Swordsmyth
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Rep. Thomas Massie isn't in a forgive-and-forget kind of mood.
The libertarian-leaning House member on Tuesday crushed his Republican primary opponent 88%-12% in the northern Kentucky district he's represented since 2013. That despite several high-profile House Republicans initially backing, and sending campaign contributions to, his primary opponent.
House Republican Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming in the spring criticized Massie over delaying tactics on passage of a coronavirus economic relief bill. The proposal became law, but not before Massie used parliamentary tactics to force lawmakers to return to Washington as the pandemic worsened.
The feud was an extension of tensions between House Republican leaders and Massie, an MIT-trained engineer and multiple patent holder who frequent dissents from the party-line on votes. Particularly when, he says, party leaders disregard Republican principles of small government and limited spending.
Massie, headed for another term in Congress after dominating the all-important Republican primary, remembers where Cheney stood when it mattered.
Questions linger over “whether the Republican leadership is going to actively and openly back primary opponents to incumbent Republicans. I think it's a dangerous precedent that Liz Cheney set as a member of the GOP leadership team, to try and cull the herd while we're still in the minority,” Massie told the Washington Examiner.
“You don't cull the herd when you don't have enough herd. And yet she's trying to use politics to influence the policy of the members in her conference. and I think it's wrong," Massie said. "Especially when we're in the minority. The money that she spent financing my opponent could have been used for taking back the majority.”
Massie says his concern relates to the openness of the Republican Party choosing a primary opponent over an incumbent. He compared it to hardball tactics employed by the past two Republican House speakers against dissidents such as then-Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina, now Trump's White House chief of staff.
“John Boehner and Paul Ryan had their super PACs and their c-4's and their dark money that they would try to use against members. They used that against Mark Meadows, and it didn't work out too well for John Boehner,” he said. “They've always told lobbyists up here, 'Don't give to this member, give to his opponent, or her opponent.' It's common knowledge that they extort members with their committee assignments.”
More at: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/...iz-cheney-for-backing-failed-primary-opponent
The libertarian-leaning House member on Tuesday crushed his Republican primary opponent 88%-12% in the northern Kentucky district he's represented since 2013. That despite several high-profile House Republicans initially backing, and sending campaign contributions to, his primary opponent.
House Republican Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming in the spring criticized Massie over delaying tactics on passage of a coronavirus economic relief bill. The proposal became law, but not before Massie used parliamentary tactics to force lawmakers to return to Washington as the pandemic worsened.
The feud was an extension of tensions between House Republican leaders and Massie, an MIT-trained engineer and multiple patent holder who frequent dissents from the party-line on votes. Particularly when, he says, party leaders disregard Republican principles of small government and limited spending.
Massie, headed for another term in Congress after dominating the all-important Republican primary, remembers where Cheney stood when it mattered.
Questions linger over “whether the Republican leadership is going to actively and openly back primary opponents to incumbent Republicans. I think it's a dangerous precedent that Liz Cheney set as a member of the GOP leadership team, to try and cull the herd while we're still in the minority,” Massie told the Washington Examiner.
“You don't cull the herd when you don't have enough herd. And yet she's trying to use politics to influence the policy of the members in her conference. and I think it's wrong," Massie said. "Especially when we're in the minority. The money that she spent financing my opponent could have been used for taking back the majority.”
Massie says his concern relates to the openness of the Republican Party choosing a primary opponent over an incumbent. He compared it to hardball tactics employed by the past two Republican House speakers against dissidents such as then-Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina, now Trump's White House chief of staff.
“John Boehner and Paul Ryan had their super PACs and their c-4's and their dark money that they would try to use against members. They used that against Mark Meadows, and it didn't work out too well for John Boehner,” he said. “They've always told lobbyists up here, 'Don't give to this member, give to his opponent, or her opponent.' It's common knowledge that they extort members with their committee assignments.”
More at: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/...iz-cheney-for-backing-failed-primary-opponent
