- Indiana Senator Dick Lugar (defeated in 2012)
- Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania (defeated in 2010)
- Florida Governor Charlie Christ, who lost in a primary election for U.S. Senate (Defeated in 2010)
- Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska (defeated in 2010 primary only to be resurrected in the general)
- Ohio Congressman Jean Schmidt (gloriously defeated in 2012)
- Ohio Representative Peter Stautberg (defeated in 2014)
- Blue Ash Council member Rick Bryan (defeated in 2014 for State Representative)
- (Who else are we missing?)
What is it that claimed all of them?
It was not just that they tilted to the left of their constituents, but that each tried to run intellectually dishonest campaigns, pretending to their voters to be someone other than who they actually were. This characteristic is worse than just "liberal," and worse then just "out of touch." It is a sign of bad character.
The voters sense it, they know it, and they don't like it. They act upon it.
Senator Bob Bennett from Utah was also defeated by his own party.
ReplyDeleteThey lost for all of the above reasons. Too liberal on the issues, became politically tone-deaf and lost touch with their constituents, had to lie about who they are to get elected or re-elected. They all became insular and only listened to a few people instead of ever listening to their constituents.
Other politicians who could have been on the list were smarter. John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, Lindsay Graham, Orrin Hatch reached out to conservatives instead of sticking a finger in their eyes. They saw challenged coming and prepared for them. And it should be noted none of these guys are as far to the left as the most of the defeated Republicans.