We have our first endorsement from a Republican in the North Carolina congressional delegation. Rep. Walter Jones, who represents the 3rd congressional district, is supporting Rand Paul for president. Jones, a maverick Republican, is a paleoconservative whose views are in line with the senator from Kentucky. And like Mr. Paul, Jones is detested by the GOP establishment. If they get their way, Rand Paul’s presidential bid will go down in flames and Walter Jones will not be returning to Congress.
Right now, the establishment is watching Paul warily, just in case he emerges as a serious threat. As for Jones, they’ve recruited a primary challenger against him – Taylor Griffin, a former staffer in the Bush White House. Griffin ran against Jones last time and lost by a meager margin. This time, Griffin will be better prepared. He’s building up relationships with key activists in Eastern North Carolina and is working hard. Although Jones maintains staunch support with many residents, there are a number of folks who are ready for a change.
That means it looks like there will be not one, but two competitive primaries for incumbent Republicans in NC next year – one for Renee Ellmers and one for Walter Jones. In both instances, the attempts of challengers to knock off these congresspeople could be hampered by the entrance of additional candidates.
In the 3rd district, it’s looking like that third entrant will be Phil Law, a Jacksonville businessman whose campaign slogan is “There ought to be a LAW in Congress!” Law, a Marine Corps veteran who served in Iraq, would be challenging Jones from the right, echoing many of the positions taken by Mr. Griffin. Law says Jones’ foreign policy is too similar to President Obama’s and that he’s been an ineffective congressmen.
If there’s a split in the anti-Jones vote, it’s very possible the incumbent could take as low as 40% of the vote next May and still manage to win. Even in a two-way contest, it won’t be easy to knock off Jones. There’s a lot of loyalty to the Jones name in Eastern North Carolina, and it will show up for the congressman at the polls next year – even if he’s not a conventional conservative.
John Wynne is the “conservative voice” at PoliticsNC, where he also provides polling analysis and commentary on legislative campaigns. When not writing about politics, he enjoys gardening and listening to opera. Contact: johncwynne@gmail.com.
Whatever happened about Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) paying his wife’s marketing company out of his campaign donations? Did that kill his chances to run in 2016?
If Congress would legislate now for some regulations as well as public interest laws requiring free TV time and free radio time for vetted candidates in all US federal elections, we could actually do something soon in the national best interest AND Jim Webb could stand a chance -(IF that money thing regarding his wife was sufficiently explained),don’t you think?
When Senator Webb won his US Senate seat in 2006 the opposition had spread rumors he was an author of “Romance novels” rather than the classic” Fields of Fire” he wrote that touched uniquely on The Vietnam War he fought in. Pretty funny tactic that didn’t stick and perhaps Senator Webb could win again in 2016! His pro legalization views mesh well with how these younger generations swing, don’t cha know?
Rand Paul scares me. He’s doing and saying a lot of the right things to be appealing to Independent voters. He was one of the first white politicians to visit Ferguson and speak out against what happened there with the Mike Brown murder. And he did it relatively quickly and in fairly strong terms. Hillary took at least six weeks possibly two months to make a statement about Ferguson at all and when she did it was fairly milquetoast. He’s also spoken out more quickly than Clinton on several issues. I don’t think he could get the Republican nomination. I think if another decent Democratic candidate got into it, that we’d see a repeat of 2008 and she’d lose the nomination again. It appears to me that she already has been running an extremely ineffective campaign already, the book, the e-mails, saying she’s going to raise $2.5 billion dollars. Paul can actually sound sincere while Clinton sounds like she’s lying even when she’s telling the truth.
Re: your remark “I think if another decent Democratic candidate got into it, that we’d see a repeat of 2008 and she’d lose the nomination again.”
I don’t think that’s even a remote possibility. There is only one candidate that can make HRC sweat a bit for the Dem nomination, and that person (Elizabeth Warren) seems firm in not running. There are really no other Dem candidates with any name recognition, ardent following, or ready campaign apparatus.
Warren is more than a “decent” candidate. She’s very intelligent, carries an assertive progressive message for change in the government’s too cozy and co-dependent relationship with corporations, banks and Wall Street, and would steal votes away from Clinton’s wheelhouse—female voters. But Clinton would still win the nod, I am sure.
More than 2 competitive races. Pattie curran is going after Virginia Foxx in the 5th district. Check her out at PattieCurran.com
Went on Pattie Curran’s web site. This is the future of the Repulican Party in NC?? God help us all.
How very appropriate that Jones lends support to this particular member of the GOP Clown Car. One Bozo endorsing another. Both viewed within their party as on the very fringe, and as Republicans in only the most marginal of ways. One who behaves like the federal government should be part of some religious sect, while the other seems to think that the federal government should just go to hell.
I have no idea which you have misunderstood to want the federal government to be part of a religious sect. But you made your point by your lack of information; you’re not a Republican in the first place, so chances are the “fringe” in your opinion is very essence of what it means to be a limited government patriot. On Thomas Jefferson’s birthday, he would be proud of Walter B. Jones as well as Rand Paul.
I have no lack of information and hold no misunderstandings when it comes to Rep. Jones. I have met him numerous times and have heard him speak numerous times. Most of his speeches and public remarks are overly filled with prayer and references to God, while nearly barren of comments or insights on the issue he was expected to address. Seems his life’s calling (which he apparently missed hearing) was to be a man of the cloth and not a federal representative.
As Thomas writes, he and Paul are “detested by the GOP establishment.” The reason?They are just too much on the fringe of Party platform thinking, are mavericks, and are not team players (even in the GOP, where compromise and unity have been absent for going on a decade now).
Face it. It seems that most Republicans (and most Dems, too) can’t help but roll their eyes when libertarians claim to be the only true freedom-loving patriots in existence. Like your related remark, it gets tedious and reflects a conceit that is not very endearing.