Misreading the tea leaves

Well, it’s certainly been an interesting campaign season so far, culminating in the primary election on June 5. For those unfamiliar with my writings, I’m a conservative who’s not a member of any political party; an “independent”, which in this state means I’m officially “Decline to State” (DTS).

The hottest local race has been for the 25th District seat for the US House of Representatives currently held by Steve Knight. Arrayed against him in the Primary were Katie Hill, Jess Phoenix, Bryan Caforio, and Mary Pallant, all from the “other” party.

This race has been a focus of intense interest even up to the national level because it’s viewed as being one of those critical to the Dem/socialists’ hopes to swing control of the House back to their party. This district went for Clinton in 2016, and even though Knight won reelection that year, easily trouncing opponent Caforio, it’s viewed as “vulnerable”.

The results are in and Knight handily won top spot in this state’s bizarre “jungle primary” with more votes than all of his opponents combined. I wonder how “vulnerable” we’ll be seen to be after that. His opponent in the General Election will be local gal Katie Hill. This time around Caforio couldn’t even win in the Primary. I wonder if he’ll be out house-hunting for a new locale to which he can again carpetbag for the 2020 election after such a humiliating defeat.

During the course of the campaign my mailbox was inundated with campaign literature from absolutely everybody who was running for anything, presumably because I’m a DTS and eligible to vote for anybody in any party, or at least might be interested in doing so. I don’t know why; maybe that’s the case for everybody.

No matter. The point is that I saw it all, and of all the candidates running for everything, Caforio ran the most negative campaign out there. There were days I’d get multiple mailers from his campaign on the same day! And invariably they were attempted hatchet jobs on one or both of his strongest opponents, Knight and Hill. It reeked of desperation and extremism.

It worked out for him as well as it deserved to.

I believe the leftists have misread the tea leaves as they pertain to this district. Yes, it went for Ms. Pant Suit in 2016. Yes, there are more registered Dems than GOPers. But there are also more DTSers like me than GOPers, too, and many of them are also conservatives like me who have left the GOP because they’ve lost all respect for that party and its eternal ineptitude. But that doesn’t mean we’ve magically turned into lefties. I know several fellow DTSers who simply wouldn’t pull the lever for Trump in 2016, but will happily support Knight just as they did in 2016.

I congratulate both Steve Knight and Katie Hill on their victories in the Primary. That having been said, I throw my support to Knight without reservation. His policy positions are far more in line with my beliefs than his opponent’s are, and just as importantly it’s essential that the GOP retain control of the House of Representatives. Even putting aside the fact that I disagree with most, if not all, of Hill’s positions, can you see her – a very junior Representative – standing up against the likes of Nancy Pelosi?

For that matter, how does this sound to you: Madame Speaker Nancy Pelosi?

Do you want to go down that road again?

I know several fellow DTSers who wouldn’t pull the lever for Trump in 2016, but will happily support Knight.