A Republican congressman is putting Democrats on blast for supporting his “MAGA” primary challenger ahead of their faceoff on Tuesday.
Rep. Peter Meijer (R-MI) faulted the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for engaging in a $435,000 ad buy to promote Trump-endorsed John Gibbs, whom he called “the weaker Republican candidate ahead of the November midterm elections” after Democrats praised him when he became one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump in 2021 over the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
“This is not an insignificant amount of money for the Gibbs campaign, nor is it an insignificant act by Democrats,” Meijer wrote in an op-ed published to Common Sense. “The DCCC’s ad buy was more than Gibbs raised over the entire duration of his campaign. It was also nearly 100x the support Donald Trump himself offered to Gibbs (a single $5,000 contribution from the Save America Super PAC). In other words, the Democrats are not merely attempting to boost a candidate over the finish line: They are subsidizing his entire campaign.”
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Gibbs is not the only Trump-favored candidate the Democrats have propped up this election cycle, including in the gubernatorial races in Pennsylvania and Maryland, drawing criticism from Meijer and even some Democrats.
The move by the DCCC to boost Meijer’s primary rival has its critics who say a strategy meant to ease Democrats’ path to victory in the swing district is a bad move for the party. For example, former Obama adviser David Axelrod tweeted, ”Republican @RepMeijer placed his young political career at risk by voting to impeach Trump. Disappointing that Ds are trying to help Trump exact vengeance.”
Meijer said the Democrats are engaged in “political jiu-jitsu” that could jeopardize democracy further after a 2020 cycle in which election deniers shook the system to its core.
“Watching this unraveling inside my party has been utterly bewildering,” the congressman said. “The only thing that has been more nauseating has been the capacity of my Democratic colleagues to sell out any pretense of principle for political expediency — at once decrying the downfall of democracy while rationalizing the use of their hard-raised dollars to prop up the supposed object of their fears.”
He also noted that “conventional wisdom” dictates that these Trump-backed candidates are less electable, but very low approval numbers for President Joe Biden indicate the Democrats are setting themselves up for an unhappy surprise. “If successful, Republican voters will be blamed if any of these candidates are ultimately elected, but there is no doubt Democrats’ fingerprints will be on the weapon. We should never forget it,” Meijer concluded.
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In a July interview, Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY), chairman of the DCCC, argued that Democrats should tread carefully in embracing a spoiler role in GOP primary elections but noted that the strategy could be effective in helping to defeat Republicans in the general election.
“If you’re talking about trying to pick your opponent, you might see us do that, sure. And I think sometimes, it does make sense,” he told MSNBC last month.
