35 House Republicans Who Need Conservative Primary Opponents

The Democrats’ bill to create a partisan political “commission” to investigate the events of January 6, 2021 passed with the help of 35 House Republicans who were apparently too

dumb to recognize that this commission isn’t about investigating the riot – it’s about making sure they stay in the minority forever.

Most House Republicans apparently saw the commission for what it is: the 2021 version of 2017’s special counsel probe run by Robert Mueller and another excuse to use the weapons of law enforcement against Democrats’ political enemies.

But 35 Republicans are either too dumb to get the picture or are really on the other side:

Don Bacon, Nebraska – Cliff Bentz, Oregon – Stephanie Bice, Oklahoma – Liz Cheney, Wyoming – John R. Curtis, Utah – Rodney Davis, Illinois – Brian K Fitzpatrick, Pennsylvania – Jeff Fortenberry, Nebraska – Andrew R Garbarino, New York – Carlos A Gimenez, Florida – Tony Gonzales, Texas – Anthony Gonzalez, Ohio – Michael Guest, Mississippi – Jaime Herrera Beutler, Washington – J. Hill, Arkansas – Trey Hollingsworth, Indiana – Chris Jacobs, New York – Dusty Johnson, South Dakota – David P Joyce, Ohio – John Katko, New York – Adam Kinzinger, Illinois – David B McKinley, West Virginia – Peter Meijer, Michigan – Marianette Miller-Meeks, Iowa – Blake D Moore, Utah – Dan Newhouse, Washington – Tom Reed, New York – Tom Rice, South Carolina – Maria Elvira-Salazar, Florida – Michael K Simpson, Idaho – Christopher H Smith, New Jersey – Van Taylor, Texas – Fred Upton, Michigan – David G Valadao, California – Steve Womack, Arkansas.

Our friend Ned Ryan tweeted this helpful chart and his analysis: Circled names of those voted for impeachment. Included district break down. 30 of the 35 come from R+ districts. Of those 30, 25 come from fairly strong GOP districts (R+5 or greater). Means they’re prime targets for primary challenges in 2022.

A few of those who voted for the commission are perennial Trump opponents including Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, John Katko and Fred Upton, so their votes are attributable to their long running personal animosity toward Donald Trump and the voters who supported him.

There are also a few that represent swing districts, such as Marianette Miller-Meeks of Iowa, Tony Gonzales of Texas, Brian K Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Maria Elvira-Salazar of Florida, who apparently think that if they vote like their Democrat opponent would have voted they will be safe – they won’t be, and because MAGA voters will never forget or forgive this vote they just reduced their reelection prospects considerably with this ill-advised choice.

But others, such as Trey Hollingsworth of Indiana, David B McKinley of West Virginia, Dusty Johnson of South Dakota, Steve Womack and J. Hill of Arkansas, Stephanie Bice of Oklahoma, Michael Guest of Mississippi, and David P Joyce of Ohio are apparently too dumb to recognize what’s going on with this commission and apparently don’t understand that this is all about keeping alive the narrative that MAGA conservatives are insurrectionists until the 2022 mid-term election.

To his credit, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy rejected Democrats’ proposal for the commission, branded as bipartisan after perennial Trump-critic Republican Rep. John Katko of New York negotiated its scope. That still excludes any investigation into last year’s deadly routine riots by the far left, the shooting of Republicans at a congressional baseball practice, or the Good Friday attack this year.

“Given the political misdirections that have marred this process, given the now duplicative and potentially counterproductive nature of this effort, and given the speaker’s shortsighted scope that does not examine interrelated forms of political violence in America, I cannot support this legislation,” McCarthy said in a statement.

Tristan Justice wrote “No self-respecting Republican would vote for the commission as proposed. The absence of any investigation into any of the widespread political violence outside of the Jan. 6 riot exposes it as deeply unserious and, worse, deeply exploitive.” And Mr. Justice pointed out in an article for the Federalist, the Republican leadership, which now excludes Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney who voted for Trump’s impeachment over the riot and supports the commission, urged the conference to reject its creation in Wednesday’s vote. In other words, the House Republican leadership, sans Cheney, has reclaimed its backbone.

Our friends at TheConservativeTreeHouse.com summed-up the case for primarying the 35 who voted for the commission this way: All of these Republicans knew they were supporting Nancy Pelosi and the Democrat’s 2022 election strategy when they voted yes to initiate the political January 6th Commission. All of them should be removed from office without remorse. None of them can be trusted. Done is done.

We agree – so, If you or someone you know is interested in running in one of these districts contact us and keep an eye on ConservativeHQ.com or better yet subscribe, to keep up to date on the state of play in these 35 congressional districts and for our endorsements in the 2022 Republican primaries.

George Rasley, editor of Richard Viguerie's ConservativeHQ.com, served as a staff member for three Chairmen of the House Republican Conference. A veteran of over 300 political campaigns, he is a member of American MENSA, and served on the staff of Vice President Dan Quayle, and as Director of Policy and Communication for former Congressman Adam Putnam (FL-12) then Vice Chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee's Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs, and as spokesman for retired Rep. Mac Thornberry, formerly a member of the House Intelligence Committee and Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.

• 2022 GOP primaries

• Conservative challengers

• RINOs

• GOP incumbents

• GOP establishment

• January 6 commission

• Republican voters

• Liz Cheney

• Adam Kinzinger

• John Katko

• Fred Upton