Kerry Bentivolio draws primary challenger

[tsai3904]

Republican Rep. Kerry Bentivolio of Michigan officially has a primary on his hands.

Attorney David Trott announced Wednesday morning his primary challenge against Bentivolio, a freshman who won his first term amid the chaos created when former Republican Rep. Thaddeus McCotter abruptly resigned from Congress in 2012.

Trott’s announcement came in the form of an email to supporters and made no mention of the 11th District’s incumbent.

...

Bentivolio, despite his incumbent status, struggled over the past year to put together an organized re-election effort. He raised $65,000 in the most recent fundraising quarter and his previous reporting period was even worse.

More:
http://atr.rollcall.com/bentivolio-gets-a-primary-challenger/

I know a lot of people here don't like Bentivolio but I've been keeping a scorecard and with 31 key votes so far this year, he's in the top 10 and tied with Walter Jones. He's scored better than Steve Stockman, Raul Labrador, Mick Mulvaney, and Jim Bridenstine. Given this, I hope he wins but I'm not supporting him with my money again.

 

[Smart3]

Yeah, we totally need another liar... i mean lawyer in Congress.

 

[Bastiat's The Law]

If Kerry loses its because he brought it on himself.

 

[helmuth_hubener]

If Kerry loses its because he brought it on himself.

Agreed. But he won't. Incumbents never lose.

 

[Bastiat's The Law]

Kerry not working closer with Amash and Massie is mind-boggling stupid on his part.

 

[FSP-Rebel]

Agreed. But he won't. Incumbents never lose.

If you remember how the last primary went for him with the write in gal, most of the party hanchos went against him and they'll undoubtedly back this other well-off attorney. They will out fundraise Kerry for sure and it will be up to volunteers as to whether Kerry has a fighting chance and he did too much early on that caused a mutiny so it remains to be seen how he'll fare. I still have 70 of his yard signs and probably will work my ass off for him again. I'll have to see how things go as far as donations tho.

 

[eleganz]

Kerry not working closer with Amash and Massie is mind-boggling stupid on his part.

He has went from a liberty candidate into fading into obscurity. Probably explains why he wasn't a guest panelist at the YAL national convention.

 

[ctiger2]

Kerry doesn't "get" it. Dump him.

 

[Mr.NoSmile]

Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia and Rep. Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin have made or will make fundraising stops for Bentivolio this recess period.

All I really needed to see in the article. Possibly in exchange for voting to keep Boehner as speaker? Who knows? But the fact that he's got three of the biggest names in the Republican Party in Congress stumping for him, he'll have some backing for sure. Before people jump ship and go for David Trott, it'd be nice to know where he stands on issues.

 

[matt0611]

Kerry had so much potential, what went wrong?

 

[angelatc]

Kerry had so much potential, what went wrong?

If I lived in his district I would still vote for him, maybe put a sign in the yard. But not money. He voted to spend the money I might have given him. Oh well.

 

[EBounding]

I just got an e-mail from this guy (Trott). He's hitting the ground running. I'm not donating anything to Kerry though unless his vote stops a war or something.

Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia and Rep. Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin have made or will make fundraising stops for Bentivolio this recess period.

Kerry will probably do okay if he can get Paul Ryan's endorsement. The rank-and-file donors love that guy.

 

[GunnyFreedom]

You'd have to seriously cherry-pick the hell out of their records to tie him with Jones. No thanks.

 

[Bastiat's The Law]

He has went from a liberty candidate into fading into obscurity. Probably explains why he wasn't a guest panelist at the YAL national convention.

Honestly, I think the guy is trying to hide in the broom closet.

 

[tsai3904]

You'd have to seriously cherry-pick the hell out of their records to tie him with Jones. No thanks.

Not really. Jones has always had a horrible spending record. These are things Jones voted "wrong" on:

HR 41 - bill to authorize FEMA to borrow $9.7 billion due to Hurricane Sandy
HR 297 - bill reauthorizing federal support for children's hospitals at levels ABOVE Obama's request
Resolution calling on sanctions for North Korea
HR 933 - CR from March through September
Republican Study Committee's 5 year balanced budget
Amendment reducing the statutory requirement from 11 to 10 the number of carriers Navy must have
Amendment cutting spending in NDAA so that it complies with Budget Control Act

And most people don't look at Kerry's overall voting record. Yea he's voted bad on some big bills but there's a lot of less known votes that people just don't know about.

 

[GunnyFreedom]

Not really. Jones has always had a horrible spending record. These are things Jones voted "wrong" on:

HR 41 - bill to authorize FEMA to borrow $9.7 billion due to Hurricane Sandy
HR 297 - bill reauthorizing federal support for children's hospitals at levels ABOVE Obama's request
Resolution calling on sanctions for North Korea
HR 933 - CR from March through September
Republican Study Committee's 5 year balanced budget
Amendment reducing the statutory requirement from 11 to 10 the number of carriers Navy must have
Amendment cutting spending in NDAA so that it complies with Budget Control Act

Looks cherry-picked to me.

Anybody who claims Walter Jones is equal to Kerry Bentivolio is delusional. Sorry man.

 

[Bastiat's The Law]

Kerry had so much potential, what went wrong?

I think he's smart enough to be aware of his own deficiencies and just wants to blend in with the wallpaper in Congress.

 

[tsai3904]

Anybody who claims Walter Jones is equal to Kerry Bentivolio is delusional. Sorry man.

I would suggest people create their own scorecard and find out for themselves. Otherwise, how else do you judge them?

 

[GunnyFreedom]

I would suggest people create their own scorecard and find out for themselves. Otherwise, how else do you judge them?

By their records, of course.

Check out the FreedomWorks scorecards:

http://congress.freedomworks.org/keyvotes/house/2013

Jones gets a 96

Bentivolio gets a 62

I have my own metrics, but my results do line up roughly with these, and FreedomWorks is going to be a bit more objective than just my own personal flavors so that's just some decent evidence to my original point that anybody who calls Jones and Bentivolio "equal" is cherry-picking and woefully delusional.

 

[qh4dotcom]

Can I get back the money I donated to him last year?

He lost me when he voted for Boehner.