GOP furious after Newsom gives them taste of their own medicine

[Just_Vote_Dem]

Republicans are up in arms after California Gov. Gavin Newsom set a special election to fill a GOP-held House seat for Aug. 4—the latest date he could under state law.

The move ensures that the seat—left vacant when Republican Rep. Doug LaMalfa died unexpectedly on Jan. 6—will be open for eight months, thereby robbing House Speaker Mike Johnson of a critical vote in his narrow and unruly majority.

“Gavin Newsom’s decision to punt this special election to August is a blatant waste of taxpayer dollars and a disservice to the people of California’s First District," National Republican Congressional Committee Chair Richard Hudson whined in a statement. "He could have scheduled this election alongside the June primary, but instead chose to leave this seat vacant for months. Californians deserve a voice in Congress, and Newsom is denying them one for purely political reasons.”

Republican Rep. Darrell Issa of California also complained, writing in a post on X, "When its [sic] a Democrat seat, Newsom says the goal is representation as soon as possible. When its [sic] Republican, he purposely leaves constituents stranded."

More at https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/1/20/2364377/-GOP-furious-after-Newsom-gives-them-taste-of-their-own-medicine
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Nice work Gavin!

[Kid Berwyn]

1. Turn about's fair play, some say.

Keep it up, Newsom — and all good Democrats!

[NameAlreadyTaken]

2. Ask Mitch how he stacked the Supreme Court

And ask Johnson why it took him so very long to swear in Grijalva.

[Trueblue1968]

42. Mitch the Turtle should have been impeached

[maxsolomon]

44. Can you impeach a Senator?

Does he get to vote at his own Senate trial?

[NameAlreadyTaken]

48. Not impeach, but the Senate can expel

one of its own members. It takes a 2/3 majority vote of the Senate to expel one of its members. Apparently it has happened 15 times in the history of the U.S. Senate: William Blount in 1797, 11 in 1861 and 3 in 1862. There were also 18 other times when expulsion peoceedings were held but did not result in an expulsion.

[maxsolomon]

49. Lots of calls for Impeachment of this or that Repuke on DU nowadays.

Expelling an 83 year old long-time Repuke Senator over their machinations is just as pie-in-the-sky.

[Bob_in_VA]

52. No, you can't

Only certain members of the Executive and Judicial branches are subject to impeachment.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

3. Abbott did the same with TX CD 18 when Congressman Sylvester Turner died

Turner died in March and his replacement will not be named until Jan 31

[Mollyann]

8. Over 300 days without representation

I keep getting emails telling me to contact my representative. I have no representation. Today is the first day of early voting for this seat.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

9. My oldest lives in TX CD 18

[dsc]

16. Desantis did this with two different Florida seats

one was Hastings old seat and I forget what the other one was.

[Wiz Imp]

55. Hastings seat was vacant from April 6, 2021 - January 18, 2022

That's over a month longer than the California District will be vacant.

[Wiz Imp]

54. Turner died March 5 last year.

That means the seat will have been vacant for 332 days by the time the election is held. Who knows how long after that before Johnson swears the winner in. That California District will be vacant for just over 200 days before the election is held.

[Johonny]

4. Womp, womp

[CaliforniaPeggy]

5. Way to go, Governor Newsom!

He is just so very smart!

[Jilly_in_VA]

6. Darrell Issa?

Is he still around? I thought he retired or something. Oh well. For someone whose last name means "Jesus" in Arabic, he sure is an un-Christlike figure.

[travelingthrulife]

12. I'm still under this ass. The old car thief doesn't meet with any constituents except his rich pals.

[PatSeg]

13. I thought he had as well

I can remember when he was in the news almost daily. He certainly keeps a low profile these days.

[not fooled]

30. He ran and won in red East San Diegotucky county

in the seat formerly held by Duncan Hunter père et fils. 'Nuff said. The dumbass folks back in the hollers there love being "represented" by republican criminals.

I used to live in his district so know whereof I speak.

[mamajudi]

36. Issa still here...

Yes, unfortunately Darrell Issa is MY representative…Temecula (southern Riverside County) down to southern SD county. When prop 50 goes thru next ballot, his district will change. We use to have Ken Calvert who’s completely incompetent along with DI.

[DFW]

7. Darrell Issa should have used English instead of Republicanese

If he had complained about a Democratic seat, maybe someone would have listened. But he complained about a “Democrat seat” and only native speakers of Republicanese would have understood exactly what he was whining about.

Maybe Newsom should remind Issa that he was invoking the “Garland rule,” initiated by his Republican pal, Moscow Mitch, some ten years ago.

[PatSeg]

14. Yeah, that jumped out at me as well

Still drives me nuts.

[samsingh]

10. idiots complaining about wasting tax payer dollars - look no further than ICE and their

glorious leader's golf game

Brava Governor - the GOP is at war with the country and we need to fight back using the tools we have

[travelingthrulife]

11. Issa, you old car thief, you said you were moving to Texas. Go. Get lost.

[mwmisses4289]

33. No! We don't need any more repuke traitors here!

[orangecrush]

15. Hey Rs

Go fuck yourselves.

[Nigrum Cattus]

17. paybacks are tough

too bad, so sad !

[Paladin]

18. If Darrell Issa is pissed, then I'm overjoyed. (nt)

[vanlassie]

21. He's still an ASSHAT.

[Paladin]

45. I never doubted that his status was unchanged. (nt)

[vanlassie]

46. Haha! It's always been my habit, as a Californian,

to never miss a chance to call Issa an ASSHAT. I rarely hear his name anymore, but I couldn’t let it pass!

[Emile]

19. Blame little Mike, what goes around, comes around.

[MagickMuffin]

20. Greg Abbott does this ALL the time, they certainly don't have an issue

when they do it, of course that's how they roll.

[Botany]

22. Republicans have proven time and time again that are not good Americans and can't be trusted to be honest.

Ohio is so gerrymandered that the congressional races are over before the 1st vote is cast and that
gerrymandering is why they have the majority in the House too. RNCC Hudson can shove his
complaints up his ass.

[PatrickforB]

23. Well golly gee! That nice Mitch McConnell gave us the first shining example of that! And what is good for the goose..n/t

[NH Ethylene]

24. Ordinarily I would be in favor of what is fair.

And being prompt about replacements is the fair thing to do. But the GOP has played dirty and outright cheated to get what it wants, over and over, in the most deplorable, in-your-face way. This is but the smallest bit of pay back and they thoroughly deserve it.

[marble falls]

41. And look where playing totally fair has gotten us.

[Skittles]

50. I hear you

in normal times I would detest this kind of game-playing.....but these are NOT normal times

[Fil1957]

25. Cry me a river GOP!

[Fil1957]

26. Like what did they expect?? Huh? Are they really THAT stupid?

[Bengus81]

27. They figure Dems will never lie,cheat and steal like they do--and for the most part it's true

Looks like Gavin just kicked em in the balls with this one.

FAFO MAGOT Mike!

[twodogsbarking]

28. Where I grew up the rule was "turn about is fair play". No dicussion, that's the rule. Deal with it.

[wolfie001]

29. Ha ha republiTURDS

Also, they can all fuck off

[Timewas]

31. Hmmm

Kinda reminds me of an electee not getting sworn in for an extended time...

[mwmisses4289]

35. Or the texas house district that the gop

gov left vacant for almost a year.

[kerouac2]

32. This guy gavin is a real one

Let them complain, fugg em.

[blue-wave]

34. Geez Louise

They squeal louder than a wounded hyena when they get a taste of their own medicine, don't they?

[Martin68]

37. They love to dish out the medicine, but they hate to take it themselves.

[bucolic_frolic]

38. Adjourning Congress "leaves constituents stranded" too

Might want to get MAGA Mike on speed dial about that one.

[Chasstev365]

39. It's SO UNFAIR!

[marble falls]

40. Hurts, don't it, Mike? Good.

[SunSeeker]

43. I assure you, the constituents of scumbag GOPer Doug LaMalfa are quite accustomed to no representation. nt

[mdbl]

47. The word of the year "PATHETIC!"

Perfect description of the GOP and their Orange Potato.

[GoodRaisin]

51. As always, Republican hypocrisy is deafening.

[blue blues]

53. LET'S TELL THEM

We finally have an example of "both sides do it"
just what is needed

[MW67]

56. Ahh The sweet sound of hypocrite's

Having to swallow their own medicine

[Clouds Passing]

57. Gavin pulled a Mitch. The gqp can dish out their crap but they won't eat it.

The American public should start flooding gqp offices with knee pads.

[BigDemVoter]

58. Tough $hit and F*CK them.

I don't ever, ever want to hear a whiny, bitchy word from the repigs again. They have brought this country to the brink of ruin, and they had no problems at all with P*$$Y-Grabber's bag of tricks.

[Bluewonder]

59. Thank you Gavin Newsom!

It is a sad day though when we have to do undemocratic things just to get our fair share of votes in Congress. When can we all behave like we really want to live in a democracy? I'm not holding my breath.

[Jack Valentino]

60. Poor whiny Republican Hypocrites! "DO WHAT WE SAY, NOT WHAT WE DO!"

Those same whiny Republican hypocrites should think long and hard
about the kind of executive and majority party behavior
which they have been doing their best to 'normalize'---

because the political pendulum always swings back eventually,
and they will find themselves on the wrong side of that political shift
and the new Democratic Department Of Justice !!!


(Of course Democrats won't try to prosecute Republicans
just for being Republicans--- unless an actual crime is involved---
((and there are so many of those, where do we even begin))

---- although the West German treatment of NAZIs after WW2 might be instructive,
especially the fact that they made the party itself illegal after the war !!!)


Cards on the table--- as far as I'M concerned,
the modern Republican TRUMP party is a criminal enterprise and domestic terrorist organization
of pedophile protectors, as well as a treasonous criminal conspiracy
masquerading as a political party----

and if there are eventually legal consequences for all those things
to many of the individual political actors, well---
it would be ABOUT GODDAMNED TIME !!!!!