Former Graham County Sheriff Richard Mack, who ran as the 2006 Libertarian Party’s nominee for U.S. Senate in Arizona, announced in December that he would challenge Representative Lamar Smith in the Republican primary for Texas’ 21st Congressional district.
Smith has come under increasing fire after introducing the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) last year. The act would have given the Justice Department added authority to shut down sites accused of violating copyright. After protests on such sites as Wikipedia and Reddit, Smith dropped the bill, but said it would be reviewed later this month.
Reddit is apparently not backing down in its opposition to SOPA and Smith. The Daily Caller reports that Reddit posted a statement from Mack to the top of its message board. It reads:
At this moment, the adage “Politics makes for strange bed-fellows” has never been more true. I am Sheriff Richard Mack, candidate running against SOPA sponsor Lamar Smith in the rapidly approaching Texas Primary. AMA.
I’ll be on, and answering your questions as best as I can for the next couple of hours. I will be back to follow up later this evening.
Given the support and unexpected efforts coming from Reddit, I feel this community is owed some straight answers even if you may be less than thrilled with the one’s I’m going to give.
Edit: I need to catch a plane. I apologize for not answering as many questions as I could have, but I didn’t want to give canned responses. I’ll be back on later tonight to answer some more questions.
Lower in the post, Mack answered questions from Reddit users.
The primary is scheduled to occur on April 3. Smith has represented the district since 1987.