Only 18 House Republicans voted against the reauthorization of the Patriot Act in December 2005, including two who had voted against the Iraq war resolution in 2002: Ron Paul of Texas and John Duncan of Tennessee. Another voting against the Patriot Act was Walter Jones of North Carolina, who has turned against the war.
It took boldness for this handful of Republicans to vote against their party, and some of them are now being challenged from within their own ranks. Jones has a primary opponent already: Greg Dority, who says he’s running because Jones no longer backs the war. Ron Paul, the libertarian Republican who ran unopposed in the last election, is being challenged by Greg Roof, an economics professor at Alvin Community College, who notes that Paul does not support the war.
Paul also has a Democratic challenger, Shane Sklar – and a tough fight ahead, because the boundaries of his district have moved, and given him a more urban, and hence liberal, constituency.
