Repeal the 17th Amendment to the US Constitution; then there’ll be no need to “run” for the Senate.
“Repeal the 17th Amendment to the US Constitution; then there’ll be no need to “run” for the Senate.”
Without a 17th Amendment, Dewhurst would have been elected to the Senate from Texas in 2012 without breaking a sweat and Ted Cruz would be trying to get elected Attorney General of Texas right now.
And remember how the GOP won a net 6 Senate seats in 2010, including electing several Tea Party favorites? That would have never happened without a 17th Amendment:
Senator Ron Johnson from Wisconsin? No way that the then-Democrat legislature would have elected him or any Republican over their precious ultraliberal Russ Feingold.
Senator Mike Lee from Utah? Sorry, Bob Bennett would have been reelected in a landslide without a 17th Amendment.
Senator Marco Rubio from Florida? Nope, liberal Governor Charlie Crist (who has since officially become a Democrat) would have been elected in a walk.
Senator Toomey from Pennsylvania? Inconceivable, since the PA Legislature would have elected either a Democrat or a RINO.
Republican Senators Burr, Portman, Ayotte, Boozman and Grassley being elected in NC, OH, NH, AR and IA, respectively? Sorry, the Democrat legislatures would have elected Democrats in all five states.
And remember how Senate President Harry Reid was strongly challenged in the general election (we would have beaten him, too, had Sharron Angle not been such an idiot)? Well, not only would Reid have coasted to reelection (Democrat majorities in both houses of the NV legislature would have guaranteed it), but on election night he would have celebrated how the Democrats expanded their majority in the U.S. Senate.
So my reaction to proposals to repeal the 17th Amendment and permit state legislatures to elect U.S. Senators is the following: over my dead body.