In an historic upset, Democrate Greg Landsman defeated long-term Republican incumbent Steve Chabot; Landsman received 151,418 votes (52.5%) to Chabot’s 137,218 (47.5%). Of 213 races involving members of the Coup Caucus, those congressional insurrections who voted to negate the certification of electoral votes in the 2020 presidential election and thereby perpetuate Trump’s tyrannical regime, the race in Ohio Congressional District One is the only one in the whole country in which an incumbent Coup Caucus member lost. Though both candidates raised some $2 million for their congressional campaigns, the top donors are qualitatively different. Chabot received significant funds from AIPAC ($19k); Trump’s Save America PAC ($5k); Scalise’s Eye of the Tiger PAC ($10k); Koch Industries ($10k) and the NRA ($5k). Landsman, by contrast, received funding from unions (IBEW, $10k; Plumbers/Fitters Union, $10k); educational institutions (U. of Cincinnati, $29k; Harvard U. $11k) and hospitals (Children’s Hospital, $20k). Chabot held this congressional seat from 1995-2009 and again from 2011-2022), whereas Landsman, a former public school teacher, served in the Cincinnati City Council since 2018. This is a stunning victory for democracy and social contrast over those who would seek to overcome election results, one unfortunately not repeated elsewhere in the country.
The American electorate, at least the 46% of eligible voters who participated in this critical midterm election, has clearly spoken – out of both sides of its mouth. We are not a united nation, not by a long shot; and American democracy remains, as before, in grave peril. While some have waxed euphoric over the election results, a more sober analysis reveals the ongoing ominous presence and empowerment of entrenched fascist forces within the legislature, electorate and corporate America. Although an anticipated red wave thankfully failed to materialize in the midterm election, a blood red contingent of MAGA legislators, the Coup Caucus, was almost unanimously returned to power by tens of millions of votes from confused constituents and hundreds of millions of dollars from corporate donors.
The attempted fascist coup of January 6 involved not only over one thousand MAGA rioters, but also 147 Congressional Insurrectionists who voted to negate the certified electoral college results and thus continue Trump’s tyrannical regime. These congressional members, eight US Senators and 139 US House Representatives, were all guilty of, but not charged with, Insurrection and Sedition, as clearly defined by U.S. federal law: “Whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States” (bold added) (18 U.S.C. §15, Section 2383). “If two or more persons”conspire to”delay the execution of any law of the United States”they shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.” (18 U.S.C. §115, Section 2384).
Accordingly, none of the members of the Coup Caucus should have been on the 2022 ballot. However, nearly all of them were on ballots in 2022 and nearly each won re-election. Only one congressional Insurrectionist, John Kennedy of Louisiana, was on the ballot for a U.S. Senate seat in the midterm elections. He won with 61% of the vote cast. Of the original batch of 139 House Insurrectionists, 123 were on the midterm ballots, while 16 failed to achieve ballot status for US Congress for various reasons. Three had died before the election (Ron Wright of Texas; Jim Hagedorn of Minnesota; Jackie Waloriski of Indiana); two retired (Bob Gibbs of Ohio; Devin Nunes of California); nine ran for another office and lost in the primary or general election (Mo Brooks of Alabama; Jody Hice of Georgia; Steven Palazzo of Mississippi; Vicky Hartzler of Missouri; Billy Long of Missouri; Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina; Tom Rice of South Carolina; Louie Gohmert of Texas; Lee Zeldin of New York); and two ran for another higher office and won (Markwayne Mullin, US Senator-elect from Oklahoma; Ted Budd, US Senator-elect from North Carolina).
In their races for US Senate, the six Congressional Insurrectionists on either the primary or general election ballot garnered over 3,777.000 votes; in his unsuccessful gubernatorial race, Insurrectionist Lee Zeldin received over 2,690,000 votes; and in their unsuccessful bids for Attorney General in Georgia and Secretary of State in Texas, Louie Gohmert and Jody Hice received 327, 257 and 388,595 votes, respectively. With only one exception (Steve Chabot of Ohio), the 123 Congressional Insurrectionists on the 2022 general election ballot all won re-election, some with over 80% of the vote . Over 18, 281,000 Americans cast their vote in favor of returning these clearly exposed Insurrectionists to Congress for another two years. When added to the millions of votes for Coup Caucus members running for other offices, one deeply disturbing result of the midterm election is that some 26 million Americans voted for candidates guilty of Insurrection and Sedition in a failed fascist coup attempt intended to basically overthrow the presidential election of 2020 and establish a fascist dictatorship in the USA. During the 2019-2022 election cycle this Republican conglomeration of Insurrectionists also managed to raise a composite sum of $237,754,000 for their congressional election committees, much of this largesse coming from the most reactionary segments of corporate America. And therein lies the institutional threat to our democracy. As long as MAGA political criminals are massively rewarded with cash and votes to secure congressional seats of power, American democracy is not only insecure; it hangs by a thread.
