Pennsylvanian James Bognet had been around local and presidential politics for a long time before landing a dream job as a senior vice president at the Export-Import Bank of the United States.
“I was really honored to get a chance to work in the Trump administration,” said Bognet, 44, a veteran of several campaigns, including those for former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
“It’s really cool for a small-town kid from Hazleton, Pennsylvania,” added Bognet, who worked with the White House on President Trump’s manufacturing agenda.
But like many Republicans inside and out of the administration, the Democratic drive to impeach Trump angered him, and he started watching his hometown Democratic congressman, Matt Cartwright, to see if he would vote against Trump.
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“There’s no way Matt Cartwright is going to vote for impeachment. That is suicidal. He represents a Trump plus-10 district, he can’t do that,” reasoned Bognet, quietly “boiling mad” but prevented from publicly venting because of Hatch Act rules governing government employee speech.
.@NRCC Chair @RepTomEmmer optimistic about GOP prospects in the coming campaign – https://t.co/ekrE2EBTP4 pic.twitter.com/KQs8hr553y
— The Ripon Society (@RiponSociety) January 16, 2020
But Cartwright did vote to impeach, prompting political predictor Charlie Cook to move his seat, Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District, into the “toss-up” category.
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Twenty-one days later, Bognet resigned from his job and made plans to run in the GOP House primary in April to unseat Cartwright, citing impeachment as his motivation.
“I can now lend my voice, my passion, and my efforts to defending our President from a never-ending witch hunt, and return to my hometown of Hazleton, in the 8th Congressional District of Pennsylvania, to take direct personal action fighting to make sure that the House of Representatives will not continue to wage political war on President Trump during his second term in office,” he said in his resignation letter shown below.
He’s not the only one.
According to Minnesota Rep. Tom Emmer, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, impeachment has helped to push about 1,000 Republicans to file to run for House seats this year.
“I think that they are one in the same,” he said of his success in building an army of candidates and the influence of impeachment on their decisions.
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In an interview, he said that impeachment “intensity” has raised the overall political intensity to an Election Day level, and Republicans are responding, giving him an incumbent or challenger candidate in 384 of 435 House districts, nearly 40 above expectations at this stage of the year.
“I believe it is the intensity that is causing people to stand up and say, ‘It’s time to serve.’”
And that intensity is very diverse, beating his goals of turning the GOP House caucus into one that looks like the party’s base that includes women, veterans, and minorities.
The NRCC’s candidate recruitment numbers show it:
- Total women filed — 190.
- Total veterans filed — 196.
- Total minorities filed — 155.
“The majority is well within reach,” said Emmer.
As he’s started to campaign in Pennsylvania’s 8th District, which includes Joe Biden’s hometown of Scranton, Bognet senses more support for Trump and the GOP.
In a stop at Hazleton’s Swing Club, the local Italian club, some high school friends gave him and the president a sign of support. “I had a number of guys come up and say, ‘I know that you’ve always been a Republican, and we’ve argued because I’m a Democrat, but I can’t stand it anymore. I’m a Trump supporter. I’m voting for Trump this time. I didn’t vote for him last time.’”
Story cited here.
