Pennsylvania – -(AmmoLand.com)- Many Second Amendment supporters feel they are in a jam. While it’s obvious Democrats are avowed enemies of our Second Amendment rights, sometimes Republicans are… disappointing to put it mildly. A third party vote can be very tempting in some cases. Well, take a look at the recently-decided Republican Pennsylvania Senate primary, because it provides a good reason to re-think that approach.
Dr. Oz won that election by under 2,000 votes, and those who flash back to 2020 would probable have had a hard time accepting a McCormick win. Still, this close primary will make it harder to beat likely John Fetterman, who will be little more than Schumer’s rubber stamp.
That being said, the reason for the close result is Kathy Barnette, who exploded in the last few weeks with a powerful story on a non-related issue. Depending on your perspective, the anti-Oz/anti-McCormick vote was divided, and thus, we have a close result in a bitterly-fought primary.
We’ve seen this happen before on other races. In 1998, John Ensign came within 400 votes of toppling Harry Reid. A Libertarian candidate drew over 8,000 votes – more than enough to give Reid another term, which was a boon to anti-Second Amendment extremists until Reid retired in 2016.
Or, look at 2020: Jo Jorgenson pulled in votes that were several times the margins in Wisconsin, Georgia, and Arizona. If Trump took those states, the tied electoral college vote would have put the vote to the House of Representatives. That would have made a lot of difference.
Given the situation in Pennsylvania, this Senate race will be crucial if we are to dethrone Chuck Schumer as Senate Majority Leader. Mitch McConnell has disappointed Second Amendment supporters at times, but when it comes to the United States Senate, the choice is between McConnell and Schumer to run that body.
With anti-Second Amendment extremists vowing to pack the court and nuke the filibuster, can Second Amendment supporters afford to gift them seats that will be close in the upcoming midterms? The answer to that question should be very obvious.
Sometimes, hard decisions are necessary to protect the Second Amendment. That being said, making those hard decisions make all the difference when it comes to defeating anti-Second Amendment extremists via the ballot box at the federal, state, and local level. In this election, the stakes are that high.
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.
I’m pretty sure that there are Democrats in West Virginia that are miffed by Joe Manchin, but honest and saavy Democrat politicians who happen to be running in a Red state, only get elected if they’ve proven to be fair and just; representing the interests of all their consituents equally. In Red states, a Democrat masquerading as a Republican ends up fooling the electorate and who will not represent his/her consituents honestly. These folks know, after the election, you can go pound rocks. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger are great examples. Party affiliation should not be your primary (pun intended)… Read more »
It’s amazing how one can spot a Harold article just by reading the headline or first few sentences. A quisling advocating for quislings.
Kathy Barnette is a Republican, not a Libertarian. This divisive race was in your own R party.
And don’t try blaming Jorgenson for 2020, with all the obvious and blatant fraud that went on. The dems stole that election and your R RINOS in congress, the executive branch, and the judiciary stood by and let it happen.
It’s really important to draw a line between Big-L Libertarians and smal-l libertarians. To start off with, Big-L Libertarians tend to be washed up Republicans. Bill Weld would be one example. I’m sure you can come up with others. Like so called Conservatices, they still want way to much government control. They just have different priorities about which part of your life the government will not try to control. Small-l libertarians are hard to find. They’re identified by their hard core beliefs that most of what the government gets involved with is none of the government’s *&^% business. The only… Read more »
Then pick better candidates! Oz is nothing than a moderate Democrat pretending to be a Republican! The worst kind of carpet bagger RINO! Oz is neither pro gun or pro life, why should real conservatives vote for him? In a year when Republicans should clean up they put trash candidates on the ballot, it’s like they want to lose.
Self-fulfilling defeatism: Trash real Rs like Barnette, ensure the ‘choice’ is anti-gun Turk vs WEF hedge funder, now Groomer vs Commie, then lecture us on hard choices like we don’t know.
You ignore Reid v Angle 2010. Sharron Angle was true tea party R, so your GOP pals sabotaged her AFTER she won the primary. Your hero LaPierre campaigned for Reid. He won by a hair
You’re right that voting L is suicidal. L = Spoiler & worse: L immigration-invasion policy is de facto globalist-socialist. Ls can’t honestly take the pledge of allegiance let alone the Oath to the USA