Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) announced on Tuesday that she will not run for reelection in 2022, becoming the latest House Democrat to bow out of Congress ahead of what is expected to be a difficult election year for the party.
NB: She won her district by 60 points in 2020, the district went 78% for Biden, and her reelection was not expected to be difficult. But The Hill needs to do the “we’re so non-partisan we’ll ignore facts” thing.
In 1978, while she was serving as an aide to the late Rep. Leo Ryan (D-Calif.), Speier survived being shot five times during a fact-finding mission to Jonestown in Guyana. Ryan was killed during that trip.
Establishment Dems from California often get painted as out-of-touch reactionaries on gun policy but so many forget that Speier was shot by cultists and Feinstein was the first person to find Harvey Milk’s corpse.
While trying to shield herself from rifle and shotgun fire behind small airplane wheels with other team members, Speier was shot five times and waited 22 hours before help arrived.
Basically, she’s way more of a badass than 99% of the “But muh 2A rights” jackasses out there.
