Eric Brakey (MAINE)

Very disappointing in the election results. It's sad and frustrating. Would like to know what went wrong. I know Eric's campaign manager and he is very sharp which makes it all the more hurtful.
 
Very disappointing in the election results. It's sad and frustrating. Would like to know what went wrong. I know Eric's campaign manager and he is very sharp which makes it all the more hurtful.

He tried to play both sides and it didn't work. Brakey's ads said pro-trump and Craft's ads said Brakey was anti-trump.
 
Very disappointing in the election results. It's sad and frustrating. Would like to know what went wrong. I know Eric's campaign manager and he is very sharp which makes it all the more hurtful.

I was very disappointed as well, Matt. Between Brakey, Gurtler, and Freitas I would have guessed Brakey's campaign was a lock for the nomination. I mean he was already elected as a ME state senator, was the nominee for US Senate from ME and garnered 225,000 votes in 2018 so he had great name ID.... and to top it off he outraised Crafts by a factor of 2.5X and outraised Bennet by an even greater multiple. He also had sizable media buys from CFG and Protect Freedom PAC. He had a grassroots door knocking and phonebanking campaign that was supposedly knocking out the voter outreach. It is concerning to say the least.

On paper he was a shoe-in, in reality something went wrong. Just not sure what.
 
To share my honest opinion, I am not sure why everyone wants to run for congress. When we have a rockstar like Eric, or Justin (used to be) or Thomas, or Gurtler, etc it would honestly be much better if they stayed in their state legislatures. They can be far more effective there than running for frigging congress where it's like pissing in the ocean. Yes a handfull of dedicated liberty guys in DC can indeed make a difference, but they can only do so much. On the state level though they can really affect some serious change though.
 
We've had 3 years to judge and see the party evolve.

My criteria is really based on how amiable the Trump-led GOP is to electing Ron Paul Republicans in the House and Senate. I'm not really a fan of Trump but if we can get strong Ron Paul candidates elected then that is a major win and makes his administration more tolerable.

The way I see it, there are a couple of tiers of Ron Paul candidates running this cycle

GOLD Tier

Eric Brakey (defeated in primary)
Matt Gurtler (advanced to GOP primary run off)
Nick Frietas (nomination convention is LIVE as we speak and should know results in hours)
Thomas Massie (won reelection no thanks to Trump)

SILVER Tier

Madison Cawthorn (won primary even when Trump endorsed opponent)
Nancy Mace (won primary)
Dr Manny Sethi (primary is yet to be decided)
Kat Cammack (primary yet to be decided)



How these races shake out will greatly influence my perception of the "trump GOP"
 
My criteria is really based on how amiable the Trump-led GOP is to electing Ron Paul Republicans in the House and Senate. I'm not really a fan of Trump but if we can get strong Ron Paul candidates elected then that is a major win and makes his administration more tolerable.

The way I see it, there are a couple of tiers of Ron Paul candidates running this cycle

GOLD Tier

Eric Brakey (defeated in primary)
Matt Gurtler (advanced to GOP primary run off)
Nick Frietas (nomination convention is LIVE as we speak and should know results in hours)
Thomas Massie (won reelection no thanks to Trump)

SILVER Tier

Madison Cawthorn (won primary even when Trump endorsed opponent)
Nancy Mace (won primary)
Dr Manny Sethi (primary is yet to be decided)
Kat Cammack (primary yet to be decided)



How these races shake out will greatly influence my perception of the "trump GOP"
Freitas won, Gurtler lost, Sethi lost, Cammack is leading but is she really silver tier even?

What I am looking at is the sort of overall popularity of liberty as a message and when someone like Cammack (who may be a closet Amash for all we know) is running ads focused on how she will "support President Trump", that is against the spirit of liberty. Subservience to an authoritarian leader is popular and what is selling today. The spirit and overall energy is anti-liberty.
 
Looks like we end up with only Mace and Cammack. Freitas came close (lost by under 2%). It's possible he'd win if he ran again. Typically there's a pushback after the first 2 years of a presidency hence the 2010 Tea Party wave and the 2018 Blue Wave so if that pattern continues I think he'd have a very good shot of winning.
 
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