Congressman Chris Jacobs (R-N.Y.) has announced he will no longer seek reelection.
The revelation comes one week after Jacobs held a press conference where he announced, “I want to be completely transparent of where I am in Congress. If an assault weapons ban bill came to the floor that would ban something like an AR-15, I would vote for it.”
WATCH:
Republican Congressman Chris Jacobs @RepJacobs today announcing he would support an assault weapons ban that would ban the purchases of a gun like an AR-15: pic.twitter.com/k1DIIZ9awP
— Ryan Whalen (@RyanWhalenCT) May 27, 2022
The backlash from prominent grassroots activists was swift, with New York Conservative Party Chair Gerad Kassar telling the New York Post, “This is not the person we endorsed. We did not endorse this Chris Jacobs … he’s actually to the left of [US House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi on this.”
Meanwhile, Donald Trump Jr. took the Buffalo-area lawmaker to the proverbial woodshed on Twitter.
“Republican” @RepJacobs already caved to the gun-grabbers whose proposals won’t do a single thing to protect our families & children from criminals & murderers. He knows this but he can’t resist getting a few glowing headlines from the mainstream media.
https://t.co/umyIlr8MtZ— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) May 30, 2022
However, Jacobs says the backlash didn’t affect his decision to withdraw from the race.
As Buffalo’s WIVB reports:
“I didn’t feel any heat on this issue,” the congressman said. “No one called me about the assault weapon ban. This was purely a personal contemplation, prayer, and talking to people that I felt this was the right thing to do and the time was now to do it.”
Tompkins County legislator Mike Sigler announced Tuesday he would be challenging Jacobs for NY-23 in the primary, however, on News 4 at 4 Friday, he said he would be stepping aside to put his support behind NYS Republican Chairman Nick Langworthy. The Buffalo News reported earlier this week that Langworthy may consider a run, though he has not formally announced his candidacy.
News 4 also confirmed Ellicott Development Co. chair and former candidate for governor Carl Paladino plans to run, now that Jacobs is out of the race.
Jacobs has represented New York’s heavily Republican 27th Congressional District since 2020. The district borders Buffalo and its inner suburbs to the north, east and south.
This article originally appeared in American Liberty News. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of The Republican Standard. Republished with permission.