#NCSEN: Draft Mark Meadows for, um, SENATE ????
That’s what the website says. The 11th district congressman has become a hero in Tea Party circles for his resistance to House leadership efforts to abandon conservatism. He had his subcommittee chairmanship snatched away. His diminutive prepubescent colleague, Patrick McHenry, chided him for “siding with Democrats” and not being a “team player.”
NCGOP chairman Hasan Harnett has spoken out in support of Meadows. Grassroots activists from across the state and the country have taken to cyberspace and the phone lines to voice their displeasure over the treatment of Meadows by the House leadership.
Meadows got his chairmanship reinstated. But that might not be enough to calm this thing down.
Recent rankings released by Heritage Action showed Meadows to be tied for most conservative in the North Carolina delegation, while US senator Richard Burr is the most liberal Republican in the delegation. Already in trouble with Tea Partiers and grassroots types, many started seeing Meadows as a potential champion in the quest to dethrone Burr and exile him to Winston-Salem.
There has been no official word from the Meadows camp as to whether the congressman — who has DEEP pockets — would accept the challenge of taking on the state’s senior senator in the 2016 GOP primary. With no Democrat challengers in sight, all of the action in this race might be played out in the GOP primary. Stay tuned.
Personally, I think Meadows has great potential in the House of Reps. I think he is in a great position to become Speaker in the future and I think he can be a leader to those in the House that will be coming in a new representatives in the next election. With his ability to go through the fire, he can perhaps be a catalyst to change the entire demeanor and climate in DC. So, I feel it would be more beneficial to the 11th District and the entire country for him to stay where he is. By the way, the Speaker is 3rd in line for the Presidency. Also, if budget is an issue… The house controls the purse strings so if Meadows is in the house there are opportunities for him in that regard. On the other side, if Meadows primaries Burr and loses the primary, he’s gone from DC. There are alot of people that would be happy about that. Think John Boehner. Also, if he primaries Burr, who will represent the 11th district? We would give up Meadows for an unknown? Trust me, this area is full of people just looking out for themselves and at this moment after thinking about it for days, I cannot think of anyone that would behave as Meadows. Trust me, I would love to see Burr go, but I can’t figure out why in the past 4 years, we haven’t found someone other than MeadoWs. I understand taking risks…but now is not the time to take our ACE and discard it. In the scheme of things, making sure Meadows continues in DC is more important than my dislike of Burr. Just my opinion.
I support this idea! Mark Meadows would easily be the most qualified candidate in the race! He can also raise the money to win! Oh, and did I mention the army of grassroots activists?
Sign the petition to draft him!
Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina received $60,000 in corporate donations….to vote FOR and fast track TPP.
While Mark Meadows voted NO! We need Mark Meadows in the Senate! 1/100 has a stronger vote than 1/435 !
?#?StandWithMeadows? sign the petition and tell Mark you want him to challenge Burr!
http://www.runmeadows.org/petition
To defeat a fair weather Republican like Burr, you are going to need a serious candidate. I like the mettle that Mark Meadows’ has displayed.
I hope there is grassroots momentum for his candidacy.
Burr is an Obama Republican and McConnell’s little lap puppy. North Carolina deserves better. Meadows would be our best challenger to Burr. If we can’t get Meadows to make the move, then lets work on Dan Forest to go after Burr
Hassan Harnett is key here to any Meadows recruitment. But, would target Dan Forrest for Governor, as McCrory is a Democrat plant in Raleigh and needs to go. The challenges from the Federal government upcoming are going to require a confident, determined governor who can rally North Carolinians to the ramparts. A Grand New Party, one that, unlike the zombie GOP, will not abandon the Constitution is essential. A mutually reinforcing Grand New Party combo of Dan Forrest for Gov, Mike Meadows for Senate, and Jim Duncan to replace Renee, make for a formidable front line.
Your assessment that Harnett is “key” to recruiting couldn’t be more misinformed. Party officials are not allowed to do so. They are there to make sure the process is fair through primaries. After the primaries the officer’s job is to ID and get out the vote to get the primary winners elected.
Recruiting from Hasan’s position is directly opposite of what is expected of him, given all the complaints of the GOP interfering in Primaries.
Todd Bennett
Mark Meadows is a gentleman and also a personal friend of Richard Burr. This won’t happen.
It might happen.
Friendship is important, but we’re talking about the future of NC and the nation, which is far more important.
Senator Burr is a politician. He’ll understand.
Where do I sign a Meadows for Senate petition?
You can sign the “Draft Mark Meadows for Senate” petition, here: http://www.runmeadows.org
I’ve heard of an effort to put billboards up all over the state that say “Richard Burr(R) voted for Obamatrade”
But the people who voted for him are dumb enough to believe him when he calls it “free trade”
Meadows would be a great Senator and a huge improvement over the disappointing Tricky Dick Burr, but if he does not go for it, our other solid choice should be Dan Forest.
Forest wants to run for governor in 2020, and his best path to get there is through running for US Senate in 2016. Several previous or current GOP governors around the country have gotten there by first being elected to the US Senate, and the current frontrunner in this year’s governor’s race in Louisiana is a sitting GOP US Senator.
Running for reelection to his current office risks Forest getting sucked under by the lack of political savvy of the McCrory effort, since his office is tethered in voters’ minds to McCrory’s. Forest’s odds of emerging in November 2016 as a winner are much better running for US Senate than Lt. Gov.
Also, with national conservative groups looking for a top notch challenger to Burr, Forest would likely get some valuable help in the Senate race that would not be available to him running for any other office.
Forest would not have to risk his Senate seat to run for governor in 2020 and after winning as governor could then appoint his successor for the last two years of the Senate term.
McCrory recently stubbing his toe on the Confederate flag, an issue that sank former SC GOP Governor David Beasley, is a good example of why Forest should avoid being tethered to McCrory. Beasley was cruising to re-election before he disrespected the Confederate flag, and the flag issue cost him the seat to a Democrat. Most voters probably do not consider that an issue that makes much difference but the groups that do can sink a candidate. The groups that hate the flag are big time liberals or race hustlers, and those types are not going to vote Republican anyway, so there is nothing to be gained by going against the flag. On the other hand those to whom the flag matters, the southern heritage voters, are conservatives who overwhelmingly vote Republican. Insulting their ancestors is a big deal to most southerners in this group, and insulting the flag is considered the same thing. These people probably almost all voted for McCrory last time, but he has now lost them.
What about Greg Brannon?
The stand that Meadows took is admirable and we need more people like him in office. He is effective in his current seat and we can’t take the chance of losing that seat to someone more liberal from either party. We have a man that has been fighting this fight for Liberty for many years that should run for Burr’s seat and that is Greg Brannon. With Brannon in DC, He would neutralize Tillis. We would have a true Conservative in the Senate and Meadows in the House. Let’s draft Greg Brannon to run against Burr!!!
Brannon needs to learn how to communicate a message better than he did in the last campaign. Also, is his court battle over, and in his favor with the appeal? He also needs better fundraising.
Dan Forest would be a better choice.
If any conservative is going to make any challenge, it should be against McCrory who has mindlessly slandered and maligned the Sons of Confederate Veterans in North Carolina.
“Take one for the team!” “That’s what everyone else is doing!” Are these traits that we teach our children? Do we encourage them to follow the crowd or stand up for their beliefs? Following the crowd most often leads to trouble, to situations that become a crisis. We just don’t tell our kids to do drugs because everyone else is doing them.
Why then, it is acceptable for this behavior in our leadership? The ones that we vote for to represent us? When a man or woman runs on ideologies that are in line with our own, we expect them to follow through on that representation.
That is not what happened when GOP Chief Deputy Whip Patrick McHenry blasted Representative Mark Meadows. Meadows did not vote to give President total freedom to negotiate with foreign treaties. He did not follow the voting rule of “shirts vs. skins. We Republicans, if we are the majority, we vote for it”. Basically…follow the crowd and not your moral compass.
What happened to integrity? Meadows has it. Hasan Harnet seem to have it based on his Tweet about this vote. Greg Brannon has it. Remember him? He ran for US Senate and called out the Rhinos and phonies. He has integrity and has never wavered on that. As an OB/GYN, he is the best around with over 20,000 patients who agree. He unwavering on life. He is one of only a hand full of OB/GYNs who have sworn an oath to not perform abortions. He is on the board and serves as Medical Director for Hand of Hope Ministries, a crisis pregnancy center. He wrote an amazing essay on abortion: http://static1.squarespace.com/static/52436616e4b0a6b4ebaa9f63/t/55678192e4b07fdc8c03fdbc/1432846738399/Abortionarticle+v.3.pdf
Greg addressed with very vote on the Bill LuMaye show last week: http://www.wptf.com/goout.asp?u=http://billlumaye.blogspot.com/. Had he been our Senator, his vote would have been a loud, firm, “NO!”.
Greg came very close to winning the primary for US Senate. He has not stopped fighting the fight. In addition to growing is OB/GYN practice, he has continued to expose the GOP frauds and fight for Liberty. He has kept the fight going via TV (Constitutional Path to Liberty), radio (Bill LuMaye and Sirius XM radio) essays http://gregbrannon.com/articles-from-dr-brannon and speeches. His love for liberty and our Constitution is unwavering. I for one would like to see Greg run for Burr’s seat. Liberty will prevail with a Brannon victory!!!
Brannon didn’t really come that close to winning the primary, I think his political career is over, look for someone else…
It’s doubtful Forest or Meadows will challenge anyone. Sadly, it is a 2 party game and rarely is an incumbent challenged unless it comes from the establishment (such as the possible challenge to Sen. Mike Lee and the effort to recruit someone to take on Rep. Jones). A challenge to Burr or McCrory will have to come from the grassroots.
While I like Forest, he is best positioned in the state. Let’s be honest, no answers will come from Washington. We need strong leadership in the states and McCrory will continue to fail on that effort. He won’t stand up to the Feds. The damage done to our country will take decades to overcome. Forest is positioning himself for 2020 governorship.
From what I’ve heard, Brannon won’t run. Let me ask a question to Brant and readers.
Is it time to go against the statu quo? Could a conservative unaffiliated challenger take on Burr and win? Outside of Brannon or Meadows, I don’t see anyone defeating Burr and the Chamber’s money. So, if a true conservative were to enter the race and draw support at the national level (Senate Conservatives Fund as an example)_could it work? I know it’s a longshot but voters are fed up with both parties. Maybe it is time to challenge the status quo.
In the age of the new media, who knows what can happen. NC is a large state to run in which makes it really difficult for any challenger.
The third party conservative route worked in New York in 1970. The incumbent senator, Charles Goodell was a liberal Republican, and the Democrats also nominated a liberal. Jim Buckley ran on the Conservative Party ticket and won the three way race. It might work in NC, but I think a primary challenge is better. Interestingly, the Senate Conservatives Fund in a questionaire to contributors earlier this year asked that very question about supporting an independent conservative challenge in the general election, although the question was general and not tied to NC.
As to Forest, he has a McCrory problem that makes it advantageous politically not to stay where he is. His office is too closely linked to McCrory, and every time McCrory shoots himself in the foot, from cookies for feminists to insulting Confederate descendants, Forest is collateral damage. Those who follow politics closely realize the two are not always in alignment, but most voters do not follow it that closely and naturally associate a lieutenant governor with the governor if they are of the same party. That makes McCrory an electoral liability for Forest in running for reelection to his present office. If they should miraculously survive that, then Forest goes into a 2020 primary covered with the taint of McCrory, and probably loses to a fresh candidate without that taint.
A good example of why being associated with McCrory is an electoral liability is looking at why he lost the 2008 race. McCrory had a decent poll lead until Purdue whacked him with some dishonest ads claiming he wanted to import NY garbage to eastern NC. McCrory took a serious dive in the polls in the east. To correct that, campaign consultant Jack Hawke prepared some response ads that set things straight. McCrory had a fixation in that campaign of ”not running a negative campaign”, viewed responding to Purdue as negative, and refused to allow Hawke to run the ads. As a result, the hit on McCrory’s numbers in the east was not fixed and he consequently narrowly lost statewide. Why any candidate would want to run for lieutenant governor tethered to a gubenatorial candidate with that little political savvy when there are other options available is beyond me.
Forest’s best option to get to being governor in 2020 is taking Burr’s Senate seat. His second best option, which he probably has closed the door to, is primarying McCrory. His worst option is staying where he is.
Thank you for commenting. McCrory is pro common core while Forest opposes it McCrory is responsible for the voter ID fail. I think there will be some interesting under votes in the 2016 election. Forest may survive but McCrory is in big trouble. The top of the ticket in the POTUS election may be the determining factor. If Jeb is the nominee, McCrory will definitely lose. If a conservative is the nominee, maybe McCrory survives.
I would vote for him. I would campaign for him. That’s saying a lot.
I would like to see Greg Brannon run against Burr. Greg knows the Constitution and had the support of both Glenn Beck and Rand Paul. He has name recognition and is a proven fighter.
As I recall, Brannon “fought” pretty much like Mitt Romney “fought.”
We need a road-tested warrior who won’t roll over.
Brannon would have been a great Senator, but he was a poor candidate for the Senate for a number of reasons. One was not being able to raise enough money, but beyond that his messaging was poor. He waiting far to late to make the issues comparisons with Tillis. That should have begun very early, as it was crucial to the campaign. He was way too long winded in his speaking style, something he started to correct late in the campaign, but not early enough. While all of his history lesson was interesting and it was refreshing to have a candidate who actually understood that background, voters today want to hear more about issues today and he did not get around to that enough. He also should have had the savvy to take the stand and tell his side in the court case. As it turned out, that would have helped him legally, but it was absolutely essential politically.