Pro-pot libertarians are weighing in on the race for Rep. Pete Sessions’ District 32 seat, pledging to remove the “sphincter” blocking marijuana reform in Congress. Rob Kampia, founder of the Marijuana Policy Project, tells the Washington Examiner that he’s formed a Super PAC to help funnel donations toward the Libertarian Party candidate in that race, Melina Baker, and toward Sessions’ Democratic opponent, whomever that may be — Colin Allred and Lillian Salerno are facing off in the Democratic primary. (Both Democratic candidates support the legalization of medical marijuana.)
For marijuana activists, anyone’s better than Sessions, whose role as chair of the House Rules Committee puts him in prime position to stifle legislation supporting the reform of federal marijuana laws. Here’s the Washington Examiner again:
“[Sessions] is in fact what I call a sphincter who is constipating the process,” Kampia said. “The reason we haven’t won is just process; it’s not content.”
Kampia aims to raise $500,000, which he believes he can do after “having raised $4 million a year for this issue” at MPP, where he oversaw a variety of state efforts, including a major role in Colorado’s 2012 recreational legalization campaign.
Sessions, whose commitment to keeping Americans from getting high remains rock solid, is defending his Far North Dallas seat in what is shaping up to be one of the most-watched races of the 2018 midterms. Democrats, who didn’t even field a candidate against Sessions last go-round, are hoping to capitalize on liberal revulsion toward President Trump in a district that narrowly went for Hillary Clinton in 2016.
The involvement of Texans Removing Outdated and Unresponsive Politicians, as the pro-marijuana super PAC is being called, signals that there is also room to attack Sessions’ record from outside the left, by targeting “libertarian-leaning Republicans” and the 61 percent of Americans who favor legalizing marijuana.
Will it work? Maybe, but the Cook Political Report still has District 32 as “leans Republican,” and marijuana is far from the biggest contentious issue at stake in November.
