Most people are focusing on the primary result out of Memphis last night where incumbent freshman Steve Cohen held off crushed Harold Ford-machine Democrat Nikki Tinker despite because of her decision to make his white Jewishness an issue and to run ads linking him to the KKK. It is indeed a time to celebrate this laudatory result. The liberal Cohen beat the Harold Ford candidate by a 79-19 margin. Hell yes!!
But there was other good news all the way on the other side of the Volunteer State. Another Republican incumbent has gone down to defeat. In the northeastern First District, cleverly named freshman Rep. David Davis lost the right to run for reelection by a mere 500 votes.
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (AP) — Being linked to “big oil” turned into a big problem for Tennessee Republican freshman Rep. David Davis, who became the first congressman from that state to lose in a primary in more than four decades.
Johnson City Mayor Phil Roe beat Davis by a 500-vote margin Thursday in the solidly Republican 1st District in the northeastern corner of the state.
Roe’s victory came after a bruising campaign in which he accused Davis of selling out to “big oil.”
The last time an incumbent congressman lost in a Tennessee primary it was 1966. It’s somewhat surprising to see the incumbent lose because of their closeness to Big Oil (in a Republican primary, no less). This should send a signal to the idiotic Republicans up in DC that are engaged in street theater in an effort to get Congress unadjourn and pass an offshore drilling bill.
The race became increasingly acrimonious as the primary election neared. Roe ran a TV ad accusing Davis of selling out to “Big Oil” by accepting money from industry PACs and backing legislation supporting offshore drilling.
Supporting offshore drilling is supposed to save endangered Republicans not kill them off in Republican primaries. On the other hand, we shouldn’t make too much of this result. When Davis won the Republican nomination in 2006 he only got 22% of the vote in a 13-candidate contest. This time he only had two opponents and he almost won.
Still, two lessons were learned last night. First, Harold Ford’s machine is still incapable of winning elections in Tennessee in spite of their willingness to stoop to any level in the pursuit of victory, and offshore drilling isn’t some magic elixir that will save unpopular incumbent Republicans. Far from it.
