It was on this date in 2015 that we shared our original "Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day" profile of Henry Rayhons, who after racking up an impressive record as a staunch social conservative, hit the news wire with a story that made people feel a little more uncomfortable watching “The Notebook”. See, Rayhons’ wife was convalescing with dementia in a local nursing home, and after multiple advisements for him to not continue a sexual relationship with his wife because she would be too confused to consent (including having her doctor force Mr. Rayhons to sign a waiver that he understood that ship had sailed), Rayhons still went ahead and gave his wife a conjugal visit, and was reported for it by her roommate to staff. He was acquitted after an emotionally grueling trial, but it’s pretty hard to continue a political career after a news story like that. As such, we’ll just deem it as still “the most depressing episode of Law & Order: SVU ever”.


In 2016, 2017, as well as 2018, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” presented profiles of the current U.S. House Representative from Oklahoma’s 3rd Congressional District, Frank Lucas, who in 2013, floated his own paranoid bit of fiction when in a radio interview, he claimed that the Obama administration was “leading a conspiracy to buy up all the bullets so they’re not available to us”. At the point Rep. Lucas was wetting his pants at the thought of this sinister takeover, the theory had already been debunked not just by the administration, but by the NRA (who you’d think would be the first to cry foul). Lucas was not content just to push this as a theory, actually trying to legislate based off of it to ban any federal agency outside of the Pentagon from buying ammunition (it didn’t pass, because, y’know, crazy talk). That was, of course, when he wasn't working supporters up into a lather on his own website about "the truth about Benghazi" for years after the attack took place.

Anyway, Lucas found his way into office in a special election prior to the 1994 mid-terms to replace Glenn English, and his upset victory for the GOP was considered to be a sign of the "Red Wave" to come in the '94 mid-terms. And, for the past 23 years, as his district has been gerrymandered to be more and more conservative (currently it sits at a “mere” +26 Republican lean), he's grown bolder and bolder in his conservative agenda, having voted for the Defense of Marriage Act, the impeachment of President Bill Clinton, a constitutional amendment to allow government buildings to erect monuments of the Ten Commandments, the Gramm-Leach-Billey Act (which repeals key parts of the Glass-Steagall Financial Regulation Act, and opened the door for big banks to create the 2007 Sub-Prime Mortgage Housing Crisis), the Iraq War Resolution, the Terry Schiavo Incapacitated Persons Protection Bill, and was a co-sponsor for a bill to create a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in 2006. Through most of the past decade, he’s voted against the Equal Pay Bill, the reauthorization of the Children's Health Insurance Program, denying health insurance to millions of children, against ENDA (allowing the continued discrimination of LGBT citizens based on their sexual identity in the workplace), against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, against the Hate Crimes Expansion that would provide protections to LGBT citizens against Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform, against increased regulations on offshore oil rigs after the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, and against the DREAM Act, against the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell". He has twice voted to defund Planned Parenthood, voted against the new version of the Violence Against Women Act, voted for the 2013 Government Shutdown and after 16 days, voted to keep the government closed. He’s also repeatedly voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, voted to try and stop Syrian Refugees from being resettled in our country, and voted to try and prevent the United Nations Agenda 21 treaty from being enacted because… well, conspiracy theories, I suppose.

This past year, Lucas didn’t just ignore scientific experts on climate change, but dismissed a World Health Organization report linking pesticides made by the manufacturer Monsanto, such as Roundup, as causing higher risk for cancer, calling it “shoddy work”. Big surprise, he receives donations to his campaign coffers from Monsanto.

Oklahoma’s 3rd Congressional District has a mere +26 Republican lean, per the Cook Partisan Voting Index, thus why Lucas won re-election in 2018 by a mere 47 points. With a fresh two year term, Lucas assured that his voting record gets uglier by the day:

  • January 23rd, 2019: Rep. Lucas voted against HR 648, because he was gleefully enjoying the longest government shutdown in history.
  • February 28th, 2019: Frank Lucas votes against HR 1112, a bill which would have required universal background checks on all firearm purchases, and close the gun show loophole.
  • March 14th, 2019: Rep. Lucas votes against HJR 46, which sane members of Congress voted for to reject Donald Trump’s “national emergency” regarding the U.S. border and his attempts to reallocate funds for a border wall without Congressional approval.
  • April 4th, 2019: Frank Lucas is one of 158 Republicans who choose to vote against the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act, likely because they feel the 2nd Amendment remaining absolute is more important than preventing people with a history of domestic abuse from owning a firearm (which statistics show, makes them more likely to use those firearms against women in their lives).
  • June 4th, 2019: Lucas votes against the Dreamers Act, because he’s too xenophobic and partisan to care about immigration reform.


Considering that at his last town hall, Rep. Lucas was quoted as not just saying he would vote for the vanity project and waste of taxpayer dollars that is Donald Trump’s border wall, but that Trump was ”the reason I turned Republican. I want a businessman in there. I'm sick of the politicians", it seems like he’s cast his lot with Cheeto Mussolini. No matter how disastrous the downfall of Trump might be, though, his district is so red, that unless Lucas retires or sees a primary challenger who attacks him on his loyalty to the most corrupt president in American history, he’s regrettably not going to be leaving Washington anytime soon.