by Thanks to court-ordered redistricting, I will now be back in the 11th Congressional District of North Carolina starting with this election. I was looking forward to having Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC-11) as my congressman again. Unfortunately, he decided to retire and that set off a free-for-all, both Republican and Democrat, to succeed him.
We have been inundated with mailers, TV ads, and robocalls. You can’t drive past any corner without seeing a number of yard signs. The common theme in all the ads for the Republicans is that they are rock ribbed conservatives who are pro-gun and need to be sent to DC to fight for President Trump and his agenda.
The majority of the TV ads are for Republicans Chuck Archerd, Jim Davis, Dan Driscoll, and Lynda Bennett. It seems negative ads and mailers have been aimed specifically at Lynda Bennett accusing her of being a “never Trumper”.
I should note at this time that Bennett was endorsed by both Rep. Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan of the Freedom Caucus. Meadows has been doing TV ads for Bennett as well. She was also recommended by Grass Roots North Carolina thanks to her perfect 100 on the GRNC survey, endorsement by Meadows, and connections to other pro-gun conservatives in the district.
When I started hearing some of the anti-Bennett ads, I started to pay attention to who sponsored them. They were coming from a super-PAC called Fix Congress Now. They accused her of being “a Never Trumper” which I found odd given her endorsement by Meadows. At the same time, this same group has been funding pro-Dan Driscoll ads.
The GRNC-PVF alert below lays out this in more detail. In full disclosure, I helped do much of the research for that alert.
First off, we have a group that claims to be ‘non partisan’ but is pushing more leftist pablum than Bernie Sanders ordering a nonfat latte. Stuff like open primaries, vote by mail, and “unity” candidates. You know those candidates who would sell out your Second Amendment rights in a heartbeat.
Seems like they wanted to besmirch liberty advocate Lynda Bennett in the primary for the 11th District with the proven false ‘NeverTrumper’ smear. The mailing against Bennett was from ‘Fix Congress Now’ connected to Jeffrey Carson of ‘Unite America’ from Colorado, of all places, so much for the hometown touch. They even share the same suite of offices in Denver.
Federal Election Commission records show that Fix Congress Now has gotten 100% of their funding from Colorado-based Unite America. Moreover, Fix Congress Now has spent a combined $424,000 as of this week to either oppose Lynda Bennett or to support Dan Driscoll.
Unite America has Everytown-endorsed former Congressman Carlos Curbelo of Florida and “independent” Greg Orman of Kansas as advisors. Orman, running on an anti-constitutional carry platform, sabotaged pro-gun Kris Kobach in the race for governor of Kansas allowing an anti-gun Democrat to win that red state.
Just Wednesday, Dan Driscoll even received a $5,600 maximum contribution directly from Unite America.
You have to ask yourself why would, Fix Congress Now and Unite America spend so much money to defeat a candidate endorsed by Congressman Mark Meadows. And why would they support a guy who only moved to the 11th District in the last month or so? Did they see in Driscoll a RINO who would say anything to get elected and who would support their leftist agenda?Lynda Bennett has promised to replace Mark Meadows in the Freedom Caucus.
We should note that the only reason centrist Republicans in Colorado would spend $277,000 against a member of their own party would be to break up the Freedom Caucus by electing a more controllable Moderate, specifically Dan Driscoll.
A quick search of the Federal Election Commission’s website shows that the only other candidate being opposed by Fix Congress Now is former California Assemblyman Tim Donnelly who is running for Congress in the 8th Congressional District of California. Donnelly, like Bennett, has been endorsed by the House Freedom Fund as well as Sen. Rand Paul.
Given super PAC Fix Congress Now has received 100% of their funding from Unite America, it is interesting to see what is their agenda. They list their goals as:
- Independent Redistricting
- Open Primaries
- Ranked Choice Voting
- Vote By Mail
- “Unity” Candidates
This list of goals is not something any conservative candidate would support. Independent redistricting has been shown to favor Democrats as been shown by the California experience. Open primaries allow one side or the other to nominate the weakest candidate for the preferred candidate to face. Ranked choice voting is why Maine has two Democrats in Congress instead of a Democrat and a Republican. Vote by mail is just asking for fraud. Finally, unity candidates are rarely, if ever, pro-2A when push comes to shove.
Coming back to the race in the 11th District, I find it the height of hypocrisy for Fix Congress Now/Unite America to castigate Bennett as anti-Trump and then push their preferred candidate Dan Driscoll as being pro-Trump. While Driscoll might actually be pro-Trump, that would tend to go against everything Fix Congress Now/Unite America has stood for since their founding.
Tuesday we will find out if people in North Carolina and California were swayed by their fallacious advertising. I hope now. I wasn’t.
There is no attack on the Freedom Caucus here. There is only the dishonest claim that Lynda Bennett has been endorsed by the Freedom Caucus. While she has been endorsed publicly by two members of the Freedom Caucus that is hardly an endorsement by the entire caucus.
I respectfully disagree.
An endorsement from the House Freedom Fund is an endorsement by the Freedom Caucus for all intents and purposes.
Both Bennett and Donnelly have been made the targets of Fix Congress Now/Unite America. Unfortunately, quite a bit of the supposed statements made by Ms. Bennett used by that group have been the result of selectively edited tapes issued by a group in Haywood County with which you have been affiliated.
Not only has Lynda Bennett been endorsed by the Freedom Caucus, She also has the endorsement of Mark Meadows, Jim Jordan and Right women. She will join the Freedom Caucus and keep up the wonderful legacy of Mark Meadows for representing the 11th district. A lot has been thrown at her from leftist pac with their intent to knock out the most formidable conservative candidate- for the reason that she will join the Freedom Caucus. Lynda still emerged with the most votes in the primary. I am glad most District 11 citizens saw through the smear, and understand why an onslaught was thrown against her. For those who are just catching up to know about the false campaign against her by the leftist PAC.. you can help bring her to full victory on May 12.. Circle around, bring her in to full victory in the run off election for the good of NC citizens and the good of our Republican party.