October 4, 2019
What is the Purpose of the GOP?
By Richard Moss
A year ago I was locked in a political race for the Republican nomination for Congress from Indiana’s 8th district. I was running against then four-term incumbent, Larry Bucshon. I had also run in the prior election cycle in 2016. And I had run in 2014 against Mike Braun (now U.S. Senator for Indiana) for state representative (HR 63).
Among issues popular among conservatives, I also had what I thought was a compelling platform regarding the incumbent: Bucshon and his family had moved to Washington D.C. I had hoped that this factor combined with his generally weak voting record could propel me to an upset victory, which is never easy against an incumbent. I started early and ran hard. I had raised money and traveled extensively throughout the 18 counties of Indiana’s 8th district, meeting and interacting with voters.
Despite a vigorous, hard-hitting campaign, we came up short –- actually worse than the prior election. I had dropped from 35% to 26%. I also observed that many in the 8th district county level GOP establishment were upset over my criticism of Bucshon for moving to D.C. I contended, however, that a representative and his family must live, work, and attend schools in the area he represented. In this era of an increasingly centralized federal government, far removed from its constituents, Bucshon’s decision to move to Washington exemplified a D.C.-centric mentality that defined perfectly what was wrong with our political system -- and why I had run.
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https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/10/what_is_the_purpose_of_the_gop.html
