Presidential (mis)fortunes causing headaches for congressional GOP candidates
Tuesday, August 9th, 2022
The divide on the right between supporters of Republican nominee Alan Duke and independent candidate Andrew Long has begun to cause headaches for Republican congressional candidates, possibly endangering the Republican majorities in both chambers of Congress.
The first town hall meetings of the congressional August recess took place over the weekend, and among Republican officeholders and those seeking to join them in Washington, many studiously avoided questions over who they supported or what their thoughts on the race were.
"I have great admiration both for Senator Duke and Mr. Long," Congressman Kurt Cameron (R-VA) said at a meeting in his district. "And I am still studying the race and will make my decision [on who to endorse] at a later point."
Cameron, a moderate within the Republican caucus, is in a tough race. His northern Virginia district has shifted Democratic over his 13 years in Congress, and he needs the support of both the culture warriors and evangelical foot-soldiers who propelled Duke to victory in the Republican primary, as well as the more moderate members of the party who have expressed their dislike of Duke by supporting Long's candidacy.
The GOP will need to retain seats it won in districts like Cameron's if it wants to hold onto the majority it won in the House two years ago. Duke's brand of aggressive social conservatism is polling incredibly poorly in the types of suburban or semi-suburban seats that pushed the GOP over the edge, but within those seats, the party has relied on the type of die-hard culture warriors that love Duke as campaign volunteers and local party officials.
In races to hold onto vital Senate seats, there is a similar calculus. Senator James Clarke (R-WI) is facing a very tough re-election fight against Congressman Drake Headley (D-WI) and was jeered by Duke supporters at a town hall in Oshkosh when he demurred on who he supported. While Duke lost Wisconsin's Republican primary, his supporters are a vital component of any victorious coalition that the Clarke campaign can assemble.
While the GOP came out of 2020's midterms with 57 senators, the projected large margins of victory for President Sam Seaborn (D) in several swing states and lead in states that lean Republican has caused alarm in the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC). Reportedly, the NRSC has begun concentrated ad-buys on behalf of incumbents like Carlos Cabrera (Colorado), Ruth Norton-Stewart (Ohio), and Ellie Wilkins (New Hampshire) while cutting off funding for candidates hoping to retain seats for the GOP in Illinois and Michigan.
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Tuesday, August 9th 2022
Former Australian PM Alexandria Hartegan dead at 68
Perth— Alexandria Hartegan, the first female prime minister in Australian history, has died at the age of 68 yesterday from metastatic breast cancer. A member of the politically prominent Hartegan family, she led Australia from 1999 to 2007 leading the center-right coalition between the Liberal and National parties as a member of the larger Liberal Party.
The only daughter of former prime minister Bartley Hartegan (who led Australia from 1974 to 1984), Alexandria Hartegan had a long political career that continued even after her ouster as leader of the Liberal Party. After a working for nearly two decades as a solicitor, she won a seat in parliament in the 1992 general election. She rose through the ranks of the Liberal Party and became leader of the party after prime minister Stephen J. Erwin lost his own seat in the 1997 election upset that saw Labor come to power. With an unprepared Labor government, Hartegan and the Liberals forced an early election to be called in 1999 and the center-right regained power.
In her three terms in power, Hartegan became known for her support of free market economics, although she was forced by court decisions and political realities to introduce the goods and services tax (GST). She also oversaw Australians decline to become a republic in a referendum held the year she took power, and emerged as a critic of American President Josiah Bartlet's foreign policy interventions in Equatorial Kundu, Qumar and Kazakhstan. Her popularity within her party fell as her term wore on and in-fighting between her supporters and those of future prime minister Fiona Warne were a major factor in the Liberal/National coalition losing power in 2007.
Leaving Parliament after her defeat, Hartegan returned as a member of the Senate representing Western Australia. During her time in the Senate, she was frequently seen as a rival to Warne, who became prime minister in 2011. In the 2018 election that saw Warne and the Liberals lose power, Hartegan returned to the House of Representatives (the lower house of the Australian parliament) and was expected to announce a bid to return to leading the Liberal Party after Warne resigned following the loss. However, she announced that she would not run after revealing that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer shortly before the election. Hartegan retained her seat in last year's federal election, and prior to her death had announced that she would not seek re-election at the next federal election (scheduled for 2024).
Prime Minister Dominic Rodgers said it was a "sad day for Australia" and praised Hartegan as a "trailblazer." Warne, her successor and rival within the Liberal Party, said that Hartegan was "a dedicated public servant and politician" who had "shattered the glass ceiling in Canberra." All five of Bartley Hartegan's living successors have also expressed their condolences to Australia's 20th prime minister and the Hartegan family.
Alexandria Hartegan, file photo (credit: O. Newton-John)