The Lavatory Lady

Our 2020 book is titled Divided We Stand: The 2020 Elections and American Politics.  Among other things, it discusses the state of the parties. The state of the GOP is not good.  

Andrew Kaczynski, CNN:

Republican Rep. Nancy Mace as recently as last year called herself “pro-transgender rights” and said she supported children exploring gender identities with different hairstyles, clothing and preferred pronouns, a stark contrast to more recent comments that have put her in the national spotlight.

Last week, the South Carolina Republican introduced a resolution to amend the rules of the US House of Representatives to ban transgender women from using women’s restrooms at the Capitol and filed broader legislation that would apply to every federal building and federally funded school.

The resolution came in direct response to the election of Democratic Rep.-elect Sarah McBride of Delaware, the first out transgender person elected to Congress.

In hundreds of tweets over the last week, Mace has used a flood of anti-transgender rhetoric, including repeatedly calling transgender people “mentally ill,” which is a stark — and unexplained — departure from her past positioning as a self-proclaimed pro-LGBTQ Republican.

In July 2023, Mace described herself as “pro-transgender rights” and voiced support for children exploring their identities, such as by changing pronouns, hairstyles or clothing.

“If they wanna take on a different pronoun or a different gender identity or grow their hair out, or wear a dress or wear pants, or do those things as a minor –— those are all things that I think most people would support. Be who you want to be, but don’t make permanent changes as a child,” Mace said in an interview last year.

Mace made the comments in the context of saying she opposed gender-affirming care for minors.

House Race Tea Leaves

Our most recent book is titled Divided We Stand: The 2020 Elections and American Politics.  Among other things, it discusses state and congressional elections.  Democrats have  tended to do well in special elections during the past two years.

Politico Playbook:

If last night’s election returns were going to provide any surprises, they weren’t supposed to come out of Ohio’s 6th Congressional District.

In a special election race that got basically zero national attention, Republican state Sen. MICHAEL RULLI was thought certain to rout Democrat MICHAEL KRIPCHAK, a former Air Force officer and once-aspiring actor who quit a Youngstown-area restaurant job to run for Congress.

DONALD TRUMP, after all, had won the blue-collar, mostly rural district previously represented by GOP Rep. BILL JOHNSON by 29 points in 2022. Furthermore, Rulli raised nearly 30 times more than Kripchak’s shoestring budget.

Rulli, in the end, managed only a not-quite-10-point victory over Kripchak — a roughly 20-point swing toward Democrats versus Trump’s 2020 showing. More from AP

SPECIAL ELECTION TRACKER 

Theodoric Meyer and Leigh Ann Caldwell at WP:

Rep. William Timmons (R-S.C.) defeated a primary challenger last night who had pledged to join the House Freedom Caucus, dealing a blow to the hard-right group’s efforts to expand its ranks.

More than a thousand miles away, North Dakota Public Service Commissioner Julie Fedorchak easily beat another Republican who said he would join the Freedom Caucus, Rick Becker, in the race for the seat Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R) gave up to run for governor.

The results are the latest repudiation of hard-right candidates in GOP primaries this year, after Reps. Tony Gonzales (R-Tex.) and Mike Bost (R-Ill.) narrowly beat challengers to their right.

Timmons’s and Fedorchak’s victories are also a less than encouraging sign for Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.), the Freedom Caucus chairman who is facing a tough primary of his own next week.

Good and several other Freedom Caucus members had endorsed state Rep. Adam Morgan — who lost to Timmons 52 percent to 48 percent — and Becker. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who isn’t a member of the caucus but is often aligned with it, also backed them.

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) also easily survived her primary, defeating two challengers.

She was the first of the eight Republicans who voted to oust Kevin McCarthy from the speakership to face a primary challenger. (One of the others, Rep. Ken Buck (Colo.), resigned in March, and another, Rep. Matt Rosendale (Mont.), isn’t running for reelection.)

Mace said before the results came in that she wanted her victory to embarrass McCarthy.

“I hope I drive Kevin McCarthy crazy,” she told the New York Times.

Mace

Our 2020 book is titled Divided We Stand: The 2020 Elections and American Politics.  Among other things, it discusses the state of the parties. The state of the GOP is not good.  

Jonathan Weisman at NYT:

When South Carolina’s First Congressional District evoked wide sand beaches, Spanish moss, oyster and cocktail bars and hot yoga, its Republican congresswoman, Nancy Mace, made her name appealing for moderation on abortion, climate change and marijuana legalization, while calling out the G.O.P.’s biggest bomb throwers as bigoted clowns.

Then in 2022 came the redrawing of district lines, as rural reaches like Cordesville, S.C., with their modest one-story brick homes and prefabricated double-wides, replaced the graceful mansions and Black neighborhoods of Charleston. So last week, when Ms. Mace shocked Washington and joined seven hard-core conservatives to oust Representative Kevin McCarthy from the speaker’s chair, her new constituents were not surprised.

“I’ve always heard the squeaky wheel gets the oil, and when you’re a female, you don’t get heard unless you’re loud,” said Janet Jurosko, a new constituent of Ms. Mace’s from Cordesville and the auditor of Berkeley County, S.C., which joined the First District in its totality last year. “I think she’s doing a good job — I really do.”

Ms. Mace still calls herself an iconoclast, but her transformation from denouncing the likes of Representative Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida, to joining him in the first overthrow of a sitting speaker underscores a truism: Voters lead their politicians; politicians don’t lead their voters.

Brennan: Do the past allegations of Jim Jordan that he turned a blind eye to sexual abuse give you reservations?

Mace: I'm not familiar or aware of that.

Brennan: Ohio state university allegations.

Mace: I don't know anything pic.twitter.com/OGQQFqR9pt

— Acyn (@Acyn) October 8, 2023

Brennan: McCarthy said his ouster is personal payback from Gaetz for the house ethics committee investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct… Does that bother you?

Mace: Well, again, he's not indicted for anything. I don't really -- I don't know much about it. pic.twitter.com/i9qINKGP2m

— Acyn (@Acyn) October 8, 2023

Mace: I’m wearing the scarlet letter after the week I had being a woman and being demonized for my vote and voice. pic.twitter.com/guVpxGHUq7

— Acyn (@Acyn) October 10, 2023

Mace: There are Democrats who trust Jordan

Tapper: Jim Jordan?

Mace: Yes

Tapper: From Ohio?

Mace: Yes

Tapper: Name one pic.twitter.com/22QdZLARx2

— Acyn (@Acyn) October 11, 2023