Senators Grapple with Religious Discrimination

​Looking ahead to the 2018 United States Senate elections, there’s not much good news for the Democratic Party. Twenty-three Democrat-held seats are up for grabs along with both Senate Independents who caucus with the Democratic Party. Contrast this with only eight Republican Senate seats up for re-election, so 2018 will be an uphill battle for Democrats, giving Republicans the luxury of focusing their energies on about a dozen very vulnerable Democratic incumbents. While 11 of the 23 Democratic/Independent seats are in virtually no danger of being lost to the GOP, there are six Republican Senators who are not remotely in danger of losing their seats. These 17 seats are essentially not even in play. The remaining sixteen have the potential to be very contentious races. Thirteen Democrats (Plus Maine Independent Angus King) might turn out to face competitive challengers, while two Republicans might have tough campaigns ahead.

One Republican whose seat is at risk is Jeff Flake, who will be just finishing his first full term in the Senate. In 2012, Flake was elected U.S. Senator from Arizona after having received less than 50% of the vote. His Democratic opponent had gotten 46% and a Libertarian Party candidate made off with nearly 5%. The partisan results of the 2016 Presidential election were almost identical to the 2012 Senate race, which is good news for Flake. However, Flake and his Arizona cohort John McCain are seen as very centrist Republicans, (even branded as “RINOs”, or Republicans in name only, by the Tea Party movement) both having been critical of President Donald Trump. In the 2016 Senate race, John McCain, who was a 30-year incumbent, faced an intense GOP primary challenger in state senator Kelli Ward. Ward got nearly 40% of the vote in the 2016 GOP primary for McCain’s Senate seat. She also acquired an impressive list of endorsements, including former Presidential candidate Ron Paul, and radio hosts Mark Levin and Laura Ingraham. Ward has already announced that she plans to primary Flake, and given that he is significantly less popular than John McCain, she has a decent chance of winning the GOP nomination.

Senator Flake’s upcoming race made the news this week after he defended one of his Democratic rivals from a slew of Islamophobic harassment she was facing on social media. Vying for the Democratic nomination for next year's Senate race is Deedra Abboud, a Muslim attorney and community activist. Her posts on social media had attracted the typical Islamophobic response: the assertion that Islam is a "death cult" and even implying that Abboud is a terrorist. Upon learning of this, Flake apologized via Twitter for the harassment that she received and wished her well for her campaign ahead. Regrettably, there are factions within the conservative movement who really believe that all Muslims are terrorists or terrorist sympathizers. While I may disagree with some of Senator Flake's policy positions, I think it was noble and courageous to defend her knowing that it could lose him some votes in the election. Even more worrisome, his defense of Abboud will no doubt be used against him when he faces Kelli Ward in the GOP primary. As the saying goes, "no good deed goes unpunished", and it's sad to think that his act of kindness to a marginalized candidate may go so far as to cost him his Senate seat. As inappropriate and unacceptable as the online harassment was, it's a sort of thing that's becoming more common in elections at every level. Nearly every candidate for every important office will face hate mail, online harassment, trolling of social media profiles, etc. This is not to say that any of that is right, but Flake did the right thing in addressing it swiftly. He showed that religion is not and should not be a barrier to holding an office or representing a constituency in Washington, D.C. However, this situation brings to mind another irksome incident of religious discrimination that happened right in the United States Senate just last month.

Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont badgered Trump nominee Russell Vought on whether or not Vought believes in a key tenet of Christianity. Vought held to a foundational principle of the Christian faith--that those who do not believe in the deity of Jesus Christ are condemned. Sanders prodded him, saying that it is bigoted to say a group of people will be condemned for their religion. Never mind the fact that the most major religions teach the exclusivity of their faith--the idea that all other faiths are errant. Sanders concluded that Vought was an anti-American religious bigot and chose that as a basis to vote against his confirmation. Right-wing publications immediately denounced Sanders for what they saw as his very clearly violating Article Six of the United States Constitution. Left-wing publications swiftly praised Sanders for "shutting down a religious bigot". So we see a sad irony. Senator Flake defends an opponent who is being harassed, and likely he will pay the price in terms of a tougher battle to retain his party's nomination and ultimately the general election. Flake's conservative base may erode around him in favor of Kelli Ward, but it was a risk he willing to take. Meanwhile, Senator Sanders does what is seen by many as committing a Constitutional violation and his base rallies around him, likely strengthening his prospects for re-election next year.

​It's a mixed up political situation we're in, but it's only going to get more bizarre as time goes on. Let us know your thoughts and 2018 predictions.