The Story:
After a period of deliberation, conservative television personality Eric Bolling announced last week that he will not run for Congress. He had publicly contemplated a primary challenge to Rep. Nancy Mace (R), for a congressional district that includes the City of Charleston.
Background:
Though Rep. Mace is very conservative by most measurements, she was not a consistent supporter of former President Donald Trump. In particular, she refused to join some of her fellow Republicans in seeking to challenge the electoral college results from swing states on January 6.
To some ardent pro-Trump Republicans, this is enough to make her a target. It was in that spirit that Bolling had talked up the possibility of a primary challenge to Mace before last week.
Bolling’s claim to fame is his work as a television commentator. He was a financial analyst for CNBC in the late Bush period and he went over to Fox Business in the same capacity in 2008. Soon thereafter, he reinvented himself as a political commentator, appearing on such Fox News staples as The O’Reilly Factor and Fox and Friends.
The Thing to Know:
Perhaps there is a limit to the marketability of television personalities as politicians, and perhaps, in taking a pass on the idea of a challenge to Mace, Bolling has signaled that the end of that trend is nigh.
