Bellavia’s got next.
In the 27thDistrict of New York, the next Republican candidate for Congress will be David Bellavia.
I’m just pointing that out to anyone too blinded by ambition to read the smoke signals.
As everyone but Chris Collins recognizes that his political career has been over since the White House garden party, there has been a great deal of Republican scurrying about to replace him in 2020. That is natural and good.
But it is no longer necessary.
Bellavia is the candidate.
If you doubt my word, ask Donald Trump.
Because nothing happens by accident, and it is not a coincidence that just as Republican candidates to challenge Collins are emerging, the president is inviting David Bellavia to the White House.
Certainly, the reason for that visit – the president’s bestowal of the Medal of Honor on Bellavia – is not political. But the scheduling of it almost undeniably is.
David Bellavia has deserved the Medal of Honor for almost 15 years, and he will deserve it all the remaining days of his life. The review and approval process has certainly been long and sometimes confusing. And with this much time passing, there is no pressure or significance attached to the presentation date.
It could just as easily have been last fall, or next summer, or on November 10 – the anniversary of the action being honored.
But it wasn’t scheduled for then, it was scheduled for now.
The president of the United States has chosen to honor one of the great warriors of the Iraq war. And Donald Trump has chosen to do it at a time that undeniably sends a shot across the bows of various aspiring Republicans.
Bellavia’s got next.
And nobody’s press conference in the district is going to trump Bellavia’s turn in the East Room.
And nobody in this Trump-loving 27thDistrict should think that their money or their resume carry more weight than Bellavia’s service and the president’s support.
To be clear: The Medal of Honor has nothing to do with politics. But many men who have worn it have been turned to by their neighbors and called into public service.
That particular brand of courage and sacrifice is respected by the American people, and it brings with it an abundance of perspective and insight into matters of great import to the nation and the Congress. Who better to help oversee America’s defense in Congress than a man who has advanced America’s defense in combat? And who better to give counsel on military and diplomatic policy than someone who has had to serve under and implement such policy?
And who could, in the backrooms of local Republican politics, deny America the service of a David Bellavia in order to advance the ambitions of a no-name back bencher?
If the Republican leaders and officeholders of the 27thDistrict truly believe in the conservative and constitutional principles dear to the hearts of the district’s residents, they are duty bound to send David Bellavia to Congress, to raise his voice and empower his crusade for American values.
The 27thDistrict of New York can send a giant – one of its own sons – to Washington to represent not only it and its values, but everything that is great and noble about the United States.
Electing David Bellavia becomes not just an opportunity, but a duty. Not to help him, but to serve us. To send a man of his character and patriotic clarity to continue to serve our great nation.
Bellavia’s got next.
In the last primary, he won six of the eight counties in the district. Since then, he has begun hosting a massively popular radio show in Erie County – the district’s electoral center of gravity.
And now Donald Trump has tapped him on the shoulder.
Medal of Honor. Media celebrity. Soulmate of the district’s patriotic core. Friend of Trump.
It would be easier to pick another rich guy like Chris Collins and Chris Lee, to avoid having to fundraise. But it would be nobler to pick an American hero like David Bellavia.
And it will accept the inevitable.
Because while the aspiring politicians and the various party chairmen may think there’s a contest to be had to pick a Republican to replace Chris Collins, the people don’t.
The people aren’t confused.
The people know, and the people know who they want.
Bellavia’s got next.