I'm Voting Republican in 2022*
(*June, 2022)
FUKRs,
Last night, I took a bold step in the fight for our democracy. I did something that I never in a million years imagined I would do. I officially changed my party affiliation to Republican.
And as I hit the “Submit” button, I felt that feeling that so many of you are surely feeling. I threw up a little bit in my mouth.
Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Here’s why I did it. Lauren Boebert, the Republican representative in my Congressional district, has built her reputation on supporting Donald Trump, spreading his lies about the 2020 election, and stoking anger, hatred, and division. The strategy works – no question about it. She’s not the only one who does it, of course. There are countless others. But she’s the only one who will be on my Colorado ballot in November.
And now, thanks to my new party affiliation, she will also be on my primary ballot in June. So yes – for those of you who are a little slow on the uptake – I became a Republican last night so that I can fuck with the Republicans during their primary.
And here’s a little advice for all you Democrat FUKRs out there. You should too.
Boebert has at least two primary challengers. One is a political nobody, but the other, who filed his candidacy this week, is a well known and well regarded state senator named Don Coram, a moderate Republican from Montrose, CO who represents most of southwest Colorado. He has a lengthy record of doing solid work for his district and reaching across the aisle in the process. He supports gay rights and legalization of marijuana, for example – two issues more closely associated with the Democratic Party. He has been serving in the state legislature since 2011.
Equally as important – he’s electable. He comes from a family of ranchers – a profession that commands immediate respect in this part of the state. And he is running on a platform that specifically denounces the polarization and division that Boebert is famous for. That will resonate in a district whose Republican leanings are rooted more in traditional conservative values than in the more recent nonsense of stolen election claims.
There’s little chance that a Democrat is going to win this district in November. This district is largely rural and conservative. Boebert defeated her opponent in 2020 by a margin of 51% to 45%. It wasn’t a landslide, but it wasn’t close either, and in 2022 she will have the additional advantage of being an incumbent. If you think there’s any chance she loses the general election, I’ll just ask you to take a look at the list of Democrats running to unseat her: Debby Burnett, Naziha In’am Hadil, Susan Martinez, Kellie Rhodes, Sol Sandoval, Donald Valdez, and Colin Wilhelm. If you see a name on there that screams out “the future of the Colorado Democratic Party,” I’d be real interested to know which one.
So Democrats – your best chance of beating Lauren Boebert is not in November. It’s in June.
For the record, I’m no Republican – other than on paper, for now. I’m also not a Democrat. If you’ve been reading The Krich Report long enough, you surely know that already. My political leanings are mostly libertarian, which means I support freedom, whether it’s a conservative freedom or a liberal freedom. Most of all, right now my political leanings are 100% in the direction of supporting our democracy and promoting decency and honesty in politics.
Today is the one-year anniversary of the January 6th coup attempt and attack on Congress. There was an interesting piece in the New York Times this morning about how we as a country should confront the fact that one of our political parties is no longer interested in respecting our democracy. The article quoted the authors of an important book called How Democracies Die. One of their suggestions is that supporters of democracy need to come together, regardless of their other ideological differences, to form a broad enough coalition to defeat the far-right extremists who remain loyal to Trump. That means moderate Democrats and moderate Republicans need to join forces. It means Democrats need to find common ground with folks like Mitt Romney – in other words, Republicans who are more pro-business and pro-family values than pro-Trump. This strategy needs to guide our efforts in 2022 and 2024. It needs to be a higher priority than any other issue we care about.
And what better way to find common ground with those moderate Republicans than to join their party?
Don Coram faces an uphill battle against Lauren Boebert, for sure. You will recall that Boebert defeated Scott Tipton, a popular Republican incumbent, in the 2020 primary. So she is no stranger to convincing her voters to support radical far-right politics over more moderate conservative values. Don Coram will need all the help he can get – and there’s no better place to get that help than from Democrats who can’t bear to see Lauren Boebert in office for another two years.
Here’s the online form to change your voter registration. It only takes two minutes. Tell your friends.