In the wake of deadly mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas, New York Representative Chris Jacobs, a mild-mannered congressman who served his first full term in the House, stunned fellow Republicans by a federal ban on assault weapons and high-capacity limits. Magazines.
Speaking a week ago from his Buffalo suburb, about 10 miles from the grocery store where 10 black residents were massacred, Mr. Jacobs interpreted his risky break with rock-solid Republican orthodoxy as bigger than politics: “I can’t in good conscience sit back and say I didn’t try to do anything,” he said.
It took only seven days for political forces to catch up with him.
On Friday, faced with fierce opposition from party leaders, a possible primary election of the president of the state party and a powerful Donald Trump Jr. dressing.Mr. Jacobs announced that he would discontinue his reelection campaign.
The episode, which took place when President Biden pleaded with lawmakers in Washington to pass a series of new laws to tackle gun violence, may foreshadow gun control proponents, who have had Mr Jacobs’ evolution on the issue. welcomed as a sign that the country’s latest mass tragedies could break a decades-old blockade in Washington.
It also serves as a stark summary of how little derogation on gun policy Republican Party officials and activists are willing to tolerate from their lawmakers, despite widespread support for gun security measures by Americans.
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Last week, Mr. Jacobs, the scion of one of Buffalo’s wealthiest families and approved by the National Rifle Association in 2020, was an easy favorite to win reelection, even after a court-appointed mapmaker redrawn his western. district of New York to encompass some of the state’s reddest rural counties, areas it does not currently represent.
But by Friday, after local gun rights groups posted his office phone number to the Internet and local party leaders began withdrawing support one by one, political analysts predicted he could lose a primary challenge based solely on his embrace of gun restrictions.
Party leaders and allies who spoke to him in recent days said Mr Jacobs clearly understood the political implications of his decision to support strong arms control measures, but he nevertheless refused to back down.
Mr. Jacobs last week announced his support for a federal ban on assault weapons without first consulting many of his political advisers, according to a person familiar with his decision and not authorized to discuss it.
After making his comments, he conducted a poll that suggested he might still have a path to reelection, though not an easy one.
“Look, his heart is in the right place, but he’s wrong as far as we’re concerned,” said Ralph C. Lorigo, the longtime chairman of the Erie County Conservative Party. “This quick jump that it’s suddenly the gun that kills people, as opposed to the person, is certainly not 100 percent true.”
Mr Lorigo said he had vouched for Mr Jacobs earlier this year when other conservatives doubted him. But last Monday, he demanded that the congressman come to his office and made it clear that he would encourage a primary challenge.
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“He understood that this may have been political suicide,” said Mr Lorigo.
Even before he made his decision on Friday, several Republicans lined up to take on Jacobs, angry at both his comments and the way he had surprised fellow members of his party, including some who had already supported him.
“We deserved the courtesy of a warning,” said Senator George Borrello, a second-term Republican from Irving, NY, south of Buffalo, who said he did not believe Mr. Jacobs’s comments were “a casual remark” . emotional response”, but were planned in advance.
Mr Borrello, who said on Friday he was now considering running for the seat, added that Mr Jacobs’ actions were particularly painful as the congressman had “actively and aggressively” sought the support of pro-gun groups. such as the NRA and the 1791 Society.
“And those people rightly feel betrayed,” he said.
Other potential Republican challengers included Mike Sigler, a Tompkins County legislator, and Marc Cenedella, a conservative businessman.
The most formidable threat, however, came from Nicholas A. Langworthy, a longtime Republican leader of Erie County who currently serves as chairman of the Republican state party.
Mr. Langworthy was a supporter of Mr. Jacobs and helped him get Donald J. Trump’s endorsement, but in recent days he has started spreading petitions to get himself on the ballot, telling associates he would consider Mr. Jacobs out. to day.
Mr Langworthy has yet to formally announce whether he will seek the seat, but his entry into the race would likely clear the up-and-coming primary field.