The NRA Endorsement Game
Yesterday, Cottonmouth noted that Rep. Brandon Jones (D-Pascagoula) was being endorsed by the NRA. Fire McCoy then said it was a primary endorsement; a primary for which he is unopposed. Regardless of what this specific endorsement may be for, we know who the NRA is going to endorse in HD 111 come November: Brandon Jones.
He has an A rating from the NRA and is an incumbent. That translates to an automatic endorsement. I am sure he won’t be the last Democrat in the legislature to receive their backing this year.
This discussion was one of the bigger stories in conservative circles last year. To little avail in November, the NRA backed a number of Blue Dogs and other incumbent Democrats. They even flirted with endorsing Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid, but opted to stay neutral in that race.
About a year ago at this time, they formally backed Gene Taylor and Travis Childers. Taylor was up about 30 points at the time so that wasn’t a difficult move, but we knew Childers was in a battle but they stuck with him because he was an incumbent who had supported their cause. This is a strategy that has made the NRA one of the strongest lobbying groups in Washington and in state capitol’s.
Here is the official NRA endorsement policy:
The NRA-PVF is non-partisan in issuing its candidate grades and endorsements. We do not base our decisions on a candidate’s party affiliation, but rather on his or her record on Second Amendment issues. The NRA is a single issue organization. The only issues on which we evaluate candidates seeking elected office are gun-related issues. While there are many issues a candidate must address with voters, and while voters evaluate a number of non-gun-related issues in factoring which candidate they will support or oppose, NRA-PVF’s sole criteria in issuing grades and endorsements is a candidate’s position on gun-related issues.
With four million NRA members and 80 million gun owners in the country, our constituency is diverse in its views on multiple issues of our day. However, we are all united in our support of the Second Amendment and our opposition to the notion that passing more laws that negatively impact law-abiding gun owners will reduce crime. For us to divide that otherwise united base of support on non-firearm-related issues would be strategically foolish.
NRA has an incumbent-friendly policy that dictates our support for pro-gun incumbents seeking reelection. It is important that we stand with our friends who stand with us in Congress or the state legislature through their actions. Of course, should a pro-gun challenger win his election, and stay true to support for our gun rights, then he will be the beneficiary of this policy when seeking re-election.
Our endorsement is not given lightly; it is something that is reserved for those candidates who meet certain criteria and something that must be earned.
For conservatives, take solace in the fact that NRA endorsements haven’t exactly translated into victories for incumbent Democrats in challenging races over the years. Obviously, Childers and Taylor come to mind most recently, but we can also go back several years. In 2002, the year before they would endorse Ronnie Musgrove in his re-election bid, they backed the following Southern Democratic governors: Jim Hodges (South Carolina), Roy Barnes (Georgia) and Don Siegelman (Alabama). They would all lose.
In the past, I always thought the NRA would give an incumbent an A+ rating. I remember races where the challenger would get an A and the incumbent an A+. The explanation always was that only an incumbent could get an A+. This should mean Jones and Busby will have an equal rating since Jones did not get as high a score as he could have gotten.
I’m waiting to see if the NRA endorses in the PSC races. Since they sent a survey to me, having never held public office, I suspect an endorsement of the incumbent is just around the corner.
In order to preserve some part of the 501 (c)3 etc, tax exempt status so that contributors can deduct their contributions they are selling out to any and everybody. Thus the endorsements from organizations such as the NRA has less and less influence each passing year. We need to concentrate on making certain someone in a public forum asks pertinent questions regarding our Constitution and the candidates position on the right to bear arms so that we more fully grasp how willing that candidate is fight for our rights. That is the larger issue before us, especially in this new turned-upside-down world where the 20 per cent of our population who are liberals are dominating the remaining 80 per cent of us who believe in capitalism and our Constitution.