Our 2020 book is titled Divided We Stand: The 2020 Elections and American Politics. Among other things, it discusses the state of the parties. The state of the GOP is not good.
When South Carolina’s First Congressional District evoked wide sand beaches, Spanish moss, oyster and cocktail bars and hot yoga, its Republican congresswoman, Nancy Mace, made her name appealing for moderation on abortion, climate change and marijuana legalization, while calling out the G.O.P.’s biggest bomb throwers as bigoted clowns.
Then in 2022 came the redrawing of district lines, as rural reaches like Cordesville, S.C., with their modest one-story brick homes and prefabricated double-wides, replaced the graceful mansions and Black neighborhoods of Charleston. So last week, when Ms. Mace shocked Washington and joined seven hard-core conservatives to oust Representative Kevin McCarthy from the speaker’s chair, her new constituents were not surprised.
“I’ve always heard the squeaky wheel gets the oil, and when you’re a female, you don’t get heard unless you’re loud,” said Janet Jurosko, a new constituent of Ms. Mace’s from Cordesville and the auditor of Berkeley County, S.C., which joined the First District in its totality last year. “I think she’s doing a good job — I really do.”
Ms. Mace still calls herself an iconoclast, but her transformation from denouncing the likes of Representative Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida, to joining him in the first overthrow of a sitting speaker underscores a truism: Voters lead their politicians; politicians don’t lead their voters.
Brennan: Do the past allegations of Jim Jordan that he turned a blind eye to sexual abuse give you reservations?
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 8, 2023
Mace: I'm not familiar or aware of that.
Brennan: Ohio state university allegations.
Mace: I don't know anything pic.twitter.com/OGQQFqR9pt
Brennan: McCarthy said his ouster is personal payback from Gaetz for the house ethics committee investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct… Does that bother you?
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 8, 2023
Mace: Well, again, he's not indicted for anything. I don't really -- I don't know much about it. pic.twitter.com/i9qINKGP2m
Mace: I’m wearing the scarlet letter after the week I had being a woman and being demonized for my vote and voice. pic.twitter.com/guVpxGHUq7
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 10, 2023
Mace: There are Democrats who trust Jordan
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 11, 2023
Tapper: Jim Jordan?
Mace: Yes
Tapper: From Ohio?
Mace: Yes
Tapper: Name one pic.twitter.com/22QdZLARx2