On this date in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, as well as 2019, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” published profiles of the U.S. House Representative from Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Tom Emmer, a man who looked to be on the fast track into Congress with a record as a state legislator where he attempted to nullify federal law, abolish the minimum wage, and drug test people on government assistance. He also tried to have a bill passed that explicitly had language written into it that “Minnesotans have no constitutional right to an abortion” which sort of contradicts a pretty important Supreme Court ruling you may have heard about, and actually tried to pass legislation to allow pharmacists to deny to sell people contraceptives based on their religious beliefs. Emmer denies evolution and climate change and once froze up during a debate when asked how old he thought the Earth was. Emmer is also vehemently in the anti-gay category, as he once sponsored a ban same sex marriage in Minnesota, chastised colleagues for discussing an AIDS outreach program by calling it “disgusting discourse”, and has frequently been seen in the company of Bradlee Dean, the head of the “You Can Run But You Can’t Hide” Ministry, which has been classified as an anti-gay hate group for its stance that murdering gay people is “moral”. He also took time in 2015 to call for the repeal of Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform, because apparently he’d like another chance to drive the American economy into a ditch, only eight years after the last time.
Rep. Emmer was surprised when he held a town hall back in February 2017, and hundreds of people showed up to fill a 150 seat venue, dwarfing the attendance from any previous town all in recent years. After it was over, he responded that if people have the nerve to show up and don’t like how he’s doing his job, he’ll just cancel the town hall altogether.
In June of 2018, as the Trump administration’s “family separation” policy was being executed, and migrant children were being torn away from their parents and kept locked in cages by immigration services… Tom Emmer defended that strategy on immigration, claiming that it was up to Congress to stop a policy that Trump could started, and could stop at any time with a stroke of his pen. Also, if Congress was supposed to do something about it, Emmer might want to inform members of his own party, since at the time they controlled the House and the Senate.
Tom Emmer was re-elected in the 2018 elections with 61% of the vote. Thus, he headed back to the capitol for a second term in office where he has continued being a partisan shill, including his attempts at weakening the Endangered Species Act in July of 2018.
As for the rest of his heinous voting record:
- January 23rd, 2019: Rep. Emmer voted against HR 648, because he was gleefully enjoying the longest government shutdown in history.
- February 28th, 2019: Tom Emmer 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. Emmer 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: Tom Emmer 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: Emmer votes against The Equality Act, which would have prevented discrimination towards Americans based on their gender identity or sexual orientation.
- June 4th, 2019: Rep. Emmer votes against the Dreamers Act, because he’s too xenophobic and partisan to care about immigration reform.
- July 16th, 2019: Tom Emmer votes 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”.
- December 18th, 2019: Emmer ignores his Congressional duty to hold a president who has been proven to commit high crimes and misdemeanors accountable and votes against the impeachment of Donald Trump.
- May 15th, 2020: Emmer votes against the HEROES Act, to further support the healthcare industry and citizens affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
While Minnesota’s 6th was once the district of Michelle Bachamann, and has a reported +10 Republican lean in the Cook Partisan Voting Index, and with Emmer’s current role as the head of the NRCC would normally make that seem like a formula for him survive what looks to be a woeful blood bath at the polls for Republicans. What’s not helping? Tom Emmer facing scrutiny for writing an anti-Semitic e-mail to donors complaining about “Bloomberg and Soros have bought control of Congress”, because why not just cement the GOP’s current devolution into anti-Semitism? After all, under his leadership, the National Republican Congressional Committee has begun embracing candidates who believe the Qanon conspiracy theory.
Emmer’s opponent in a few weeks is Tawnja Zahradka, a former Miss Minnesota and local television host. She will have a tough challenge ahead of her, as Emmer has put his own re-election fortunes at the forefront of his interests (of course), and this is easily the most conservative district in the state. We wish her the best in the endeavor, because Tom Emmer is a sack of hot garbage.
