
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Two votes in particular have upset some Tea Party activists – raising the nation's debt ceiling and extension of the Patriot Act.
In the battle to the raise the nation's debt ceiling, congressional leaders and President Obama reached a compromise that cut spending and created a joint select committee, or “supercommittee,” to craft a bill that will cut future growth in spending.
Even though Republicans got more of what they wanted than Democrats in the deal, many Tea Party activists did not support the legislation because they wanted deeper cuts and were concerned that the supercommittee will raise taxes. About half of the Tea Party caucus in the House voted in favor of the bill.
Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio) is a freshman Republican who was supported by the Tea Party. In an Aug. 23 interview with The Christian Post he explained why he voted in favor of the debt ceiling.
“We're spending trillions and we're cutting billions. We've got to get more aggressive, and I'm a big proponent of that. But, casting a symbolic 'no' vote just to say, 'I'm going to make an ideological stand here and instead of being a part of the solution I'm just going to block whatever,' that's not solving the problem,” Johnson said.
Some congressional Tea Party members have also been criticized for their vote to extend the Patriot Act. The Patriot Act is a President George W. Bush-era policy that was passed after the Sept. 11, 2011 attacks. While many Democrats oppose the Act, some Republicans also feel that it goes too far in the direction of violating civil liberties.
In Indiana's 8th district, Larry Bucshon is facing Kristi Risk, who has criticized Bucshon's votes in favor of raising the debt ceiling and renewing the Patriot Act. In Tennessee's 3rd district, Chuck Fleischmann is facing a challenge from Weston Wamp, son of former House member and unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate Zach Wamp.
Not everyone in the Tea Party, however, is eager to mount a challenge to one of their own because of one or two votes.
Dick Armey used to be the House Majority Leader in the 1990s and now chairs FreedomWorks, a Tea Party organization. In an interview with Politico, Armey said his group would support many Tea Party freshman as a “thank you” for steering Washington towards a focus on spending.
“These guys came in and said they would focus on spending - and they’ve done that. They’ve framed the debate in Congress over cutting spending,” Armey said.
Johnson acknowledged that some in the Tea Party believe that his debt ceiling vote is a sign that he became corrupted by Washington.
“I'm gonna tell you that there are some who think that when I was sworn in on Jan. 5 that I went to this side room and experienced a frontal lobotomy and that now I am just another scumbag politician that has just bought in and drunk the Kool-Aid in Washington,” Johnson said.
Johnson believes, though, that some Tea Party activists can be convinced that he made the right choice.
“When you sit down with Tea Party folks, who are American patriots that are concerned about the direction of this country as much as I am, and explain, this is what I saw, this is what you sent me there to do, they see it differently,” Johnson explained. “They understand.”
On the web: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/65025.html
