Rep. Sue Myrick (R)
From GOP Rep. Sue Myrick's
Facebook page:
“After thoughtful discussion with my family, I have decided not to run for another term in Congress. I’m grateful for the privilege of serving you. We have all been blessed by staff members who truly care and delight in helping to solve problems for everyone in the district. Thanks for the trust you have placed in us all these years. We will spend the rest of the year working on the issues that are important to all of you – and I hope to be a positive influence in all our negotiations. I hope you will join me in praying that God will heal our nation. May God bless you and your family.”
I've gotta say, not only did I not see this one coming, I'm not even sure I have a single thing to say about her. Well, okay, I'll try. One of the only times we ever mentioned Myrick back at the old Swing State Project was over four years ago, when Democrat Harry Taylor
announced he'd run against her. Does the name ring a bell? He's the guy who
famously stood up at a George W. Bush town hall in 2006 and declared to the president: "I would hope from time to time that you have the humility and the grace to be ashamed of yourself." Taylor's moxie was inspiring, but it wasn't nearly enough to overcome the extremely conservative nature of the 9th District, and Myrick cruised to reelection,
62-36.
More recently, she became infamous as a grade-A islamophobe, even writing the foreward to a book called "Muslim Mafia" and alleging the existence of a network of Muslim intern spies on Capitol Hill (!). Last year, she cancelled her appearances at events commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11th attacks because she claimed she was a target of the Iranian government. In reality, her name merely appeared in a re-written version of a report by the Center for American Progress.
In any event, while I'm sure no one will miss Myrick, she's likely to be replaced in Congress by a member of her own party. Though the redrawn 9th District got just a touch bluer in redistricting, it still went for John McCain by a 54-45 margin. That actually makes the seat more Dem-friendly than either the 7th, 8th, or 11th (looking purely at presidential numbers)—districts all currently held by Democrats, and all targeted by the GOP. So it's possible the right kind of candidate could come along and make this seat competitive, but Team Blue already has its hands full in North Carolina. No matter what, though, we'll follow further developments here closely.