Sen. Claire McCaskill may have won re-election, but she’s not through using the epic collapse of one-time challenger Todd Akin to spur action amongst her supporters.
The Missouri Democrat emailed supporters Tuesday to contribute to Elizabeth Colbert Busch, the sister of Comedy Central comedian Stephen Colbert, in her attempt to head off Mark Sanford’s political revival in South Carolina’s first congressional district.
“We have a lot of important issues going on in Congress right now, and the last thing we need is another self-serving, far-right Republican in the House,” she said, recalling Sanford’s scandal and subsequent resignation.
But McCaskill also reminded her supporters that even though national Republicans appear to have pulled their funding for Sanford in the wake of new trespassing allegations by his ex-wife, Jenny Sanford, they could still reverse course — just like they did late in the race for Todd Akin.
“That’s what the Republicans said when I ran against Todd ‘Legitimate Rape’ Akin last year, but they lied,” she said. “They came back to massively fund Akin in the homestretch of our campaign, and they’ll do the same for Sanford.”
Colbert Busch has opened up a 9-point edge over Sanford, according to the latest survey from Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling. The special election will take place on May 7.
