SO I GUESS EVEN (SOME) REPUBLICAN VOTERS HAVE LIMITS

There was a surprise victory by a Democrat yesterday in a special election for a seat in the Michigan state legislature:

In an upset win Tuesday, Democrat Carol Glanville defeated Republican Robert “RJ” Regan in a special election for a Michigan House seat that had only ever been held by a Republican.

... The current 74th District had only ever been represented by a Republican — [Mark] Huizenga first was elected to office in 2016. In 2020, he defeated Democrat Meagan Hintz by 24 points, earning a third term in the heavily Republican district.

Wow! So how did this happen?

... the Republican primary winner, Regan, drew controversy and national attention in March after drawing a comparison between accepting the 2020 presidential election results with enjoying unavoidable rape. Regan said he believes the election was stolen from former President Donald Trump....

Those comments, as well as his stance on the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, drew condemnation across party lines. He said Ukraine shares blame and that he wasn’t ready to condemn Russia for the invasion.

That's an abbreviated list of Regan's worst public utterances. Here's a longer list:

Regan recently made headlines because of his comments about rape. He appeared in an online video with a right-wing group and compared people saying it’s too late to decertify the 2020 election to saying: “I tell my daughters, well, 'If rape is inevitable, you should just lie back and enjoy it.'”

Regan has also pushed antisemitism on Facebook. He posted a meme from a pro-Nazi website claiming that feminism “is a Jewish program to degrade and subjugate white men.” He also shared a piece from a fringe site claiming that Jewish people, led by the Rothschild family, were responsible for 9/11, assassinated Presidents Lincoln and Kennedy, and control the banks and media.

... Regan is a 2020 election conspiracy theorist and has claimed that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a “fake war just like the fake pandemic.”

... Regan used his Rumble account to post a music video that’s been shared on right-wing sites called “It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Genocide.” ... the video falsely argues that the coronavirus vaccine is causing genocide.

The conclusion of the video contains the lyrics: “Because the government lies one day we’ll see these bastards swing.” The video includes images of prominent individuals next to a guillotine or noose. The targets include, among others, President Joe Biden, Prime Ministers Jacinda Ardern and Boris Johnson, and Dr. Anthony Fauci....

He made a January 25, 2021, video that he posted to Rumble in which he praised the conspiracy theory and compared studying QAnon to studying the Bible....

Regan also appears to have called for the execution of Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.... On one of his Twitter accounts, Regan posted a picture of an electric chair with the words: “It’s time for Gretchen to face the music.”

The state GOP opposed Regan, sort of.

Regan’s comments in March drew condemnation from Michigan Republican Party Chair Ron Weiser, although Weiser did not call on Regan to withdraw from the race.

"Mr. Regan’s history of foolish, egregious and offensive comments, including his most recent one are simply beyond the pale," Weiser said in a March statement following Regan's primary win.

He still won 40% of the vote.

So Republicans can be beaten when they're anti-Semitic and pro-QAnon and election conspiracy believers and make rape jokes and are condemned by party leaders. But plenty of rank-and-file GOP voters will still vote for them under those circumstances.