OUR CANDIDATES WIN BIG!

THE SENATE

Joni Ernst a big social conservative win – On election night GOP heavy weight Karl Rove told Fox News that the GOP had taken the Senate because the candidates this year did not have a “radical social agenda,” meaning they were not outspokenly pro-life and pro traditional family.. Rove lied, and our candidate, Joni Ernst is an example. We supported Joni Ernst in the primary and general elections because she was outspoken about her pro-life views and her stance against same-sex marriage.

Indeed, Joni Ernst was so outspoken about her positions that Planned Parenthood spent half a million dollars running TV ads against her, citing her support of the Supreme Court’s decision to allow Hobby Lobby, a Christian-run store, to refuse to pay for abortifacient drugs in their employee health care plans. The Planned Parenthood TV ads said this was proof that she “didn’t support women.” In the mind of the abortion industry, anyone who does not approve the killing of the unborn is “anti-women.” Joni Ernst plainly states at her Internet site that she believes life begins at conception. As for being anti-women, Joni Ernst will be the first woman ever elected to the Senate from Iowa.

As for Karl Rove, his candidate in Virginia, Ed Gillespie, followed his advice and avoided the issues of the unborn and traditional family values (until the very last minute) and lost!
Other important Senate conservative wins were: Tom Cotton in Arkansas; Mike Rounds in South Dakota; James Lankford in Oklahoma; Thom Tillis in North Carolina; Steve Daines in Montana; Ben Sasse in Nebraska and Tim Scott in South Carolina. Tim Scott becomes the first African-American elected to the Senate since Reconstruction just after the Civil War.

Newly elected Senator Ben Sasse and William Murray discuss the issues at a meeting on Capitol Hill.

Senator-elect Ben Sasse is a dedicated Christian, and he and his wife homeschool their children.  I have talked with him on several occasions leading up to the election. Ben Sasse and Tim Scott will be very important to GING-PAC, and to me personally, because of my work on Capitol Hill on behalf of religious freedom.

Tim Scott is one of the godliest men I have ever met. He has a tremendous Christian testimony and if given a mike in front of a large group of people, is just as likely to preach the Gospel as to talk about politics. He loves the Lord, is 100% pro-life and stands against same-sex marriage. Social conservatives have a true ally in Senator Tim Scott.
The elections are not over! – Left-wing Obama backer Senator Mary Landrieu managed to hang on in Louisiana’s “jungle primary” because there were two Republicans running. Our candidate, Congressman Bill Cassidy, who is a medical doctor, proclaims, “I believe in the culture of life and will always advocate for and defend those who cannot defend themselves, the unborn.” We must help Bill Cassidy win the runoff on December 6th!

THE HOUSE

Mia Love’s Victory – For many years I have supported conservative African-American candidates for Congress and Senate when the Republican establishment refused to. Unfortunately the leaders of the Republican Party focus on winning specific elections and not on spreading the conservative message. The GOP House and Senate campaign committees will not fund any candidate who is not within three points of winning. In the black and Hispanic communities this is a huge mistake.

Backing African-American candidates who are conservative, particularly those who are pro-life, can change hearts in these communities. That is why I moved early to have GING-PAC endorse Mia Love for the House in Utah. A strong social conservative, she is a first generation American from a family of Haitian immigrants. She becomes the first African-American Republican woman ever elected to the House or Senate!

We lost all of the other races in which we backed African-American candidates, but to be honest most were in inner-city, African-American majority districts where Democrats buy votes with handouts, such as in the 2nd District of Illinois which was Jesse Jackson, Jr.’s seat before he went to jail. Still, our candidate, Eric Wallace, won over 22% of the vote. Think about what we accomplished – we helped a Republican get 22% of the vote in an African-American inner-city district. That is actually amazing, and can be built upon if the leaders of the Republican Party will just understand that in minority districts, conservatives can make headway if money is spent to get out a social conservative, pro-life message.

Many of our victories on November 4th were incumbents with whom I work on Capitol Hill, and we needed to keep them in office as a base of support for social conservative organizations such as the Religious Freedom Coalition, of which I am also chairman. Among those are some truly godly men, such as Trent Franks of Arizona who is the chair of the International Religious Freedom Caucus in the House, and Randy Forbes of Virginia who chairs the Congressional Prayer Caucus. Bill Posey of Florida gives us unprecedented access to the Capitol, He once helped me a arrange an after-hours tour of the Capitol Building for over one hundred youth leaders in an education program run by the Chick-Fil-A Foundation.

We also backed incumbent Steve King of Iowa, who leads a weekly prayer group, and Louie Gohmert of Texas, who is a real fighter for social conservative values. It is worthwhile to check his Youtube site and watch some of his many floor speeches that support our causes. He was the most outspoken member of the House on stopping the funding of the Obama/McCain backed Islamic fighters in Syria who kill Christians.

Those who advocate for term limits must understand that for every rotten egg, such as Nancy Pelosi, who would be eliminated, there is also a Randy Forbes or a Trent Franks who would have to leave. No one brand new comes in and automatically picks up the reins to fight for religious freedom or the rights of the unborn. It is difficult for someone such as myself who works on Capitol Hill to explain the need for “institutional memory” to those who are not here on a daily basis. But just imagine how a corporation such as Exxon would operate, if the entire Board of Directors and the CEO were replaced every six years. When someone I have worked with for a decade and who knows me is knocked out of office, my advocacy work is damaged. It may take me many years to build a relationship with a new congressman or Senator and to accomplish the goals we cherish.

We lost a great man – My good friend Congressman Steve Southerland lost his seat in Florida’s 2nd district despite the best efforts of many, including myself and Governor Mike Huckabee. Governor Huckabee even held a fund raising event at his Florida home for Southerland. Sadly the district had become almost 60% registered Democrat, and as a result the national GOP would do nothing to help Southerland; at the same time, he was one of the top ten targets of the Democrat Party’s national campaign committee. They even sent workers from Washington, DC to his district to help get out the liberal vote.

The victor, Gwen Graham, comes from an old Florida political family and was able to raise huge amounts of money. She is the daughter of Democrat Bob Graham who held the offices of both governor and Senator. She has the potential to be dangerous to the pro-life movement on Capitol Hill, as she replaces a member of the Prayer Caucus. For updates on elections, including coming special elections and runoffs, please check our Internet site at www.GINGPAC.org.

William J. Murray, Chairman
Government Is Not God – PAC
P.O. Box 77237, Washington, DC 20013
WWW.GINGPAC.ORG