Republican Former Reality TV Actor Is Resigning

Who remembers MTV's The Real World, one of the first "reality" shows? It started running in 1992 and, after 33 seasons, finally died in 2017. Sean Duffy, pretending to be a lumberjack, was on Season 6, in the Boston season. He played role of the season's Republican dipshit, often arguing with a liberal black woman, Kameelah Phillips, who he called a bitch in episode 4 and a racist who he compared to Hitler in episode 21. After the show was filmed Duffy met another conservative, Rachel Campos and married her. He went to law school and now they're about to have their 9th child. He was appointed district attorney for Ashland County, Wisconsin in 2002 and was never opposed when he ran for reelection in 2002-2008. When long-time congressional incumbent Dave Obey announced he was retiring, Duffy managed to win the district (2010, the Teabagger Cycle) 52-44% against state Senator Julie Lassa. He won the 4 subsequent reelection bids convincingly.

Now 47, Duffy has been uncomfortable in the House ever since his BBF, Paul Ryan, left and yesterday announced he would be resigning next month, thus triggering a special election. The latest GOP gerrymander has turned WI-07 pretty red although the first time he ran, Obama won (under the new boundaries). The PVI is a very daunting R+8 and Trump crushed Hillary by twenty points-- 57.7% to 37.3%. In the 2016 Democratic primary, this was Bernie territory. He didn't just beat Hillary in every county, he was also competitive with Trump in all but the deepest red ones and beat Trump outright in several. This list of counties is in order of which ones have the most voters:

• Marathon-

Bernie- 11,655
Hillary- 8,047
Trumpanzee- 13,299

• St Croix-

Bernie- 5,671
Hillary- 4,891
Trumpanzee- 6,700

• Oneida-

Bernie- 3,809
Hillary- 2,493
Trumpanzee- 4,327

• Douglas-

Bernie- 4,510
Hillary- 3,574
Trumpanzee- 3,676

• Polk-

Bernie- 2,473
Hillary- 2,174
Trumpanzee- 3,542

• Barron-

Bernie- 2,960
Hillary- 2,570
Trumpanzee- 4,217

• Wood-

Bernie- 6,747
Hillary- 4,424
Trumpanzee- 6,941

• Lincoln-

Bernie- 2,439
Hillary- 1,732
Trumpanzee- 3,060

• Vilas-

Bernie- 2,140
Hillary- 1,412
Trumpanzee- 3,241

• Clark-

Bernie- 1,942
Hillary- 1,475
Trumpanzee- 2,823

• Chippewa-

Bernie- 5,114
Hillary- 4,021
Trumpanzee- 5,832

• Langlade-

Bernie- 1,436
Hillary- 1,192
Trumpanzee- 2,407

• Bayfield-

Bernie- 2,604
Hillary- 1,484
Trumpanzee- 1,599

• Sawyer-

Bernie- 1,652
Hillary- 975
Trumpanzee- 2,034

• Taylor-

Bernie- 1,278
Hillary- 850
Trumpanzee- 2,100

• Washburn-

Bernie- 1,417
Hillary- 1,059
Trumpanzee- 1,926

• Burnett-

Bernie- 933
Hillary- 917
Trumpanzee- 1,628

• Ashland-

Bernie- 2,304
Hillary- 1,346
Trumpanzee- 1,367

• Price-

Bernie- 1,393
Hillary- 854
Trumpanzee- 1,673

• Rusk-

Bernie- 1,093
Hillary- 817
Trumpanzee- 1,617

• Forest-

Bernie- 647
Hillary- 609
Trumpanzee- 1,110

• Iron-

Bernie- 543
Hillary- 437
Trumpanzee- 940

• Juneau-

Bernie- 1,843
Hillary- 1,357
Trumpanzee- 2,780

• Florence-

Bernie- 293
Hillary- 175
Trumpanzee- 653

• Monroe-

Bernie- 3,533
Hillary- 2,270
Trumpanzee- 3,613

• Jackson-

Bernie- 1,845
Hillary- 1,294
Trumpanzee- 1,804

Duffy is a member the House Financial Services Committee and a staunch ally of the Wall Street banksters. While serving on the committee he has taken $3,960,753 in legalistic bribes, more than any other member of Congress from Wisconsin other than Paul Ryan. There has never been a vote for which he didn't take the side of the banksters over the interests of his own constituents. Not ever. Not once.

Yesterday he posted his resignation intentions on Facebook:

Next to marrying Rachel, representing you-- the people and families of Wisconsin’s 7th District-- in Congress has been the highest honor of my life. Together, we have engaged in the most important battles of our time: protecting freedom of speech and religious liberty, taking care of our veterans, defending the unborn, and saving American jobs and American capitalism.

After eight and a half years, the time has come for me to focus more on the reason we fight these battles-- family.

As you all know, raising a family is hard work. It's especially true for one as large and busy as mine. Being away from home in Washington four days a week is challenging and for that reason, I have always been open to signs from God when it comes to balancing my desire to serve both my family and my country.

Recently, we’ve learned that our baby, due in late October, will need even more love, time, and attention due to complications, including a heart condition. With much prayer, I have decided that this is the right time for me to take a break from public service in order to be the support my wife, baby and family need right now. It is not an easy decision-- because I truly love being your Congressman-- but it is the right decision for my family, which is my first love and responsibility.

On September 23, I will step down and allow others to step forward to begin laying out their own vision and plans for leading this beautiful district and the most honest, hard-working, family-oriented, patriotic, and God-fearing constituents in America.

I will be forever grateful for and humbled by the faith and sacred trust you have put in me all these years. I am especially grateful for the prayers said on behalf of our family. We hope they keep coming! I will miss being your Congressman, but I am also looking forward to having more time with my family, being home for more birthdays and hockey games, and having time to enjoy and care for our new baby girl, who is already so loved by our family.

A special thank you to my chief of staff, Pete Meachum, my district director, Jesse Garza, and the rest of my loyal and competent district & DC staff. They are the reason you have enjoyed the best and most attentive customer service this district has ever had to resolve your federal issues and problems. I am so proud of what they do and have full confidence they will continue to seamlessly provide these valuable services during the coming transition.

The neo-Nazi Trump-enabler and head of the ill-starred NRCC, Tom Emmer (R-MN), said that "This district is a Republican stronghold, and whoever the socialist Democrats nominate will be forced to answer for their party’s radical agenda of open borders, socialized health care and a lust for impeaching President Trump," simple(minded) quote the GOP has on file to use in all cases for this kind of situation. Rumors are that Duffy plans to run for the U.S. Senate in 2022, when Ron Johnson is retiring.

State Senator Chris Larson told me, flatly, that "Duffy has been a festering pool of hatred, division, and conspiracies since he started. Might just be time for him to cash in before Warren or Bernie ends the money train from DC."

The Republicans jockeying for support to replace him are former state Sen. Sheila Harsdorf, current state Senator Jerry Petrowski and Rep. Romaine Quinn. Democrats thinking of running include progressive activist and farmer Tony Schultz, former state Rep. Maddy Wright, state Senator Janet Bewley (an establishment Dem), state Senator Patty Schactner, and former Ashland City Councilwoman and former Duffy opponent Kelly Westlund, a strong progressive.