Democrats have no reason to savor the remarkable shift in voter sentiments represented by Tuesday's vote in Pennsylvania's 18th House District. The neck-and-neck result doesn't mean voters suddenly embrace a Democratic Party that they rejected in 2016.
Rather, the vote — a stunning reversal of the 20-point lead that President Donald Trump enjoyed in the 18th District in 2016 — represents a resounding popular rejection of Republican hypocrisy. Voters of all political stripes who believe in morality and solid ethical standards have every reason to demand that their elected officials uphold those same standards.
Trump has failed them miserably, as did the district's former Republican representative, Tim Murphy, who publicly stood with his party against abortion rights but allegedly counseled his extramarital lover to get an abortion when she told him she was pregnant with his child. It was Murphy's resignation in October, after eight terms in office, that set the stage for Tuesday's special election.
Rep. Joe Barton, the longest-serving Texas Republican in the House, is leaving after nude photos of him surfaced last year amid reports of his multiple extramarital affairs. This from a party whose platform pledges to "respect traditional family values" and preserve America's "unique place of moral leadership in the world."
Voters are tired of being taken for fools. The 18th District's overwhelming vote for Trump in 2016 suggests voters were duped by his plain-talking, unvarnished style. Instead of draining the swamp, Trump's millionaire Cabinet members' priorities seem more focused on $31,000 furniture sets and first-class airline accommodations on the taxpayers' dime. Trump's personal scandals are jaw-dropping, including an ongoing dispute with a porn star over an alleged affair during the first year of his marriage to First Lady Melania Trump.
Missouri Republicans should take heed of the voter disaffection. The same issues are at play here.
Missouri Republicans mostly have sat in stunned silence as Gov. Eric Greitens faces criminal prosecution related to a 2015 extramarital affair with his former hairdresser. Greitens campaigned as a dedicated family man in 2016 only months after he allegedly photographed his partially nude and blindfolded lover, without her consent, in the basement of his family's St. Louis home.
This year, GOP control of the U.S. Senate could hang on a Missouri election that likely will pit Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill against Republican state Attorney General Josh Hawley. Rather than distance himself from the stench of hypocrisy, Hawley sidled up to Trump at a rally outside St. Louis on Wednesday.
Greitens' absence from the event was noteworthy. But will it be enough for Hawley merely to continue holding Greitens at arm's length, or will Missourians demand that he stand for the values he espouses? Pennsylvania's result is a warning to all politicians never to take voters' patience for granted.
REPRINTED FROM THE ST LOUIS POST DISPATCH
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