Listen to “Criss’ Candidacy is Moves and Countermoves” on Spreaker.
Most things in life — personal, professional and, yes, political — come down to a series of moves and countermoves. Those who achieve the best outcomes tend to think several moves ahead, keenly aware of what their decisions could produce days, months or even years later.
Many within the ranks of the new far right in West Virginia seem surprised — even shocked — that House Finance Chairman Vernon Criss would seek to retain his seat by running as a write-in candidate after losing the Republican primary.
Perhaps that surprise is merely camouflage for anger over Criss’ decision. Either way, his candidacy is a countermove permitted by West Virginia law; one even a political newcomer should have seen coming from a mile away.
It all stems from the big move: closing the Republican primary to independent voters.
NEWS: Criss to wage a write-in campaign for reelection
Criss told Talkline regular Amelia Knisely of West Virginia Watch:
“Approximately 40% of the vote in my district were independents, and they did not have the chance to vote in this primary, and because of the repercussions of that, people (are) finally waking up and determined that they didn’t have the opportunity to vote. The only way they can have an opportunity to vote is to be … on the ballot through a write-in process.”
He’s not wrong.
Many independent voters who have supported Criss in the past would likely consider doing so again. That possibility is unnerving to Criss’ political rivals. Are there enough of those voters to re-elect him? That remains unknown.
More fundamentally, many conservative-leaning independents feel used. “They needed us to take the Legislature, and now they want to exclude us,” is a common refrain among voters in this camp.
Those who defend closing the primary argue that independents never participated in large numbers in Republican primaries. The logic seems to be: If they did not vote before, why should their exclusion matter now?
That argument fails to account for a changing political landscape. One faction now competing within the Republican Party is relatively new, as are many of the ideas emerging from that group. Some of these ideas – populist, protectionist and counter to market principles – are radically different to traditional conservative thinking. This dichotomy has produced distinctions among Republican candidates that are greater and more consequential than they once were. Never has the choice mattered more to conservative-leaning independents — voters Republicans still need to win general elections.
Criss’ candidacy gives those independents a choice while they remain stuck in a political doughnut hole. The party has agreed to vote on the primary question again before the next midterm election, but there is no guarantee it will reopen the process.
Why would an independent voter — fully aware of the leverage independents hold and without guarantee the primary will open again — NOT consider voting for Criss?
Doing so offers a path that preserves independents’ leverage over the primary decision; it also allows those who identify with traditional conservatism to vote without abandoning their political convictions.
Criss wants to retain his House seat and, with it, his position as Finance chairman. There is no chance that a newly elected delegate from Wood County would immediately assume that role. Things do not work that way.
Criss says his position should matter to voters in his district. Perhaps it will; perhaps it will not. But what voter wouldn’t want his or her delegate occupying one of the most powerful positions in the Legislature?
Republicans on both sides of the party divide believe they understand independent voters. In truth, neither side can fully do so.
Independent status is its own political path. That makes these voters something of an enigma — not impossible to understand, but requiring more effort than needed to understand party loyalists.
Which side understands them better may become evident when the votes are counted in the 12th Delegate District on election night.
Closing the primary was the move.
Vernon Criss’ write-in candidacy is the countermove.
Those upset by it – many of whom championed closing the primary – haven’t anyone to blame but themselves.