“Maybe I just don’t get out enough, but I don’t hear “establishment” Republicans say they are going to stay home or vote for the Democrat when a conservative wins a Republican primary.”
If you lived in my congressional district, the old AZ-8, you would have seen the GOP-E turn on the GOP primary winner with a vengeance and elect Gabby Giffords. They also worked hard to keep her in power, cutting all funding to the primary winner in several elections and making public statements about how Giffords would be preferable.
Meanwhile, I have 2 Republican senators - John McCain and Jeff McFlake. McFlake ran as a Tea Party conservative and immediately went hard left after the election. He now follows John “I love Democrats” McCain like a puppy dog. Those SOBs will never, ever vote to reign in government power. They haven’t lifted a finger to hep Tombstone get access to their water rights dating back to the 1880s because the USFS has installed a “Wilderness Area” and won’t allow the pipes to be fixed. What use are Republicans like McCain and McFlake?
McFlake’s one vote to genuinely cut spending was when he was one of 3 senators who voted against restoring benefits to military retirees - benefits that had been paid for in advance as part of previous budgets.
I feel your pain. We have the great Senator Pat Roberts, who hasn’t lived in Kansas in 45 years and in the last two years spent a grand total of 100 days in the state counting, holidays and weekends. He’s looking out for us, though.