On this date in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, as well as 2018, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” published profiles of the U.S. House Representative from Arizona’s 6th Congressional District, David Schweikert, a former real estate vulture capitalist arch-conservative who consistently votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act, defund Planned Parenthood, fails to understand how the debt ceiling works, referred to the 2013 Government Shutdown as “my idea of fun”, and was once recorded on video high-fiving Rep. Ben Quayle on the floor of the house after denying a pay increase to active duty soldiers fighting the War on Terror. If that isn’t tacky enough, he also showed a lack of character when he then turned around after redistricting and ran against Quayle in the 2012 GOP Primary in Arizona’s 6th District, instead of the 5th, because he preferred how gerrymandered it was compared to where he started. Schweikert managed to defeat Quayle in part by running campaign ads that insinuated he was bisexual, and as a result, the rest of the Congressional delegation from Arizona has turned their backs on him, and John Boehner removed him from all his committee assignments because, as one GOP staffer said of Schweikert, he’s “one of the most egregious ***holes in the party”. This is what his OWN party thinks of him. Democrats don’t disagree, and certainly unions don’t either, with Schweikert having compared them to Nazis, saying, “Goebbels would be proud of them.”
As stated, Schweikert’s Arizona district is one of the more conservative in the state, and he won re-election in 2018 with only 55% of the vote over Anita Malik, after talking down to Malik and telling her that “87 is more than 84”, during their debate leading her to snap back, “Yes, I know 87 is larger than 84, so thank you for that condescension.” Schweikert has resumed his career in Washington as an egregious ***hole:
- January 23rd, 2019: Rep. Schweikert voted against HR 648, because he was gleeully enjoying the longest government shutdown in history.
- February 28th, 2019: David Schweikert votes against HR 1112, a bill which would have required universal background checks on all firearm purchases, and close the gun show loophole.
- March 14th, 2019: Rep. Schweikert votes against HJR 46, which sane members of Congress voted for to reject Donald Trump’s “national emergency” regarding the U.S. border and his attempts to reallocate funds for a border wall without Congressional approval.
- April 4th, 2019: David Schweikert is one of 158 Republicans who choose to vote against the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act, likely because they feel the 2nd Amendment remaining absolute is more important than preventing people with a history of domestic abuse from owning a firearm (which statistics show, makes them more likely to use those firearms against women in their lives).
- May 17th, 2019: Schweikert votes against The Equality Act, which would have prevented discrimination towards Americans based on their gender identity or sexual orientation.
- June 4th, 2019: Rep. Schweikert votes against the Dreamers Act, because he’s too xenophobic and partisan to care about immigration reform.
- July 16th, 2019: David Schweikert can’t be bothered to vote against a resolution to condemn Donald Trump for his racist statements that four people of color in Congress should “go back where they came from”.
Schweikert’s relationship with those constituents has soured, as he has dodged town halls and seen constituents host ones with him in absentia, and his home office in his district has responded to those who brought cookies and hoped to set up meetings with him… by calling the police and trying to have them arrested. For sharing baked goods, apparently. He was fund-raising in 2018 by claiming Democratic organizations in his district who want to flip his seat are “inciting violence” and “setting cars on fire”.
Big surprise, that’s not based in reality, unless maybe you get your news from Alex Jones, in which case you aren’t based in reality anyway.
David Schweikert already has three Democratic challengers awaiting him in 2020, two of whom, Malik and Hiral Tipirneni, have experience on the campaign trail. We’re curious to see if Arizona’s voters jettison Schweikert next November, or if he’s left scrambling after redistricting in 2022.
