Questions Surround CT Republican Party After Extremist Wins State House Nomination
Jadon MacCormack’s nomination reflects a broader pattern of the Republican Party tolerating extremist views, Senate Democratic leaders said
Looney and Duff questioned how Republican delegates nominated MacCormack despite his publicly documented ties to a preacher whose church has been designated a hate group
Democratic leaders said they appreciated Candelora and Harding for condemning MacCormack, but said the episode raises questions about accountability within the GOP
Connecticut Republicans’ nomination of a House candidate who called for executing gay people exposed a systemic problem within the state GOP, not just an isolated candidate, Senate President Pro Tem Martin Looney and Majority Leader Bob Duff said Monday.
Jadon MacCormack, the Republican nominee in the 50th House District, drew bipartisan condemnation last week after a series of social media posts attacking the LGBTQ community and radio appearances in which he called for restoring the death penalty for gay people.
Despite widespread pushback, MacCormack has declined to withdraw from the race.
In a statement Monday, Looney and Duff said MacCormack’s views, however extreme, did not appear without warning. MacCormack wrote a biography of preacher Steven Anderson, who has advocated the death penalty for gay people, has been banned from more than 30 countries, and leads a church that has been designated a hate group, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
“Did none of these local Republicans know about MacCormack’s viewpoints that were so public and extreme?” Looney and Duff wrote. “How does a man who chose to celebrate Steven Anderson get a Republican nomination for the Connecticut General Assembly without a single person in that party demanding answers?”
The two Democratic leaders said MacCormack’s views were his own and not a reflection of Christian faith. “There is a long and dishonorable tradition of invoking religious conviction as a pretext for persecution,” they wrote. “His hate is a reflection of himself, not the Christian faith.”
Looney and Duff acknowledged that House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora and Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding had condemned MacCormack’s comments, calling that response appropriate. But they said the episode pointed to something larger than one candidate.
“The Republican Party in Connecticut and across this country continues to attract people who advocate views that have no place in a pluralistic democratic society,” they wrote.
MacCormack is challenging Rep. Pat Boyd, D-Pomfret, in a seven-town eastern Connecticut district. In social media posts, the Republican candidate has said he considers widespread rejection of his views a “badge of honor” and described himself as representing the future of a Republican Party he said had grown “weak and complacent.”
By Hugh McQuaid
This action, or inaction, is a glaringly ugly reflection upon the CT Republican party leadership.
The local Republican Party should actively urge registered Republicans to vote for the Democratic candidate. Sometimes you have to do the right thing.