As the 2011 session of the Virginia General Assembly draws to a close, legislators have much to be proud of, including the Commonwealth’s largest investment in transportation in a generation, more protections for womens’ health and a constitutional amendment to defend Virginia property owners in the Kelo era (so much for the claim that nothing substantial could be accomplished during an election year). One of the more interesting developments, though might be the question posed by the Roanoke Times‘ political blog The Blue Ridge Caucus: have Phil Puckett’s votes in the current session been enough to assure his reelection to the state Senate?
As reported earlier this month, this year Sen. Puckett will be facing his first general election opponent since 1998. Adam Light, Sen. Puckett’s only announced challenger, is a well-known and well-respected conservative activist in southwestern Virginia, who is expected to harness his enthusiastic support from Tea Party activists and establishment Republicans to pick-up the 38th Senate District for the GOP. However, Sen. Puckett has cast several high-profile votes during this session that have earned him praise from various conservative groups. In 2010, Sen. Puckett was one of five Senate Democrats to vote for the historic Health Care Freedom Act. In 2011, Sen. Puckett joined Sen. Creigh Deeds in voting for eminent domain reform–a move which did not go unnoticed by the Virginia Tea Party Patriots Federation. Just yesterday, Puckett joined his Democratic colleague Sen. Chuck Colgan in voting for SB 924, thus giving the Senate Republican caucus the tie it needed to pass the bill (with Lieutenant Governor Bolling’s tie-breaking vote). Sens. Puckett and Colgan’s votes were feted by the Family Foundation, which described these senators as “…brave pro-life senators…[who] resisted pressure from their caucus’ leadership.”
With Sen. Puckett’s key votes on conservative legislation–especially since the Democrats took control of the state Senate–it is understandable why some conservatives might be reluctant to challenge Puckett in the general election, however, we must ask ourselves: should Sen. Puckett’s “conservative” votes be enough to outweigh all of his other liberal votes, including ones against other conservative priorities like education reform and the right-to-work amendment? Furthermore, Sen. Puckett always votes to approve liberal Democrats, like Sen. Janet Howell, for committee chairmanships. Puckett, who sometimes crosses the aisle to vote with Republicans, was also partisan enough to pursue the Democratic Party’s nomination for Lieutenant Governor in 2005 (he came in third in a three-way primary, by the way).
Conservatives should be pleased to have Sen. Puckett’s support when we can find areas of mutual agreement, but when the opportunity arises to trade an occasional supporter for a reliable vote, we should not be afraid to wage the spirited campaign and dedicate the resources necessary to make the trade happen. Emotionally, it might not be easy to target an occasional supporter, but that is the nature of politics and an experienced politician like Sen. Puckett would expect nothing less.
Ultimately though, conservatives may not have to choose between an occasional supporter and a reliable vote. Democrats are angry that Sen. Puckett crossed the aisle yesterday. Whether it is idle speculation or serious talk in southwestern Virginia’s increasingly small Democratic circles is unclear, but there are rumors of Sen. Puckett facing a primary challenger from his left. If there is truth to this rumor, this primary season could be very entertaining.
