A pro-life activist in Ohio has announced that he will challenge Speaker John Boehner (R) in the Republican primary for Boehner’s House seat — and hopes to run TV ads showing graphic depictions of abortion, in order to attack Boehner for not stopping the practice.
David Lewis, a resident of Batavia, Ohio, announced Friday that he will base his campaign on the single issue of Boehner’s support for a federal budget that gave funding to Planned Parenthood. His campaign Web site says of him: “David was recently arrested at both John Boehner’s (R) and Harry Reid’s (D) offices over government funding of businesses that murder children. David’s only allegiance is to God and cannot be swayed by party, individuals, or interest groups.”
To be clear, it is highly unlikely that anybody could successfully challenge John Boehner in the Republican primary for his district, though anybody has the legal right to file as a candidate and seek to get onto the ballot. What’s more, Lewis does not actually live in the district.
Lewis’s hometown of Batavia is actually located in the district of GOP Rep. Jean Schmidt. However, the U.S. Constitution does not require district-level residency for members of Congress, only residency in the state — and indeed, there are often a few members of Congress from either side of the aisle who do not live in their districts, or did not at the time of their election. With that said, it can nevertheless be an extra hindrance with voters.
“I’m not delusional. I don’t know if I have a chance at beating the Speaker of the House,” Lewis told the Cincinnati Enquirer. “But what I can do is show the Ohio voters that Boehner has a box full of empty rhetoric. He doesn’t really vote for his convictions. He’s an establishment Republican. He doesn’t believe in the tea party. He doesn’t really believe in the pro-life issues.”
Lewis also said of his ads: “There is a saying that people will not reject abortion until people see abortion.”
Lewis has posted YouTube videos of his ads on his campaign Web site. However, because there is no confirmation of them actually running on television yet, we will simply link to his Web page rather than post them here.
Eric Kleefeld
Eric Kleefeld joined TPM as an intern for the final months of the 2006 midterm elections, and then kept showing up for work. His other interests include guitars, old comic books and the politics of various English-speaking countries.
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