Carpetbag Losers

[Zenobiyl]

Anyone know some notable carpetbaggers who lost in more than one state?

There’s Scott Brown (MA, NH), and James Buckley also comes to mind (NY, CT). Makes me wonder if there’s a trend of the northeast being more likely to have these types of candidates.

[He's turned to dust now, one of the chosen few]

Alex Mooney had to withdraw from a GOP House primary in Maryland in 2012 and then lost the GOP Senate primary in West Virginia this year. 'Tis what spending campaign funds on Chick-Fil-A does to a MF.

[These birds not meant to fly alone]

That psycho Valentina Gomez who ran for MO SOS but lost in the GOP primary just carpetbagged to Texas to run for Congress. I saw a video of her on Twitter pretending to shoot a rapist in the back of the head so she seems to be doing great. We'll see how that plays out.

[MargieCat]

Dan Rodimer

Sam Brown

[インターネット掲示板ユーザー Punxsutawney Phil]

Scott Brown was the first one to come to mind.

[Miles]

For whatever reason, IL punches above its weight in the names that came to my mind:

Alan Keyes (MD, IL)
Frank Riggs (CA, AZ)
John Cox (IL, CA)
Qasim Rashid (VA, IL)
Bill Brock (TN, MD)

[JMT]

FYI, I created a thread about this a few years back:

https://talkelections.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=449341.msg9836168#msg9836168

[Progressive Pessimist]

Dan Bongino.

[ottermax]

Why are there so many Republican carpetbaggers?

(this is slightly rhetorical... but I'm genuinely curious what like Republicans think of this phenomenon).

[Crane]

That psycho Valentina Gomez who ran for MO SOS but lost in the GOP primary just carpetbagged to Texas to run for Congress. I saw a video of her on Twitter pretending to shoot a rapist in the back of the head so she seems to be doing great. We'll see how that plays out.

It's a sad indictment of where we are as a country that I'm cheering for Dan f**kin' Crenshaw in that scenario.

[Mr. Smith]

Mehmet Oz (NJ, PA)
Evan Bayh (IN, DC, IN)
Alex Mooney (MD, WV)

[Mr. Matt]

Patrick Morrisey does count having lost a Republican Congressional primary in NJ-6 in 2000 and then to Manchin in 2018

[John Fettercuck]

Lily Tang Williams (CO-Sen 2016, NH-2) is another interesting one. She was actually the Libertarian nom in CO for 2016 but moved up here as the R nominee. Ironically, she wound up losing to a more egregious carpetbagger who explicitly moved to NH-2 to run for Congress.

Wendy Long (NY-Sen 2012/2016) also briefly considered a run against Hassan.

Maura Sullivan (NH-1 primary 2018) was actually recruited to run for Congress in Illinois before deciding to run in NH-1. To be fair to her she did decide to stay and lay down roots here so she's the presumptive favorite if Pappas goes for higher office.

[Samof94]

Who was the guy who ran in Nevada and then moved to Texas? He was a Republican and embraced the right wing stereotype wholeheartedly.

[JGibson]

Who was the guy who ran in Nevada and then moved to Texas? He was a Republican and embraced the right wing stereotype wholeheartedly.

Dan Rodimer.

[Samof94]

Who was the guy who ran in Nevada and then moved to Texas? He was a Republican and embraced the right wing stereotype wholeheartedly.

Dan Rodimer.

I remember now, with the fake rodeo.

[Roll Roons]

Who was the guy who ran in Nevada and then moved to Texas? He was a Republican and embraced the right wing stereotype wholeheartedly.

Dan Rodimer.

I remember now, with the fake rodeo.

And when he ran in that Texas special, he got less than 3% of the vote and did worse than a Never Trumper endorsed by Kinzinger.

[MarkD]

For whatever reason, IL punches above its weight in the names that came to my mind:

Alan Keyes (MD, IL)
Frank Riggs (CA, AZ)
John Cox (IL, CA)
Qasim Rashid (VA, IL)
Bill Brock (TN, MD)

More info about this fellow.

William E. Brock III was born in Chattanooga, TN in Nov. 1930. At the time of his birth, his grandfather/namesake, the original William E. Brock, was serving as a US Senator from the state of Tennessee, having been appointed to the seat in order to fill a vacancy. The elder W. E. Brock served as a Democratic Senator for only 18 months, Sep. 1929-Mar. 1931. He was the founder of the Brock Candy Company.

W. E. Brock III started out as a Democrat too, but converted to be a Republican during the 1950's. He worked in the family's candy company before he ran for Congress, age 32, and got elected to TN-3 in Nov. 1962. Reelected 3 times, he then ran for the Senate in 1970, defeating Al Gore, Sr.

During his one term in the Senate, one of his most noteworthy legislative accomplishments was the passage of a bill that he sponsored called the Equal Credit Opportunity Act -- a law that prohibited financial institutions from discriminating against women in offering credit, such as mortgages and credit cards.

He was defeated for reelection in 1976 by Democrat Jim Sasser. A little over 4 years later, Pres. Reagan appointed Brock to be US Trade Representative, and he served in that position a little over 4 years. Then in April 1985, Reagan appointed him to be Secretary of Labor. He served in that position for approximately two and a half years.

He had established a new home in the DC suburbs in Maryland along the way, and some seven years after he resigned from the Dept. of Labor, he was recruited to run for the Senate against Maryland Senator Paul Sarbanes, but Brock lost again. At the same time he was losing that race in MD, back in TN, Sasser lost as well (to Lamar Alexander).

EDIT: In 1977, just months after he lost reelection, Brock became chairman of the Republican National Committee, and remained there for four years, presiding over the RNC Convention that nominated Reagan.

[Nutmeg]

Lily Tang Williams (CO-Sen 2016, NH-2) is another interesting one. She was actually the Libertarian nom in CO for 2016 but moved up here as the R nominee. Ironically, she wound up losing to a more egregious carpetbagger who explicitly moved to NH-2 to run for Congress.

Goodlander is from Nashua, which is in NH-02. Hardly a carpetbagger.

[John Fettercuck]

Lily Tang Williams (CO-Sen 2016, NH-2) is another interesting one. She was actually the Libertarian nom in CO for 2016 but moved up here as the R nominee. Ironically, she wound up losing to a more egregious carpetbagger who explicitly moved to NH-2 to run for Congress.

Goodlander is from Nashua, which is in NH-02. Hardly a carpetbagger.

Goodlander had also not lived in Nashua since she was in college, and when she moved back to the state, bought a house in Portsmouth (in NH-1). Her lease was relatively close to when she decided to run here. Goodlander has roots here, sure, but she very much moved back to NH-2 to run for Congress.

Please make sure you have a basic grasp of the facts before trying to explain my state's politics to me.

[Sir Mohamed]

Didn't Bill Weld consider a run for governor of New York in 2006?

[Nutmeg]

Lily Tang Williams (CO-Sen 2016, NH-2) is another interesting one. She was actually the Libertarian nom in CO for 2016 but moved up here as the R nominee. Ironically, she wound up losing to a more egregious carpetbagger who explicitly moved to NH-2 to run for Congress.

Goodlander is from Nashua, which is in NH-02. Hardly a carpetbagger.

Goodlander had also not lived in Nashua since she was in college, and when she moved back to the state, bought a house in Portsmouth (in NH-1). Her lease was relatively close to when she decided to run here. Goodlander has roots here, sure, but she very much moved back to NH-2 to run for Congress.

Please make sure you have a basic grasp of the facts before trying to explain my state's politics to me.

You are extremely rude. Disagreeing over the interpretation of a word doesn't warrant a personal attack. I am incredibly familiar with this candidate and her family, thanks.

Running in an adjacent district a few miles from one's home doesn't strike me as carpetbagging. Most of the examples in this thread are candidates running in multiple states. House candidates not infrequently don't live in their own district. For years, both of Hawai`i's representatives lived in the opposite district, Ossoff in GA-06 in 2017, the Capitol Police officer who ran in Maryland this year, etc.

[President Johnson]

Didn't Bill Weld consider a run for governor of New York in 2006?

Yes, but he withdrew his candidacy in the summer after the Republican state convention chosed to endorse John Faso.

[Averroës]

Harold Ford is one of the funnier examples. His attempt to primary Gillibrand ended before it became an official campaign, but it was deliciously and deservedly humiliating.

[John Fettercuck]

Lily Tang Williams (CO-Sen 2016, NH-2) is another interesting one. She was actually the Libertarian nom in CO for 2016 but moved up here as the R nominee. Ironically, she wound up losing to a more egregious carpetbagger who explicitly moved to NH-2 to run for Congress.

Goodlander is from Nashua, which is in NH-02. Hardly a carpetbagger.

Goodlander had also not lived in Nashua since she was in college, and when she moved back to the state, bought a house in Portsmouth (in NH-1). Her lease was relatively close to when she decided to run here. Goodlander has roots here, sure, but she very much moved back to NH-2 to run for Congress.

Please make sure you have a basic grasp of the facts before trying to explain my state's politics to me.

You are extremely rude. Disagreeing over the interpretation of a word doesn't warrant a personal attack. I am incredibly familiar with this candidate and her family, thanks.

Running in an adjacent district a few miles from one's home doesn't strike me as carpetbagging. Most of the examples in this thread are candidates running in multiple states. House candidates not infrequently don't live in their own district. For years, both of Hawai`i's representatives lived in the opposite district, Ossoff in GA-06 in 2017, the Capitol Police officer who ran in Maryland this year, etc.

If you don't want people to be rude, don't condescend to them. When you explain basic political facts things to people about their state like "She's from Nashua, which is in NH-2", that comes off as incredibly condescending.

I'm using the definition made by the NHDP when Levi Sanders ran here in NH-1. I remember it was huge news here that someone from NH-2 dared to run here. And this was coming in a primary where carpetbagging was already a massive issue, even 4 years away from Scott Brown. Hell, we even had another major candidate carpetbag on the GOP side 2 years ago! We've had carpetbaggers in every election cycle since Scott Brown, so we've been hypervigilant since.

I have nothing against Goodlander herself and think she'll be a fine Democrat. I just think it's funny that the party spent almost 10 years making carpetbagging an issue while circling the wagon around one of their own once she faced attacks. If you don't think it's a huge deal, that's fine. We historically have here. But to deny that she moved back to run for Congress is to deny reality.