In 2015, 2016, as well as in 2017, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profiled James Comer, who was a GOP candidate for the Governor of Kentucky in the 2015 elections who somehow lost to cockfighting advocate Matt Bevin, as just before the primary, another candidate in the GOP field, Hal Heiner, accused Comer of abusing his girlfriend in college. While at first, this just seemed like an unsubstantiated slander, Comer’s college paramour, Marilyn Thomas, and her mother came forward to confirm the accusations, and add that Comer had also gotten her pregnant, and pressured her into getting an abortion. Which, guess what? Comer also claims to be pro-life without exceptions for rape, incest, or the mother’s life at risk… so that was not going to fly well for him. Comer ended up losing to Bevin in the primary by… 83 votes. Comer, as we noted in our write-up, is also pro-death penalty, opposes same-sex marriage, only wants abstinence-only sex education taught in schools, and has “A” ratings on his stance on guns from the NRA.
We thought Comer would have to lay low for a few years, or that his political career could be in jeopardy. Lo and behold, he is already back in the thick of Kentucky politics, and did not just run in the 2016 GOP Primary for the right to replace retiring Rep. Ed Whitfield for his seat for Kentucky’s 1st Congressional District… he HANDILY won that primary, with 61% of the vote in a four-way race. Then again, his biggest challenge was from second-place finisher Mike Pape, who CSGOPOTD covered a little ways back for his grotesque ads with Mexican stereotypes sneaking across the border. Once Comer got out of the primary, he coasted to victory over Democrat Sam Gaskins with 73% of the vote, which makes sense what with the Cook Partisan Voting Index having a +18 Republican lean measured for Kentucky’s 1st District.
As such, Comer went to Washington to join the most fruitless session of Congress in decades:
- February 16th, 2017: Comer votes for HJR 69, to make it legal for hunters on wildlife reserves to kill several species of hibernating bears or wolves while they’re sleeping. Because… well, the logic really isn’t there as to why, it’s just awful.
- March 16th, 2017: James Comer votes for HR 1181, which would allow veterans deemed mentally incompetent to continue to own firearms, and not have them taken away without a judge’s written order. We feel safer already.
- March 28th, 2017: Rep. Comer votes for SJ Res 34, which allowed internet providers to sell the data information of their customers’ internet usage to businesses.
- May 4th, 2017: Comer votes for the House GOP’s healthcare plan, that would kick roughly 24 million people off their health insurance plans, allow up to 28,000 more people to die a year, give $50,000 in tax breaks to millionaires, and would eliminate coverage for pre-existing conditions which would include such medical conditions as pregnancy (current or past), postpartum depression, or prior sexual assault. Oh, and a provision in the bill would make sure that Comer would be allowed to keep his healthcare plan as it exists under the ACA, which would be repealed for the rest of the country. He and his Republican compatriots threw themselves a beer bash to celebrate taking away healthcare from millions and then gloated about it with Donald Trump at a White House press conference, as well.
- June 8th, 2017: James Comer votes for HR 10, the GOP’s attempt to repeal Dodd-Frank financial reform, because what the country really needs is to allow the big banks to make the same mistakes that imploded the economy only a decade earlier.
- September 8th, 2017: Rep. Comer chooses to be one of 90 Republicans in Congress who votes against disaster relief for Hurricane Harvey.
- October 3rd, 2017: Comer votes for HR 36, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, that would try to create an unconstitutional ban abortion at 20 weeks (even though medical science tells us fetuses do not have the capability to feel pain until 29 weeks).
- December 19th, 2017: James Comer votes for HR 1, the GOP’s $1.7 trillion tax cut to benefit the wealthiest Americans and corporations permanently that coincidentally also removes the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate and kicks 13 million people off their health insurance.
- February 18th, 2018: Comer and his fellow Republicans decide that poor big businesses are suffering too much at the hands of the Americans with Disabilities Act too much, and vote for HR 620, which would strip most of the civil rights protections guaranteed by it.
James Comer was placed on the House Oversight Committee after making his way to Washington, D.C., but it doesn’t seem like he takes that responsibility too seriously, based on this May 2017 interview where he does his best to blow off the revelation of what was in former FBI Director James Comey’s memos, and chalks up most of the things Comey claims Donald Trump says that are highly inappropriate if not things that would qualify obstruction of justice in the Trump/Russia investigation as Trump “was just joking”. Because we’ve all heard that knee-slapper about Michael Flynn and how we should “let this thing go”. Perfect punchline, right?
It’s that sort of cluelessness that has Comer already facing crowds of angry constituents at his town halls, as he’s already been shouted down twice since taking office, particularly on the issue of healthcare. But it’s not just at town halls where James Comer has seen things get heated. He’s currently the target of a lawsuit after he began taunting and threatening the job of a legislative aide from the Kentucky state legislature who reported Jeff Hoover (who we’ll get around to giving a CSGOPOTD profile to somewhere down the road) for sexual harassment, leading to his resignation. So, an old colleague’s improper behavior isn’t something Comer would like whistleblower protections to apply to, and he’d rather seek out retribution. Isn’t that cute?
James Comer is running for re-election this year, only because he has to wait until 2019 to take another crack at avenging his loss in a GOP Primary for Governor of Kentucky against Matt Bevin. Instead, he’ll face off against Paul Walker, an English professor from Murray State University (and not the late actor from the Fast and the Furious franchise). With as conservative as Kentucky’s 1st District leans, it might be a stretch to see Walker pull the upset, but with such a deeply flawed candidate as Comer, he might be able to pull it off come November. Here’s hoping that’s the case.
One Year Ago, July 29th, 2017: James Comer (KY)… 2017 Update
Two Years Ago, July 29th, 2016: James Comer (KY)… 2016 Update
Three Years Ago, July 29th, 2015: James Comer (KY)… Original Profile
Four Years Ago, July 29th, 2014: Harley Brown (ID)