Tea Partier challenges Boehner for House seat
Tea Party activist David Lewis - pictured here at an anti-abortion protest outside the Washington office of Sen. Harry Reid earlier this year - plans to run a primary challenge against House Speaker John Boehner. (YouTube)
(CBS/AP)
CINCINNATI — A tea party activist is challenging U.S. House Speaker John Boehner in the 2012 Republican primary.
The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that David Lewis announced his candidacy on Friday.
Lewis, 26, is the father of a 2-year-old girl, and says he plans to run on a single issue — Boehner's support of a federal budget that includes funding for Planned Parenthood, which he calls "the largest killer of unborn babies in America."
Lewis told the newspaper he plans to run graphic anti-abortion ads against Boehner. "There is a saying that people will not reject abortion until people see abortion," he told the Enquirer.
Boehner beat out two other candidates in the Republican primary for his congressional seat last year, with 85 percent of the vote. His staff declined the newspaper's requests for comment.
When asked by the Enquirer about his chances in a race against Boehner, Lewis replied, "I'm not delusional. I don't know if I have a chance at beating the Speaker of the House. But what I can do is show the Ohio voters that Boehner has a box full of empty rhetoric. ... He's an establishment Republican. He doesn't believe in the Tea Party. He doesn't really believe in the pro-life issues."
Earlier this year Lewis participated in a sit-in protest at Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's office in Washington organized by Randall Terry's group, Insurrecta Nex. A video of the protest was posted on YouTube.
Lewis said if he beats Boehner in the primary he will have to move into his district. (He currently resides in the congressional district represented by Republican Jean Schmidt.)
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/09/17/politics/main20107750.shtml
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