Welcome to the 722nd original “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profile, where today we’ll be discussing Kate Arrington, a failed candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives for South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District in the 2018 elections, after serving a single term in the South Carolina House of Representatives. Arrington was decidedly a candidate to watch, since from the point she announced she was running for Congress, she made it clear she was doing so to “support Donald Trump’s bold, conservative agenda”, which was evident in her lack of understanding about border security and desire to build a wall along the U.S./Mexico border. The incumbent Republican that Arrington was challenging was CSGOPOTD Alumni Mark Sanford, who may have several bizarre incidents that we’ve documented against him, but still was willing to criticize Donald Trump for some of his s***tier moments in the spotlight.
That’s why it came as little surprise when Donald Trump endorsed Katie Arrington over Mark Sanford, and why he thought it would help her cause by calling out Sanford for “hiking the Tallahassee Trail”,which isn’t an actual thing, nor is it the correct reference to the extramarital affair that Sanford had back in 2009. And with a traditionally conservative district filled with Republicans who had grown tired of Sanford after years and were starting to buy into Arrington and Trump’s white nationalist rhetoric… Arrington managed to win the GOP Primary, and Trump was crowing about f***ing over Mark Sanford on Twitter. Arrington practically declared herself a member of Congress, promising that “There’s no Blue Wave crashing on the shores of South Carolina”.
Only a few days after that, it wasn’t a Blue Wave that crashed into Katie Arrington (yet), it was an apparent drunk driver who veered into her own lane, and crashed into her head on. While she spent a few weeks recovering in the hospital, her Democratic opponent, Joe Cunningham, ceased to campaign out of respect, and Mark Sanford offered her his prayers while she recovered, both classy decisions. Arrington, upon returning to the campaign trail, seemed to not acknowledge their kindness, and went right back to slandering Sanford, who she had beaten, and her Cunningham, who she hoped to beat.
At her debate in October against Joe Cunningham, Arrington tried attacking him for not denouncing “memes” about her that said she “faked her breast cancer” or others that were overtly racist and depicted African Americans who supported her “being lynched”. These “memes” were either created online by conservatives who supported Mark Sanford in the primary and had barely been viewed on the internet, at all, let alone been viewed by Cunningham. But sixteen minutes into the debate, it was Arrington’s own campaign that used her Twitter account to complain about them for the first time. Cunningham denounced the images immediately after learning they existed when Arrington mentioned it for the first time, much like the rest of the public. So… botched attempt at creating a non-scandal?
In the final weeks of the campaign in October, there were signs that Katie Arrington maybe didn’t have as comfortable of a lead as she was projecting in June, after she made veiled threats towards the mayor of the Isle of Palms, Jimmy Carroll, telling him he “lost his seat at the table” for endorsing Cunningham, and a real sign of trouble was that the NRCC had to dump almost a quarter of a million dollars into the race to aid her at the last minute in what was supposed to be a “safe” Republican district. Mark Sanford refused to endorse her, at all, and outright talked about her willingness to brazenly lie just a week before the election.
And so it was that as Donald Trump’s fortunes turned worse and worse, and Katie Arrington’s campaign techniques got more and more stupid, that Joe Cunningham upset her by seeming rather sane and moderate. Arrington took the loss well in her concession sp- HA! Gotcha. Arrington flipped out during her concession speech and went on a tirade against Mark Sanford, while promising she’d be back to run for the seat again in 2020, and stopping just short of writing that promise in the sky in smoke like the Wicked Witch of the West at the end of the Wizard of Oz. Based on how Donald Trump’s fortunes are doing by the day, having Arrington handcuffed to someone who could be in handcuffs, legitimately, might not make her the best option Republicans could have in the primary in a year and a half.
One Year Ago: January 13th, 2018: Richard Snow (ME)
Two Years Ago: January 13th, 2017: Katherine Prudhomme-O’Brien (NH)… 2017 Update
Three Years Ago:January 13th, 2016: Katherine Prudhomme-O’Brien (NH)… Original Profile
Four Years Ago:January 13th, 2015: Anthony Culler (SC)