United States – -(AmmoLand.com)- In some ways, whether it’s Doctor Oz in Pennsylvania or another disappointment elsewhere (like Larry Hogan), Second Amendment supporters have to take some responsibility for the present case. Why? Because they didn’t have a deep enough bench.
Many hopes were pinned on Sean Parnell in Pennsylvania, but when a messy divorce knocked him out, there just wasn’t a Plan B available. So, we have to make do with what options there are in the Keystone State. Ohio is similarly messy, largely because two candidates nearly had a brawl during a debate. Think that helps advance the cause of the Second Amendment?
The fact of the matter is, though, statewide elections are where things can get touchy. In some of the most crucial states that decide presidential elections (Pennsylvania, Michigan), they can be expensive. In other states (Maryland, Washington, Minnesota), the political terrain may be more difficult.
This is not to say that getting good statewide candidates is hopeless. Far from it. See Glenn Youngkin, Winsome Sears, and Jason Miyares from Virginia as three such examples. In fact, each show the types of candidates Second Amendment supporters could face, but each of them will also require different approaches.
Youngkin, in some ways, was an excellent candidate. As a successful businessman, he was an outsider and able to put a fair bit of his own money in Virginia’s gubernatorial election. Candidates like Youngkin can be very good (see Trump as an example) on our rights, or they can be Larry Hogans. The best way to reach these candidates is to do so long before they’re candidates. Talking with friends about Second Amendment issues is crucial.
In the cases of Sears and Miyares, both rose from the state legislature. Here, Second Amendment supporters’ best shot of developing statewide candidates is to ask them the right questions when they run for local office or the state legislature the first time. However, just electing someone who supports the Second Amendment is not enough.
Equally important will be putting in the work to maintain relationships and to be among those who can help a state legislator amass the resources needed to go state-wide. That may take time, but if Second Amendment supporters can find and develop the talent today, we don’t have to settle for a Doctor Oz type ten, fifteen, or twenty years from now.
But there is another part: Second Amendment supporters must be willing to put in the effort to make the terrain in more inhospitable places friendlier. That requires heeding the lessons of the 2021 election. Reaching out to voters will pay off. In some cases, it may be a long-term effort.
It would be nice to have a situation where there are a wealth of good candidates for statewide offices in all 50 states. We’re not there yet, but there is a way to make that happen, and make it easier to defeat anti-Second Amendment extremists via the ballot box at the federal, state, and local level.
About Harold Hutchison
Writer Harold Hutchison has more than a dozen years of experience covering military affairs, international events, U.S. politics and Second Amendment issues. Harold was consulting senior editor at Soldier of Fortune magazine and is the author of the novel Strike Group Reagan. He has also written for the Daily Caller, National Review, Patriot Post, Strategypage.com, and other national websites.
“With a SupCt seat on the line a Susan Collins who can win election easily is better than a Kris Kobach who could hand an otherwise winnable seat to an anti-2A extremist.”
Harold to a T. Pointlessly self-fulfilling prophesy & “prag” sophistry to save the RINOs.
https://www.ammoland.com/2022/02/the-secondary-issues-that-matter-to-the-second-amendment/
Wow. That could create the same sort of problems that YOU created when you helped elect Senile Joe by not voting for RINO Trump.
Nice try, knucklehead. I voted for Trump. Got any more lies to tell? Might as well get’em all out.
Funny how everyone that you disagree with is a liar and knucklehead.
Nope. Just stalker-trolls who lie about me, like you.
Not like … as. Where did you learn your English … TV commercials?
Let’s try that. “Just stalker trolls who lie about me, as you”? Where did you learn English, genius? Go stalk someone else. Your psycho hatred always has you spoiling for a fight.
It should be “as do you”.
Nah. Such prissy nitpicking. How very metro.
Rejecting the proper. Resisting education. That fits.
Wassup, priss?
Your disapproval rating.
That’s a Badge of Honor, unlike yours.
I doubt that you have ever been the subject of an award.
Who cares what you doubt, Oathbreaker?
“Dear Harold … XOXO!”
How sweet! LOL
https://www.ammoland.com/2022/04/how-can-second-amendment-supporters-go-on-offense/#comment-2933450
People still pay me $600 per hour for my opinion.
In your dreams.
Harold says “develop a deeper bench” after trashing the good bench we have. After he trashed Kobach & shilled for “electable” RINO Susan Collins to save SCOTUS, Collins voted to confirm gun grabber Ketanji. Harold must be channeling Lee Atwater after the tumor ate his brain.
Oh yeah: STRIKE GROUP REAGAN! (LOL)
What are you doing to help?
Way more than you are shilling for Harold, if you’re not his sock puppet.
Sock puppet this. Sock puppet that. More sock puppet groups. Now Harold has a sock puppet posse. Everyone that disagrees with 8Ball is a sock puppet.
Your psychotic hatred of civilians even has you defending Harold. LOL
Not psychotic. Not defending Harold. Not hating anyone at all. You are jumping to conclusions, and engaging in name calling, rather than fact based analysis.
Note that no one has given Harold’s article a good review? The only review is a poor one.
Yes psycho. Yes defending & l!cking up to Harold. Yes stalking & hating. Yes projection and name-calling.
“Dear Harold” -Wild Bill Toady
How sweet. LOL
https://www.ammoland.com/2022/04/how-can-second-amendment-supporters-go-on-offense/#comment-2933450
Oh, I see that reading comprehension problem rears its ugly head again. Telling Harold that he missed something is a mild rebuke.
“Dear Harold…XOXO!”
LOL.
So, you have picked another to slap in the face.
“Dear Harold…XOXO!”
LMFAO!
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