Outgoing Oklahoma GOP Rep. Steve Russell
GOP Rep. Steve Russell recently told the National Journal that he wasn’t ruling out a comeback campaign to try and reclaim his Oklahoma City seat from Democrat Kendra Horn, though he said it was too early to seriously consider another bid. National Republicans, though, would almost certainly prefer if Russell decided that the time to seriously consider another bid turned out to be never.
As we wrote just after the election, Russell just never seemed to think he was in a very tough race. The incumbent was even so slow to prepare his re-election campaign that there was speculation in GOP circles that he would end up not seeking a third term. Russell did ramp up his schedule in the final month by hitting industry events such as an oil and gas conference and a health center ribbon-cutting, but it was too little, too late.
Russell also made plenty of other mistakes that contributed to his 51-49 defeat in a district that Trump had carried 53-40 two years before. Horn outraised Russell, but that still didn’t seem to alarm him, since he reportedly never even told the NRCC he was in danger. The National Journal writes that Russell didn’t run negative ads even as the polls tightened, a move questioned by his campaign team. Neighboring GOP Rep. Frank Lucas also threw some shade at Russell after Election Day, saying, “If you don’t define your opponent in a year like this, your opponent is going to define you,” and adding, “It looks like that’s what happened."
However, Russell still doesn’t seem to have accepted that he made so many mistakes, or why the negative ads Horn and her allies ran worked. Horn avoided mentioning Trump here and instead worked to tie the incumbent to Republican Gov. Mary Fallin, who was horrifically unpopular thanks in large part to the budget cuts that lead to four-day school weeks and a teacher’s strike. Horn and Mike Bloomberg's Independence USA super PAC, which went up with a late TV buy here, ran ads hitting Russell for voting with Fallin to underfund schools while he served in the legislature.
Russell complained after Election Day to the National Journal about this strategy, griping, “Local and state issues were promoted to a federal level, which they aren’t.” Russell added that he was frustrated that he was attacked over a problem he had no say over, and that some voters may have gone to the polls thinking that, by firing him, they’d be changing state government policy. Of course, as we noted above, his opponents actually did attack him for his voting in the legislature to underfund schools, an argument that seems very much to have resonated.
But Russell went further in talking down to his soon-to-be-former constituents, adding, “If you don’t study the issues, like a dog lapping up antifreeze, you’ll lick it up; it tastes good. There’s consequences.” We’ve seen a lot of things in politics, but we don’t think we’ve seen someone take comfort in imagining the people who voted him out dying from antifreeze poisoning. So yeah, we hope the GOP nominates him again.
But while Russell didn’t win a third term in 2018, he did win something. Daily Kos Elections is pleased to officially present our second biennial John Mica Award for most clueless incumbent to outgoing GOP Rep. Steve Russell. Congratulations, take a Styrofoam cup.
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