Chris Gibson is currently the Congressmen of New York’s 19th congressional district, he is seen by most as bipartisan and mostly centered congressmen. A recent article in the National Journal claimed that Gibson was “The Liberal House Republican” (Bland). However several democratic claims especially on the front of women's issues have claimed that he is in fact far from it. Chris Gibson has also supported the Equal Pay Act and many aspects of the Health Care bill according to his website. However an add in the previous 2012 election has shown otherwise in this 30 second ad, which bashes Gibsons role in voting down planned parenthood and supporting making abortion illegal under any circumstance. This is especially concerning because after this ad was aired Gibson was recognized by the National Journal as “The liberal House Republican”. The reason this may shock most outsiders is that New York’s 19th district voted heavily for Obama in 2012 and has had a tradition of voting Democrat in most elections (Bland). Gibson has run on the platform of having both Republican and Democratic ideals. But if Gibson has voted bills that would illustrate such strong support to one side or the other how could he be considered middle of the aisle?
Chris Gibson, a former Iraq war vet, retired from active duty in 2010 and shortly after ran and won New York’s 10th congressional seat. Gibson works on the House Armed Services Committee along with The house Agricultural Committee and the Republican policy committee (Chris Gibson). Gibson is seen as the “Liberal Republican” by mostly supporting small non controversial bills such as lyme disease control (Bladd). This small town non DC rhetoric is only emphasized as Chris Gibson need to reiterate his origins in New York's 19th congressional district and knowing what the people really want. (Chris Gibson). This may include reaching across the aisle to cut debt and occasionally cut debt such as the Simpson Brown Proposal (Bladd). Another public statement by Gibson states is his favor to overturn Roe V Wade, which includes a statement on supporting a woman's right to have an abortion, in which he stated he would never take that right away from his two daughters. (Veilkind) Gibson is currently leading his opponent Sean Eldridge.
However Gibsons vote on abortion and planned parenthood has not yet proved to make voters in New York's 19th congressional district see him as far more right than he actually is. In 2012 according to the add by his opponent he in fact not only voted against abortion he voted to make it illegal, something Roe V Wade supporters would advocate for. Gibson has also voted on several occasions to defund planned parenthood which provides many services to women and does not receive federal funding. When asked about both his opinions and why he was taking aim at Planned Parenthood Gibson replied with it was being used by his opponent for political purposes. One of Gibsons largest financial supporters is the Right to Life PAC, a pro life Super PAC that has obviously wanted Gibson to change the way New York’s 19th has been doing things (Veilkind).
In this ad Gibson name is mentioned several times right before mentioning the bills he either voted down or supporting all going against what most people would say was pro choice. Despite voting across the aisle on several small agricultural issues, his stance on several key women's rights issues has shown that he is far from it. The very fact that he has stated he is anti Roe V Wade before he was elected and then voted to make abortion illegal shows his true intentions. Gibsons policies may show he reaches across the aisle and is thus bipartisan , but at the same time his stance on several key women's rights issues has pushed him further to the right and with one of the democrats power holds new York’s 19th congressional district feeling the same way he might have it for a long time.
Work Cited
Veilkind, Jimmy. "Is Rep. Chris Gibson pro-choice or pro-life?" Capital Confidential. Last modified
November 1, 2012. Accessed October 17, 2014. http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/162974/
Bland, Scott. "As Most Liberal House Republican, Chris Gibson Says He 'Gets Things Done.'" National
Journal. Last modified February 20, 2013. Accessed October 3, 2014.
http://www.nationaljournal.com/daily/
Chris Gibson. "Biography." Chris Gibson for Congress. Accessed October 3, 2014.
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