Hoekstra Head Scratcher
newsandinsight.thomsonreuters.com
As far as amendments to the U.S. Constitution go, the 17th is generally considered the poor cousin to, well, pretty much any other amendment you care to name, at least in terms of popular recognition. But a former Republican congressman for Michigan, Pete Hoekstra, appears to want to change that.
An article over at Roll Call on Monday pointed to recent interviews where Hoekstra, who is running for the Senate in November, has called for the repeal of the 17th Amendment. For those who need a refresher, that would mean abandoning the direct election of senators and reverting to the Constitution’s original system where senators were elected by state legislatures.
Probably worth mentioning: the website FiveThirtyEight has forecast that Hoekstra’s Democratic rival has an 80 percent chance of winning the election. Would Hoekstra be so gung ho for a repeal if the odds were reversed?