Protesters for Illegal Aliens Attack Voters’ Choices [OPINION]
The illegal alien lobby was out in full force in New Bedford, Massachusetts this weekend. They hate the choices made by the voters in our democratic republic.
Before Thomas Hodgson became the High Sheriff of Bristol County, he was an elected member of the New Bedford City Council. He was an at-large member of the council, meaning he was elected across the city, rather than from a particular ward of the city. In other words, this heavily Democratic Party-voting city elected a Republican across all neighborhoods, not just from some upper-class enclave of the city.
During his time on the City Council, he was involved in one of the most divisive political conflicts in the political history of the city. City Councilor Hodgson led the fight against the free distribution of needles to drug addicts in the city. The question ultimately went to the voters as a ballot question and the city overwhelming rejected the radical idea of distributing needles to drug addicts on the streets of New Bedford.
The driving force for the free needles to drug addicts was the Coalition for Social Justice. The same group is now leading the protests demanding Sheriff Hodgson resign because he is fighting its agenda to make New Bedford a sanctuary city.
They tried to defeat Hodgson when he was a New Bedford City Councilor and failed. They tried to get their needles program going and the voters rejected them. They have tried to defeat Sheriff Hodgson repeatedly and voters have sided with him at every election.
The radical left doesn't respect elections unless it is in Cuba or Venezuela and they win.
In 2016, the voters of Bristol County were composed of three Democrats for every one Republican. The majority of the voters were not in a political party, as is the standard in all of the counties except Suffolk (Boston) which was a majority Democrat county in 2016.
That was a banner year in Massachusetts for Democrats, with Trump and Clinton facing off at the top of the ballot. However, the Democrats didn't even bother to field a candidate against Sheriff Hodgson and he received over 188,000 votes in Bristol County. The cities of New Bedford and Fall River each contributed over 22,000 votes to Hodgson's total vote at the same time they were overwhelmingly voting for Hillary Clinton to be the 45th president.
In 2010, Sheriff Hodgson faced a credible opponent in the general election. State Representative John Quinn, whose brother is now the district attorney of Bristol County, ran a strong campaign as a Democrat at a time when the state also had a Democrat, Deval Patrick, as governor. Rep. Quinn had everything a candidate needs to beat a Republican in Massachusetts, but still, Sheriff Hodgson was able to win over the voters in Bristol County. There was even a third candidate running as unenrolled in the race.
Not only did Hodgson defeat the Democrat's candidate, but he also had more votes than his two opponents combined. Over 84,000 people in Bristol County gave their support to Sheriff Hodgson on a day when they had an opportunity to elect a credible Democrat in his place.
But now about 50 people, some who are demonstrably not even residents of Bristol County, want to overturn multiple democratic elections because they don't like the outcome. They don't like the sheriff enforcing the laws on illegal immigration and they remember when he stopped them from handing out needles to drug addicts on the streets of New Bedford.
Worse than their lack of respect for our elections is their lack of respect for the victims of the crimes committed by illegal aliens.
Chris McCarthy is the host of The Chris McCarthy Show on 1420 WBSM New Bedford. He can be heard weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon. Contact him at chris.mccarthy@townsquaremedia.com and follow him on Twitter @Chris_topher_Mc. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.