Thread: 2 Pro-Enforcement Democratic Incumbents Handily Defeat

From the desk of Roy Beck:

2 Pro-Enforcement Democratic Incumbents Handily Defeat Primary Challenges



By Roy Beck, Updated Friday, July 18, 2008, 2:18 PM

We have good results from Primary elections for two Democratic incumbent congressmen who bucked their Party leadership on immigration. Both faced vigorous Primary challenges from candidates backed by Democrats who said the incumbents were too centrist. We are well aware that Democrats who stand for reduced immigration levels will do better in the General elections, but we are particularly gratified to see that standing for sensible immigration also is a good political sell in Democratic Primaries.

And in the other Party, the Republican freshman who has earned the second best immigration grade of the entire 535-Member Congress beat back a Primary challenge from his District’s Party and business establishment. (More on Paul Broun below.)
SAVE Act Hero, Rep. Barrow, Wins In Georgia

I was especially excited to see Rep. John Barrow (D-Ga.) win his Savannah District Primary. Having narrowly been elected to Congress in 2004, he had immediately established himself on immigration issues as a friend of the common working man and woman and the middle-class taxpayers.

He has earned the 11th best immigration-reduction grade among all Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Barrow is one of only a dozen Democrats brave enough to buck House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and sign the Discharge Petition to force a vote on the SAVE Act (sponsored by another freshman Democrat Heath Shuler of North Carolina).

At a NumbersUSA event this spring, Barrow gave a stirring speech about the importance of standing up for true Democratic Party values in protecting the most vulnerable workers in society. He said if the Democratic leadership won’t stand for the principles of protecting American workers from unfair foreign labor importation, he will always be willing to oppose his Party for the sake of the voters of his District.

Not surprisingly, he faced Democratic opposition in the Primary to decide whether to nominate him for a third term in Congress. The Blue America Political Action Committee, founded by liberal bloggers in 2006 and supported by Hollywood media moguls, ran an ad campaign to try to convince Democratic voters that Barrow was standing on the wrong principles.

It didn’t work. The Georgia Democrats voted 76% for Barrow and just 34% for Georgia State Sen. Regina Thomas.
Best Immigration-Reduction Republican Will Face Barrow

The Savannah, Ga., District voters in both Primaries showed their preference for hard-hitting immigration reformers.

In the Republican Primary, only John E. Stone of the three candidates took our NumbersUSA survey. He answered every question perfectly. And he won the three-way race with 57% of the vote.

Stone is former Deputy Chief of Staff and Communications Director for both the late U.S. Rep. Charlie Norwood (R-GA10) and former U.S. Rep. Max Burns (R-GA12). He earlier was a news anchor and reporter for Augusta, Ga., TV.

In the General election in November, voters will have excellent immigration choices in both Stone and Barrow.
Democratic SAVE Co-Sponsor Survives Iowa Challenge

The winner in the Iowa Primary was centrist Democratic Rep. Leonard Boswell. While he is no champion for our cause, he stands with us more than against us. And his recent immigration-reduction grades are better than 191 of the Democrats in the U.S. House. He is a co-sponsor of the SAVE Act, which is the Democratic backbenchers’ challenge to the open-borders leadership of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)

Thus, I was concerned when Ed Fallon, a former state legislator, tried to unseat Boswell. Congratulations to you Des Moines District Democrats for supporting the far better immigration candidate Boswell 61% over the 39% for Fallon.

I hope you Iowans will work on Rep. Boswell now to sign the Discharge Petition on the SAVE Act to show his full devotion to the workers of his District, and his disdain for the Pelosi-leadership preference for illegal foreign workers.
Top GOP Freshman Wins In Georgia

Freshman Rep. Paul Broun won his Primary race in 2007 to fill a mid-term vacated seat in what many thought was a bit of a fluke. Knowing that he needed to act quickly to convince the voters of his District that he was doing what they most wanted him to do, Broun actively searched out all the ways he could help advance the immigration-reduction agenda.

Broun has not done ALL the things he might have done to help us in the last two years, but he came pretty darn close. His percentage rating in our NumbersUSA grading system is 98% (only Rep. Barrett, R-S.C., is higher at 99%).

For various reasons, the Georgia Republican establishment was reported to be backing Barry Fleming to unseat Broun. Bay Buchanan of the Team America PAC wrote this week: “Up until Election Day, all the papers were calling this race a toss-up. Even though he was an incumbent, Paul faced an uphill battle. His opponent Barry Fleming had more money, the support of the local media, and the backing of the Georgia Republican establishment.â€

Good post Gogo . I got his letter and must say it made me happy . Not many things now a days do that for me . This did

Good news. We need strong enforcement Congressional members to help fight amnesty against either Obama or McCain (and The Race).

Outstanding post !
Thanks for puting the numbers out there for us to see for both the Democats and the Republicans.

Yes we need to keep these names handy for thank you's when they help us and to call them when help is needed.

when i saw the subject, i thought it was going to say they were defeated.
it wasnt till i read the post that i understood they won

Let's hope Barletta pulls it out. He was just named the Mayor of the Year in PA.