In 2016, 2017, and 2018, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” presented its original profile of the U.S. House Representative from Indiana’s 2nd Congressional District, Jackie Walorski, who during her time in the Indiana House of Representatives from 2004-2012, gained some notoriety for being a co-sponsor of a widely contested Voter ID bill to curtail the statistically non-existent problem of in-person voter fraud that led to a slew of lawsuits, was barely upheld in a U.S. Supreme Court challenge, and was then duplicated by various other Republican-controlled state legislatures to ensure voter suppression as a national tactic. What really made Jackie Walorski stand out, however, was her complete dedication to attacks on a woman’ right to choose, often sabotaging common sense legislation in the Indiana state legislature by adding on riders or amendments regarding abortion that would be the “poison pill” to make Democrats in Indiana forced to no longer support it. She used this tactic most famously (and disgustingly) to sabotage legislation to prevent hate crimes against the LGBTQ community by putting in an amendment to consider fetuses a protected group. Walorski decided to make the jump to national politics and hoped to ride the Tea Party Wave to Washington, D.C., to represent Indiana’s 2nd District in the 2010 elections, challenging Democratic Congressman Joe Donnelly for his U.S. House seat. During that campaign, she spoke about privatizing Social Security, and with her radical record in the Indiana state legislature, voters still balked at the idea of putting her into office.
But alas, she still wasn’t giving up hope, especially after Indiana’s 2nd District was gerrymandered after the 2010 elections by House Republicans so that Walorski could get another chance at weaseling her way into Congress again, once it had a +6 Republican lean, rather than the previous rating, only a +2 lean, that it had when she lost to Joe Donnelly in 2010. Donnelly didn’t want a rematch, and instead, ran a successful campaign in 2012 to be elected to the U.S. Senate.
Jackie Walorski would lose any advantage she might have gained from fundraising, though, after she was involved in a scandal regarding her attempts to fundraise off of a Planned Parenthood “sting” video. No, not the ones that popped up over the summer of 2015. Walorski was using footage from a pro-life activist pretending to be a 13 year old girl and go to a Planned Parenthood to raise money for her campaign coffers even prior to that slander. She sent the fundraising letter out during a period when it wasn’t allowed, then tried saying the ethics committee who were investigating her for doing so were “overlooking the rape and sexual abuse of a 13-year old minor”. (Which, again, wasn’t true, she wasn’t 13, wasn’t raped or abused, and wasn’t pregnant.) Anyway, Walorski’s Democratic opponent was an Iraq War Veteran Brendan Mullen, and as the polling showed the race tightening in August of 2012, she made the classy decision to doxx him, and release his home addresses in Washington, D.C., to the public in a campaign ad. Sadly, this tactic may have worked, as Walorski won office by only about 3,800 votes, 49 to 48%.(And we remind you, this was after the district was gerrymandered to help her as a Republican.)
Since she arrived in the capitol, Walorski’s voting record includes votes against disaster relief funding for victims of Hurricane Sandy, voting to defund the Department of Homeland Security to protest President Obama’s executive orders on delayed deportations, voting for the 2013 Government Shutdown and all anti-choice legislation that comes to the floor. Oh, and she did react to the more recent faux-controversy over Planned Parenthood because of the Center for Medical Progress bogus “sting videos, accusing the organization of "selling baby body parts.” Which if you recall, is the exact kind of rhetoric that motivated Robert Dear, the shooter who attacked and killed several people at a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood, so thanks for that, Jackie.
Ironically, in 2016, Rep. Walorski survived both a primary challenge because of how she pulled her own anti-choice bill, HR 7, because she realized too late that it would not provide exceptions for rape, unless it was reported to authorities. Both Walorski and Rep. Renee Ellmers panicked, and called for their own legislation to be dropped before they risked reigniting the War on Women claims the GOP had been battling in a big way (considering they schedule the vote on the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade ruling, yeah, it would have been pretty bad). Walorski was immediately branded a traitor to the Pro-Life movement, and did her best to earn back their good graces by getting her name down as a co-sponsor on HR 36 in May of 2015, but to no avail. That’s all it took, was pulling back on one anti-abortion measure for how it phrased its exceptions for rape, and she was No True Scotsman. So Jeff Petermann came onto the scene to try to swipe her seat in Congress out from under her. But alas, Petermann failed to unseat her, and Walorski returned to office with 59% of the vote in the general election against Democrat Lynn Coleman.
Walorski was re-elected in 2018 with 55% of the vote, her poorest showing in any election since she came to Washington, D.C. And, she has continued to underwhelm her constituents with a voting record like this:
- January 23rd, 2019: Rep. Walorski also voted against HR 648, because she was gleefully enjoying the longest government shutdown in history.
- February 28th, 2019: Jackie Walorski 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. Walorski 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.
Indiana as a whole is trending further and further right all the time, and we’re curious to see if there’s a point where the people of Indiana’s 2nd Congressional District realize that after eight years in office, she’s not achieved anything legislatively noteworthy, and that they might not want to wait until the Congressional map gets redrawn in 2020 to be rid of her.
One Year Ago, April 22nd, 2018: Jackie Walorski (IN)… 2018 Update
Two Years Ago, April 22nd, 2017: Jackie Walorski (IN)… 2017 Update
Three Years Ago. April 22nd, 2016: Jackie Walorski (IN)… Original Profile
Four Years Ago: April 22nd, 2015: Stephen “Stephanie” Meade (CA)