Will Kevin McCarthy Succeed In His Bid To End MAGA Nut Eli Crane's Political Career?

Trump Backs Crane— The Only Thing MAGA Zombies Care About

Northeast Arizona’s congressional district was pretty swingy until the Republican legislature tinkered with it and improved GOP chances. The partisan lean when from R+6 to a nearly impossible R+15. In 2020, Trump beat Biden 53.2% to 45.3% and in 2022 radical right crackpot Eli Crane ousted former Republican-turned-Blue Dog Tom O’Halleran 174,169 (53.9%) to 149,151 (46.1%). The district consists of all of 5 counties (Yavapai, Coconino, Navajo, Apache and Gila counties) and portions of 4 others (Pinal, Graham, Marcicopa and Mohave counties). Coconino (Flagstaff) is where the Democratic votes are and Yavapai (Prescott and Peoria), Pinal (Phoenix suburbs) are where the Republican votes are. 22% of the residents are Native Americans and there are a dozen reservations (including Apache, Navajo and Hopi).

Crane, a college dropout, made a living by founding and running a company that manufactures beer bottle openers made of 50 caliber shell casings. He ran for Congress as a Big Lie-screaming MAGAt against a right-wing Democrap who many Democratic voters just couldn’t bring themselves to support. McCarthy spent nearly a million dollars to help him win the seat. So now the district has one of the most backward MAGA lunatics in Congress representing them. A Putin-supporter and member of the House Freedom Caucus, he is best known as one of the Gaetz 8— the only freshman— who voted to oust Kevin McCarthy as speaker.

He’s fighting two opponents today, Republican Jack Smith, a former Yavapai County supervisor, in the July 30 primary and Democrat Jonathan Nez, until last year president of the Navajo Nation, in the general. Crane knows he can’t hide his ignorance in an open debate… so he’s just refusing to appear in any public forums with his opponents.

Although it appears nowhere on his campaign website and it isn’t something he talks about on the campaign trail, Smith is being bolstered by McCarthy. Smith says he’s never spoken with McCarthy and vehemently denies Crane’s charges that McCarthy recruited him. 

This morning, in her report about McCarthy’s Revenge Tour, Annie Karni, noted that McCarthy has had mixed results, failing to dislodge Nancy Mace (R-SC), succeeding in his efforts against Bob Good (R-VA). “McCarthy’s campaign to bring down Good,” she wrote, “was just one part of an elaborate and expensive campaign of revenge he has mounted since leaving Congress, one designed to ruin the Republicans he holds responsible for his demise. ‘Bob Good was defeated, but the loser just can’t accept it yet,’ said Brian Walsh, a top McCarthy ally who is coordinating the former speaker’s efforts to unseat the so-called ‘Crazy Eight’ Republicans who crossed him… Walsh made it clear that the former speaker was bent on retribution and doing little to hide it. ‘We said there would be consequences,’ Walsh said, ‘and we are persistent and very patient.’”

More targets lie ahead, including Crane, who said in an interview that he had been anticipating as much.

“You make your bed, you sleep in it,” said Crane, who insisted he was not worried about the primary challenge against him, in large part because his Republican rival is named Jack Smith, the same name as the special counsel prosecuting Trump.

“That doesn’t exactly play well anywhere in the country in a Republican primary,” Crane said. “I won’t be surprised if the swamp gets me one day. Maybe it will be next cycle. But I just remind myself it’s OK. I came here to shake things up.”

…Stephen Bannon, who used his “War Room” podcast to press for McCarthy’s removal and campaigned for Good, called McCarthy a “spent force" in Republican politics.

“He’s as toxic with the Republican base of voters as Nancy Pelosi,” Bannon said.

Crane said the money being spent to defeat him could be spent in more productive ways.

“Look at the bigger picture: What could that money have done to help, and not participate in a revenge tour?” he said.

Second quarter spending hasn’t been reported in the race yet, so no one is aware of what kind of money McCarthy and his allies are going to spend in AZ-02 to tarnish Crane— although American Prosperity Alliance, financed by McCarthy, has started running anti-Crane ads. The first ad up attacked Crane for opposing a border security bill that was backed by all but 21 Republicans. “Eli Crane voted against funding our border security, opposed billions for ICE, opposed funding for the wall, opposed thousands of new border agents. Eli Crane voted against all of it,” says the voiceover, accompanied by images of fentanyl and cartels, threatening music in the background.

No one is looking forward to an onslaught as much as Jonathan Nez.