Jennifer Strahan wants to do the country a favor.
The Georgia businesswoman recently announced that she plans to primary Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District.
Strahan describes herself as a political outsider who supports gun rights, free speech, religious freedom, the police, and the military. She also says that for people to get things done in Congress, they have to be on committees, which Greene is not.
Strahan doesn’t appear to be a crazed conspiracy theorist, so Republicans, Democrats, and independents should all support her getting elected so they can end Greene’s tenure in Congress.
Outside of being a hardcore anti-vaxxer — an ugly, yet growing phenomenon in the Republican Party — Greene is a conspiracy theorist and an embarrassment to Congress.
She has expressed support for the QAnon conspiracy theory, calling the supposed leader of the movement, “Q,” a patriot who is “worth listening to.” She has questioned whether or not a plane flew into the Pentagon on 9/11, denies the results of the 2020 presidential election, thinks the Parkland school shooting was a false flag, has talked about “Jewish space lasers,” and compared mask mandates amid the coronavirus pandemic to the Holocaust.
Even if one agrees with a lot of her political positions, her messaging is awful, ineffective, and off-putting to the average person. That’s why Greene doesn’t deserve to be a member of the U.S. Congress (something that’s true of many elected officials).
Democrats who don’t like Greene need to realize that a Republican primary is likely the only way to vote her out. Greene represents an R+28 district, according to the Cook Partisan Voting Index. Former President Donald Trump won more than 73% of the vote in the district in 2020 despite losing the state overall.
Someone with the political views of Stacey Abrams won’t swoop into power here. However, even people who don’t like the views Strahan professes should admit that she is likely an upgrade over what the district has now.
So, instead of donating to the next person to pop up on Twitter who says they have what it takes to beat Greene and starts begging for followers and donations, Democrats should throw their support behind Strahan.
And if Republicans want to have a party that the average person can take seriously, then Strahan is worth supporting as well. Why alienate people because of someone whose votes are replaceable?
Tom Joyce (@TomJoyceSports) is a political reporter for the New Boston Post in Massachusetts. He is also a freelance writer who has been published in USA Today, the Boston Globe, Newsday, ESPN, the Detroit Free Press, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Federalist, and a number of other outlets.
