Divisive, exclusionary, and ignorant. These words are a few we use when talking about politics in 2020. More specifically, I use them to describe Claudia Tenney, former incumbent and candidate for the NY-22nd District congressional seat. The self-proclaimed “Trump before Donald Trump” hones a reprehensible congressional voting record, which not only shines a light on her character but also on what she’ll do regarding healthcare and limited government if elected. For both a political party and candidate within it to claim to stand for Christian family values, they cower in the face of a president who embodies the seven deadly sins. For a party and candidate that claims to stand for freedom, their actions paint a different picture.

Tenney touts on her campaign website that she will “advocate for free-market, patient centric healthcare,” if elected in 2020. However, her own tenure in Congress challenges this message. During her first term as NY-22 Representative, Tenney voted in approval of the proposed American Health Care Act (AHCA) in 2017. The AHCA would have repealed the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) without offering a replacement plan. The Affordable Care Act granted medical coverage to tens of millions of Americans, many of whom have pre-existing conditions. The AHCA would do away with protections for those with pre-existing conditions, which would put nearly 300,000 of her constituents at risk. Knowing Tenney’s vote on this issue, it is worth asking: Does Claudia Tenney truly care about the health and wellbeing of her constituents like she says she does?

Upon passing in the House on a party line vote, the AHCA then arrived at the Senate at which the votes of three Republicans (Senators John McCain (AZ), Susan Collins (ME) and Lisa Murkowski (AK)) ultimately failed the act. What is notable is that when faced with a party line vote to take away affordable healthcare, these politicians stood up for the average American, putting the country’s needs over those of parties. Of course, many times when a member of Congress disagrees with the party’s stance on an issue, they will go along with it because they want to win reelection. However, there are times in which certain members choose to side with what is right and vote against party lines. If the Senate had passed the AHCA, 4.7 million New Yorkers alone would have lost their health insurance. With her vote in favor of this act in the House, Tenney lacked the courage to benefit the everyday Americans who she promised she would help. And when she did break party lines again, it did not aid them, either.

With her voting record, Tenney also trampled states’ rights in favor of big government, betraying traditional Conservative ideology and harming the country further. In 2017, she voted for the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017 (CCPA), which aimed to allow a person with a concealed carry permit from one state to carry their weapon in any U.S. state and on federal land, such as at national monuments and parks. To achieve its goal in expanding the scope and size of the federal government, the CCPA cites the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which allows a congressional authority to regulate interactions between states. However, Article 4, Section 1 of the Constitution declares that each state’s laws should be respected by other states. By usurping state authority through the Commerce Clause, you violate that part of the Constitution. Back in 2018, Tenney’s campaign website said that she would “unleash free market principles by getting big government off our backs.” Being a small government Republican, Tenney would have expectedly voted against the CCPA, on principle. But she didn’t, which reveals her priorities — that expanding concealed carry over state lines trumps her quest for a limited government. 2017 was already distinctly marked with mass shootings, stained with the blood of more than 112 victims who died and with hundreds more of these tragedies. For Tenney to cast that vote is not only abhorrent, but also contradictory to her own congressional voting record. When running a campaign, this pandering is problematic because there is no way to secure the trust of voters, especially when evidence for this behavior is present. Thankfully, this bill died in the Senate. However, it was reintroduced in 2019 but no action has been taken on it.

This November, will you stand by as Tenney divides the electorate? I won’t. Too much is at stake to send Tenney back to Congress. We haven’t even gone into how she shouts hate towards victims of police brutality at Back the Blue rallies. Instead of holding bad cops accountable, she actively protects them. This person is not needed in Congress. As Dr. King said, “An injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”