It was in both 2017, 2018, 2019, as well as 2020, that “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” had its first profile of the U.S. House Representative from New York’s 22nd Congressional District, Claudia Tenney, currently serving in he freshman term in Congress after serving three terms in the New York State Assembly from 2011 through 2017. It’s somewhat of a miracle that Tenney’s career has lasted as long as it has, or that she has elevated herself to Congress, considering back in October of 2013, she went to a press conference where members of the Oneida Native Americans and while a representative of the tribe, Ray Halbritter was speaking about negotiations with the NFL to change the name of their Washington franchise, when Tenney stood up on a chair screaming that “he wasn’t actually an Indian” before threatening to sue Halbritter on behalf of a member of the Oneida Nation who said Halbritter was “stealing his land”. She was eventually escorted out after a bizarre spectacle. To this day, she has no apologies, and still smears Halbritter, calling him “Spray-Tan Ray”, indicating she thinks his pigmentation is enhanced (which is f***ing AMAZINGLY RACIST).
And yet, her career has continued. Which probably has a lot to do with the fact that the Fox News Family often gave her a platform on their networks when possible, including this delightful appearance on Fox Business when she argues against the minimum wage. Her voting record as a state legislator shows not just her willingness to vote against the minimum wage, but she has voted against Equal Pay for women, early voting, and conveniently is absent every time a vote comes up to ban gay conversion therapy.
Tenney failed to unseat tenured Congressman Richard Hanna for his seat in 2014, but when he announced his retirement in 2016 she gave it another shot. She won with only 45% of the vote, in spite of polls having her listed by far as the most disliked candidate, because the vote was split between Democrat Kim Myers and Martin Babinec, who thought he would be helping by going “third party” and creating the Upstate Workers Party. Well, thanks a f***ing lot, Martin, because you only helped a racist get elected to Congress. Tenney, as you might expect from someone who would show up to a press conference and get on a chair to claim someone was faking their race is highly contentious on the campaign trail, as she also claimed Kim Myers, who worked for her family’s Dick’s Sporting Goods before starting her own business was “more of a housewife”.
Tenney quickly drew massive amounts of criticism from her constituents (only 45% of whom voted for her), could tried avoiding confrontations with them by hosting “telephone town halls” where her aides can screen calls, and actually tried defending her vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act by saying the law was “denying people the right to have an existence, to work and to have a chance.”
On February 16th, 2018 for whatever reason, Tenney defended the White House for not firing Rob Porter, a staffer who could not pass his background clearance checks because he had abused two separate wives he’d been married to. Tenney claimed that Porter’s repeated spousal abuse did not qualify as “crimes of character”.
By February of 2018, when she had three gaffes over the span of three weeks. Her first was on February 6th, when she claimed that it was “Un-American” that Democrats didn’t rise and give a standing ovation to Donald Trump’s State of the Union Address, and proof that “they don’t love our country”. Then, on February 16th, for whatever reason, Tenney defended the White House for not firing Rob Porter, a staffer who could not pass his background clearance checks because he had abused two separate wives he’d been married to. Tenney claimed that Porter’s repeated spousal abuse did not qualify as “crimes of character”.
“It’s interesting that so many of these people that commit the mass murders end up being Democrats. But the media doesn’t talk about that either.”
(For the record, Nicholas Cruz, the shooter at Parkland was NOT a Democrat, and in fact, had photographs of himself on social media accounts in a “MAGA” hat.)
Tenney’s 2018 challenger was Democratic New York State Assembly member Anthony Brindisi, and damn, did she take a bigoted approach to running against him. Tenney campaigned by attacking Brindisi’s father. For a few years in the late 1970s and 1980s, the elder Brindisi worked as a defense attorney and defended members of New York crime families in court. Now, it should be noted that John Adams once defended the men who perpetuated the Boston Massacre, and that doesn’t state to his character as a Founding Father. We should also note that Brindisi’s father stopped working criminal defense cases in 1983. We also should note that there’s a whole “sins of the father” thing that should be taken into account… but it’s amazing to see Tenney’s first response to be to smear the Italian-American candidate for having suspicious mob ties.
Tenney was swept out of office by the 2018 Blue Wave, losing by about 4500 votes. Even with higher Democratic voter turnout expected in a presidential year than a mid-term year in 2020… Tenney decided to try and avenge her loss, and barely managed to, missing the first few weeks of this sessions of Congress during various recounts that resulted in her victory by all of 109 votes out of almost 320,000 cast.
Her voting record does not indicate she’s aware she
- February 4th, 2021: Claudia Tenney votes to keep Marjorie Taylor Greene’s committee assignments, because he wouldn’t want her to be accountable for all the bigoted remarks and conspiracy theories she’s spread online (probably because she’s a kindred spirit).
- February 25th, 2021: Tenney votes against HR 5, the latest version of the Equality Act, that would provide workplace protections for LGBTQ Americans.
- March 3rd, 2021: Rep. Tenney votes against HR 1, a bill created to prevent the corruption of money in politics, and protect voter access to the ballot box.
- March 3rd, 2021: Claudia Tenney votes against the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021.
- March 10th, 2021: Tenney votes against the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, because he feels people deserve to die in poverty during a pandemic.
- March 17th, 2021: Rep. Tenney votes 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 19th, 2021: Claudia Tenney votes against HR 3233, the creation of a commission to investigate the Capitol Attack.
It will be interesting to see what fate there is for Claudia Tenney and her seat in New York’s 22nd District after redistricting, and there’s a substantial chance he’s left with no place to narrowly win at all come the 2022 mid-terms. Congress will definitely be better off without her.
One Year Ago, August 25th, 2020: Claudia Tenney (NY)… 2020 Update
Two Years Ago, August 25th, 2019: Claudia Tenney (NY)… 2019 Update
Three Years Ago, August 25th, 2018: Claudia Tenney (NY)… 2018 Update
Four Years Ago, August 25th, 2017: Claudia Tenney (NY)… Original Profile
Five Years Ago, August 25th, 2016: Kyle Tasker (NH)… 2016 Update
Six Years Ago, August 25th, 2015: Kyle Tasker (NH)…2015 Update
Seven Years Ago, August 25th, 2014: Kyle Tasker (NH)…Original Profile