Texas Democrats concede lockout in House special election
Amy B Wang and David Weigel, The Washington Post
May 2, 2021
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Susan Wright, a candidate for Texas s 6th district, poses at her home office in Arlington, Texas, on April 16, 2021.Washington Post photo by David Weige.
Texas Democrats on Sunday conceded that they had fallen short in a special election for a U.S. House seat in the state s 6th Congressional District, ensuring that a Republican will win a seat that had been trending away from the party.
Twenty-three candidates had been vying to represent the North Texas district after the death of Rep. Ron Wright, a Republican, in February after he was diagnosed with covid-19, the illness that can be caused by the novel coronavirus. Wright s widow, Susan Wright, secured the top runoff spot Saturday, with state Rep. Jake Ellzey, a Republican, taking second place.
Monday s Campaign Round-Up, 5.3.21
Today s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
May 3, 2021, 4:00 PM UTC
BySteve Benen
Today s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country. In Texas congressional special election over the weekend, Republicans Susan Wright and state Rep. Jake Ellzey will advance to a runoff after no one reached 50% in the 23-candidate field. On a related note, Susan Wright, the widow of the late Rep. Ron Wright (R-Texas), contacted federal law enforcement last week in response to a robocall that falsely accused her of being responsible for her late husband s death. The origin of the call remains unresolved.
3 May 2021
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) Chairman Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY) reportedly spent thousands on travel last year despite urging New Yorkers to stay at home due to the Chinese coronavirus pandemic, according to financial disclosures.
In March of last year, Maloney urged constituents to “do their part” and “stay at home.”
“Don’t go out if you don’t need to, minimize your contact with other people. If a member of your family is sick, the whole family’s got to stay home so we don’t go spread it. That’s why having some groceries in the house to last a week or two is important,” Maloney told WAMC’s Ian Pickus at the time, even suggesting phone or email as the “best” way to check on neighbors.
Report: Democrat Congressman Spent $30,000 On Travel While Urging New Yorkers To Stay Home
New York Democrat Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, instructed his constituents to halt travel due to COVID-19 while he spent tens of thousands on travel expenses of his own, according to a report from The Washington Free Beacon.
In March 2020, Maloney stopped accepting petition signatures “out of concern for the safety and wellbeing” of New Yorkers. Shortly after, he told people in his state to “stop spreading this virus” and “stay home.”
“We can all do our part. Stay at home,” Maloney said at the time. “Don’t go out if you don’t need to, minimize your contact with other people. If a member of your family is sick, the whole family’s got to stay home so we don’t go spread it. That’s why having some groceries in the house to last a week or two is important.”
The Democrats have been trying to dodge the spotlight.
After all, Republicans have their issues to overcome. They are still trying to figure themselves out as a party following the departure of Donald Trump as President (and from a lot of the media coverage he was receiving during his time in the White House). Media outlets are trying really hard to keep Trump and his acolytes in the news, but with a Democratic administration comes a focus on what the party in power is doing.
For years leading up to the 2016 election, the media was playing up talk of a Republican civil war, where the moderates and the conservatives were going to war for the soul of the party. The election of Donald Trump signified, to almost everyone, that the conservatives won. But, with politicians like Liz Cheney and others who have not been shy about their distaste for Trump and his style of politics, there was a small civil war within the GOP they could exploit for ratings and to keep the focus on the Republic