Democrats again had a good electoral night on Tuesday, flipping what used to be George Santos’ congressional seat in New York and overperforming expectations in a few smaller state-level races. New York’s special congressional election, however, didn’t need to and shouldn’t have happened. It only did because, unlike Democrats, Republicans don’t seem to see any value in preserving power to be able to accomplish what they set out to do. How many times will Republicans lose before they at least try something different?
Just look across the aisle in the upper chamber. There, Democrat Senator Bob Menendez from New Jersey is still receiving classified briefings even after being indicted — and not for the first time — for allegedly profiting personally from foreign nationals. Evidence photos included literal gold bars, financial records, and seemingly damning proof of wrongdoing. Yet, Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats have not forced him out of Congress. Democrats’ slim majority means they can’t afford to lose a vote, nor risk the unlikely chance of a Republican candidate flipping the seat in a special election. So they allow Menendez to continue serving despite his legal issues.
George Santos, by comparison, lied about his background and allegedly misused funds for personal expenses. He wasn’t caught with gold bars, but Republicans decided he had to go and expelled him from the House, triggering a special election that handed a seat to Dems and made the House GOP majority even slimmer. Was it worth it?
Within the lower chamber, Republicans could also learn a lesson from former Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s iron-fist tenure. Since securing the narrow majority in January 2023, Republicans have struggled with leadership elections and failed to unite around most legislation. The result of a narrow majority necessitated Kevin McCarthy’s concessions to a portion of the House GOP conference that imperiled his leadership and ultimately led to his demise. Being unable to pick a new speaker for days, House Republicans again made the news about their own struggles and took heat off Democrats including President Biden. Still, even after picking current Speaker Mike Johnson, the prospect of another motion to vacate the chair is never far off.
House Democrats, as Townhall frequently noted, were often in disarray under Speaker Pelosi — but they kept the fighting to mostly internal forums and still managed to pass an economically devastating series of bills that gave us 40-year-high inflation, negative real wages for more than 24 consecutive months, and the highest interest rates since early 2001. Democrats under Pelosi, despite several embarrassments for her leadership and President Biden, still delivered on Biden’s agenda. They achieved much of what they set out to do. Have Republicans?
Or have they managed to remain hostage to attention-seeking members of their conference who are more interested in landing viral clips on X and drawing donations due to their stunts? Have they managed to halt Biden’s disastrous agenda, or have they harmed their own ability to make the case to Americans for expanding their majority? After all, House Republicans failed in their first attempt to impeach DHS Secretary Mayorkas, an important but likely fruitless attempt to boot the derelict head of Homeland Security who’s all but guaranteed to be acquitted in the Senate — even though he’s abandoned his duty to secure the country.
Why is it that Republicans — if for nothing else but the sake of preserving power and thereby an ability to forcefully oppose Democrats — seem incapable of circling the wagons, closing ranks, or whatever you call it? The Democrat caucus is full of antisemites in the Squad issuing calls for the elimination of Israel and eradication of Jews, fools who feel emboldened to break the law to create chaos in the halls with false fire alarms, and a cornucopia of other people seemingly worthy of getting the boot. Democrats, almost always, and especially when it really counts, back up their own.
Even when things were as clear-cut as they were in the case of former President Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky, 176 House Democrats voted against just launching the impeachment inquiry. After the House adopted two articles of impeachment against Clinton, the Senate trial resulted in acquittal — with Democrat members all voting to acquit while 10 Republicans voted “not guilty” on the perjury charge and five voted “not guilty” on the obstruction of justice charge.
In that case and far too many others, Democrats stick together and present a united front when it really matters. Republicans, then and many times since, seem to quickly cleave from each other and fail to unite. The result is outcomes like this week’s special election in New York, leadership chaos in the House, and a failure to present a united opposition to Biden and the Democrats’ agenda. Maybe it’s time Republicans start acting a little bit more like Democrats when it comes to sticking together so the right has a chance to win.
