It was this time last year we shared our original “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profile of Maryland House of Delegates member Pat McDonough, who is also a conservative talk radio host (yes, this is going the way you think it will) whose entire political lifeblood seems to be to subsist on a constant stream of race-baiting to motivate conservatives. Since 2010, there have been multiple instances of McDonough complaining about Mexican immigrants not speaking English (in Maryland) and celebrating pro immigration victories by “popping their tequila corks”, whining about “black youth mobs” running amok, and campaigning for all immigrants to have driver’s licenses rejected by falsely claiming 9/11 hijackers got their licenses in Maryland. He responded to the Baltimore riots in 2015 after the death of Freddie Gray by suggesting protesters’ parents should “have their food stamps taken away” for those people using their First Amendment rights to protest, and wanted the death penalty to be re-estbablished in Maryland and instituted in any case where a police officer is attacked.
McDonough’s playbook hasn’t changed too much in the past 12 months, he’s still pushing the most extreme anti-immigrant legislation his warped mind can come up with. What does seem new, however, is his new focus on transphobia, as he supported legislation on transgender bathroom access. (For the record, we would give our eyed-teeth to see famous Marylander John Waters weigh in on McDonough.)
And, as we predicted in our original profile of McDonough, he is, in fact, taking another shot at being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2016, having won the GOP Primary for Maryland’s 2nd Congressional District with a staggering 70% of the vote. Why, it’s almost like this is the year that people running for the GOP with a platform steeped in bigotry will be representing the party (hint, see also Donald Trump).
I wouldn’t panic for Democratic Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, by any stretch, as McDonough rhetoric will make him widely unpopular in a general election and make him a sure-fire lock to get tied to the historically unfavorable and bigoted Drumpf at the top of the Republican ticket. Factor in the Ruppersberger coasted to a 20+ point victory in the 2014 mid-terms when Republicans dominated, and the fact that Maryland’s 2nd has a +10 Democratic lean in the Cook Partisan Voting Index, and it seems likely that the bloated, racist tick that is Pat McDonough is about to get served some humble pie in November.