We’re quite pleased with the result of last night’s primary, a summary of which Bitter put up over at PAGunRights.com. There were two races we were keeping a very close eye on were two State Senate districts where a MAIG mayor was trying to move to a higher office. These are solidly Democratic seats, so this was essentially the election.
We helped raise money for both pro-gun candidates through ActBlue, and we are happy to report we won one of the two races, but most pleasing was that both MAIG mayors lost their primary. We’d like to congratulate NRA endorsed State Rep. John Yudichak on his commanding primary victory over anti-gun MAIG mayor Tom Leighton. We are very pleased to have thoroughly trounced Bloomberg in this race. In the second district, our endorsed candidate did not win, but it doesn’t look so bad. Here’s what Bitter had to say:
This is a mixed bag election for gun owners. On one hand, the NRA backed candidate – State Rep. Jim Wansacz – did not make the final cut for November. On the other hand, the extreme anti-gun Mayor of Scranton did not survive either. A dark horse candidate won the race, and we hope to find out more about his position on guns rights in the future. This is his first elected office, and he was backed by the retiring pro-gun Senator for this open seat. For anti-gun Chris Doherty, this is his second setback in a few months after his campaign for governor floundered. Calling in the big guns, the anti-gun leader brought in Bill Clinton to record phone calls for him, though it did no good.
The important thing is this race is that Doherty didn’t win. It was a multi-way race, and we had some other issues in this district that could have affected the outcome. This is a pretty clear message that no matter what Bloomberg is promising to MAIG mayors, if you try for higher office, NRA will notice, and we will kick your ass.
Sebastian,
Not to rain on your parade or to denigrate the great work you folks did but was this really an NRA victory?
Given that membership of the NRA is around 4 million and given that a large portion of voters in PA are NRA members…..there are still more voters then the NRA.
I’m not knocking the effort but how big is the 2nd Amendment influence in the races?
I see it as a part of the larger movement to stop the incumbents from trampling on our rights – or at least slow down the pace.
I think this is what the Anti-Rights advocates like MAIG and the Brady Campaign are absolutely missing. It isn’t just about guns but the whole kit and kaboodle.
I’ve talked to many folks here in Texas and that seems to be the dominate message — not just gun rights.
How do you view it in PA?
The gun issue did specifically come up in the Yudichak race, based on press accounts. So while I can’t say that guns decided the race (there’s too much incumbent hostility to assign one issue as a “decider” this year), they were involved.
In the race where the NRA endorsee did not win, he was as close as one could have been in a six-way race where five of the six were within ~1,000 votes. Most importantly, the anti-gunner was considered the leader until he started dropping like a rock. We know that NRA endorsed against him, and it is likely that people in the district could have remembered his name as associated with anti-gun legislation. Again, you’re talking about a year when many other issues are coming up. The NRA endorsee also had a brother who had an ethics issue in the recent past, so some voters may have unfairly assigned that issue to our guy.
In the overall picture, there is a clear message that Bloomberg cannot help you. We will stop you, and it’s better to be pro-gun than anti-gun in Pennsylvania.
We’ll have another test in November for PA-15. I think you’re being unreasonably cynical based on the numbers we’ve seen so far.
You can’t ever precisely know the impact you had on the race. You can only take educated guesses. NRA did an orange card mailer for their endorsed candidates. That generally helps out a good deal with turnout for people that vote our issue.
Plus, perception matters more than reality in politics anyway.
I think you two set the bar for grassroots activism. Great job.
Let me add if I might some other well known rhetoric. Although the NRA has slightly less than 5 million members, there is always that portion of the electorate that think they are an NRA members. Numbers range from 12 to 16 million people who “think” they are NRA members.
Add to that the grass route outreach they have now via Internet/E mail and bloggers as smart as Bitter and Sebastian posting the truth, day in and day out. NOW? The NRA becomes bigger and badder.
Like Sebastian said, MAIG members need to know we, the NRA faithful, want to kick their ass to the curb.
I don’t know much about the politics in Pennsylvania but I’m curious about one thing… Do your politicians now need to move to the center to win the races in November?
Are your primaries open or closed? Can people vote for whomever they wish or are they bound by party?
Do your politicians now need to move to the center to win the races in November?
It’s a good idea, though PA has been trending more and more Democratic and left.
Are your primaries open or closed? Can people vote for whomever they wish or are they bound by party?
Closed. You can only vote for party candidates in the primary.