Here’s a piece of information – courtesy of Conservative Headquarters maestro Richard Viguerie – that ought to scare the bejeebers out of a whole bunch of incumbent members of the Senate and House – filing deadlines for candidates remain open in 75 percent of the states.
If the political significance of that datapoint escapes you, just ask Rep. Jean Schmidt about it. The Ohio Republican lost her re-election bid in a big way Tuesday to a Tea Party backed primary challenger, Brad Wenstrup.
Recommended Stories
Schmidt was among the weakest incumbents in the House to be sure, but that doesn’t take away from a remarkable win by Wenstrup that hardly anybody saw coming.
As Viguerie notes: “Schmidt had the backing of the Republican establishment and outspent Wenstrup more than three-to-one, yet Wenstrup won handily, beating Schmidt by six points.”
But in the Tea Party era of American politics, an upset primary loss by a vulnerable Republican incumbent has ramifications far beyond the Buckeye state, according to Viguerie.
“Wenstrup’s Tea Party victory in Ohio was completely under the radar of the national media, and demonstrates that the dynamics of the 2010 election are still at work. The hunger for change in Washington and a governor on the big spenders of both parties is still a powerful force in American politics that could produce another tsunami in Congressional elections across the country,” Viguerie said.
It’s a reminder that, despite its relative obscurity on the national political scene since the 2010 congressional election, the Tea Party movement remains very much alive and has been doing exactly what ground-shaking reform movements have always done in America – organizing and growing from the grassroots up.
In a memo to the Tea Party movement, Viguerie pushes hard on the idea that now is the time for conservative activists to get involved by seeking office and it doesn’t have to be at the national or state level in order to make a big difference.
“You don’t have to run for Congress to make a difference. Running for any office, no matter how far down the ballot, is worthy of your efforts,” Viguerie writes in the memo.
“If constitutional conservatives are to govern America, we must not only elect a President and a Congress, but also city council members, school board members, state legislators, Secretaries of State, Lt. Governors, etc., etc.,” he said.
Viguerie also explains why even a losing effort by a Tea Party candidate is almost certain to advance the movement. Go here to read the full Viguerie memo.
