Kimberly Klacik, alas, likely won’t be one to flip a seat from D to R in the 2020 general election.
The Republican nominee in Maryland’s 7th Congressional District is an energetic campaigner and a fresh face on the conservative scene we’ll no doubt be seeing for years to come. She’s trying to flip a district that contains part of the city of Baltimore as well as other parts of Baltimore and Howard counties.
That being said, she’s facing off against Democratic Rep. Kweisi Mfume, who represented the district until 1996 when he left to become president of the NAACP, according to Ballotpedia.
He won the seat earlier this year in a special election triggered by the death of Rep. Elijah Cummings in 2019, and won it with over 70 percent of the vote. His opponent was Kimberly Klacik.
Klacik recently talked about this on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show, noting where Democratic rule had gotten Baltimore:
President @realDonaldTrump’s message is resonating with the Black Community
— Kimberly Klacik (@kimKBaltimore) September 1, 2020
From Opportunity Zones and Criminal Justice Reform to investing in Historically Black Colleges the President is fighting for us
I have a feeling a lot of people will be voting differently this November pic.twitter.com/foqvL6nUom
Or in ads like this:
Democrats don’t want you to see this.
— Kimberly Klacik (@kimKBaltimore) August 17, 2020
They’re scared that I’m exposing what life is like in Democrat run cities.
That’s why I’m running for Congress
Because All Black Lives Matter
Baltimore Matters
And black people don’t have to vote Democrat
Help us win https://t.co/CSOjc9aQlS pic.twitter.com/XnEDTaDDIG
While I’m sure he’s been active for the past couple of weeks, the last time I came across Mfume making news outside this race was when he claimed the United States Postal Service was “hijacking mailboxes off of every corner they can find,” presumably for the purposes of fixing the 2020 election.
With a few weeks to go until the election, President Donald Trump even fired off a tweet to lend her campaign his imprimatur:
Kimberly Klacik is really working hard to help the people of Baltimore. She is running for Congress as a Republican, & if she wins she will be an inspiration to all. She is strong on inner city rebuilding, healthcare, our Military & Vets. She has my Complete & Total Endorsement!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 1, 2020
I am absolutely honored to receive @realDonaldTrump’s Endorsement.
— Kimberly Klacik (@kimKBaltimore) September 1, 2020
Black Americans no longer blindly trust the Democrats. Republicans will REVIVE America’s inner-cities. pic.twitter.com/FPEt1wzK5s
It’s a sad law of public discourse: Any positive reaction by conservatives must be met with an equal and opposite reaction by Democrats, including those who use racialized language.
Here’s a tweet from a woman who seems wholly unbothered telling Klacik she’s “[t]ap dancing for the Republicans” and should “[t]urn in your black card.”
Here’s an individual who isn’t black casting aspersions on a black woman’s agency to make her own political decisions because she’s “being used as the black pawn for this weak little man.”
Klacik did a bit of jiu-jitsu on this one:
My favorite part about getting Trump’s endorsement is reading the comments claiming Trump only did it because I am black..
— Kimberly Klacik (@kimKBaltimore) September 3, 2020
...as if we didn’t spend 3 weeks watching modern day overseer @JoeBiden play Duck Duck Goose w/three black women to pick a VP solely based on complexion.
Fact check: Very accurate. Chef’s kiss.
Yes, Joe Biden got painted into a corner the moment Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar not only formally withdrew from the vice presidential sweepstakes but specifically said he should pick a woman of color.
However, it’s curious that Klacik received responses she was only picked because she was black when it was clear Biden was under immense pressure to make a decision based on identity concerns.
Let’s keep in mind the responses to Klacik were overwhelmingly positive:
https://twitter.com/AloiyeA/status/1301469907691995137?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1301469907691995137%7Ctwgr%5Eshare_3&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.westernjournal.com%2Fbaltimore-gop-candidate-kimberly-klacik-flips-script-leftists-calling-black-pawn%2F
https://twitter.com/SHAGGY2SLY/status/1301471671124189185?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1301471671124189185%7Ctwgr%5Eshare_3&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.westernjournal.com%2Fbaltimore-gop-candidate-kimberly-klacik-flips-script-leftists-calling-black-pawn%2F
The likelihood Klacik will lose is pretty much approaching 1 at this point, but that doesn’t necessarily make this race a loss.
Rep. Mfume can get back into office and scream about all of those disappearing mailboxes, which are apparently just being swiped in broad daylight like you wouldn’t believe. (If he underperforms, maybe he can blame that.)
Meanwhile, Klacik’s star is on the rise.
Maryland is a blue state, but it currently has a Republican governor — a Republican who could be called unconventional by some conservatives and a RINO by most. However, perhaps Gov. Larry Hogan can be a gateway to better conservatives.
I can think of one.
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