By: Chris Neill
“I’m going to be the most electable candidate that will get in this Republican primary because I have the record and I have the will to say no to the out of control spending in Washington,” Rep. Paul Broun, M.D. (R-Ga.), boldly proclaimed during an interview with Georgia Political Review. “That’s what Georgians want, and I’m taking my message to the people of Georgia.”
Rep. Broun’s confidence about his chances in the 2014 Senate race arrives in the face of Republican strategist Karl Rove’s plan to back electable candidates in upcoming primaries. Through the Conservative Victory Project (CVP), Rove plans to direct top Republican donors to conservative candidates seen as most likely to win.
Due in part to his recent controversial remarks on evolution, Rep. Broun may find himself being passed over by the CVP. When asked if he thought those remarks would impact his Senate race, Rep. Broun explained, “What we should be focusing on his getting our economy going, creating jobs and stopping the out of control spending the government’s been doing.
That’s what my campaign is going to be all about.”
The decision to distance himself from his controversial remarks and focus more on economic issues may in fact be quite strategic, given the likelihood that he may find himself facing competitors who do not include scientists more than 130 years deceased. At the time of the interview, no other candidates had announced their intentions to run, and Rep. Broun said, “Maybe they’ll all see the wisdom in not running against me.”
He believes that his message of stopping the irresponsible spending “is something that Democrats, Republicans, independents, liberals and conservatives can all agree on,” because he sees “Georgians across the spectrum of our society embracing that message.”
On a recent visit to the University of Georgia Campus, Rep. Broun stopped students to talk with them about their concerns for the future. “Universally, what I found in talking to freshman to graduate students was a concern about having a good-paying job when they got out of college,” Rep. Broun said. “What I’ll do in the Senate is to get our country back on a good, stable financial course so we can create jobs.” He further commented that he would seek to lower taxes on job creators, which he believes will “create millions of jobs in America and get our economy going tremendously.”
If sent to the Senate, Rep. Broun thinks he “will have much greater means of trying to get this country back on a good financial course.” He believes he can be much more effective at achieving his economic goals in the Senate than in the House of Representatives. Unlike Sen. Saxby Chambliss, whose seat he is seeking, Rep. Broun would stand firm in not raising taxes on anyone. Rep. Broun is currently signed on to Grover Norquist’s Taxpayer Protection Pledge, which Sen. Chambliss recently disavowed.
“Instead of raising taxes, we should raise taxpayers,” Rep. Broun said, again bringing up the irresponsible spending he sees in Washington.
While Rep. Broun has certainly, and probably wisely, chosen to narrow the focus of his message to cutting spending and lowering taxes, he faces a tougher dilemma in terms of his extremism. While tempering his message may earn him the support of Rove and wealthy Republican donors, it very well may cost him the support of his grassroots constituents. Indeed, the town hall meeting following the interview was packed with people who either lauded Rep. Broun for bringing “good Georgia common sense” to Washington, or even complained that he wasn’t doing enough there. Not one attendee voiced concern about how his far-right beliefs and hard-line opinions would impact his electability. Some people asked why Congress wasn’t challenging President Barack Obama’s recent executive order on gun control. Others asked Rep. Broun about the process he went through to determine how he should vote on a bill.
Rep. Broun said he is always attempting to inform everyone, from his colleagues on the Hill to his constituents in Georgia, about the U.S. Constitution. He called himself one of the few true original-intent constitutionalists in Congress. This, he explained, meant he was more focused on preserving the language of the U.S. Constitution as the framers intended and governing accordingly than the “political theater” and “partisan tricks” he believes to dominate Washington today.
For better or worse, Rep. Broun essentially proclaimed that he would not temper his message or lighten his intensity for the sake of appeasing donors. He believes his message could connect with most Georgians, but he has also benefited from relatively low-competition races throughout his House tenure. With distaste for the Congressman’s stances swelling on the left, center, and moderate right, a well-funded establishment Republican could pose a serious threat for Rep. Broun in the Senate primary. Some say it’s commendable for him to stick to his guns and others say it’s foolish. Not until 2014 will we know whose opinion matters more.
