Congressman Eddie Beard (D-R.I.) was a bit of an unusual fellow. In his first campaign for Congress in 1974, he was a 34-year-old house painter and he often campaigned in painter’s clothes to appeal to working class voters, against the wishes of the Democratic establishment who thought him a “grandstander” and a “loudmouth” (Szkotak). Despite opposition from the Democratic establishment, he defeated incumbent Robert O. Tiernan in the primary in the Providence-based 2nd district. However, the 1978 election saw a compelling alternative come in the form of Claudine Schneider (1947- ). Interestingly, she had been a Democrat until then, but the GOP offered her more for a political career. Although Schneider lost that year, she lost by only 5 points. Beard had won reelection in 1976 with 76.5% of the vote. The 1980 election was different, as Beard was increasingly harmed by his propensity to be “quarrelsome and ill-informed” and Schneider had gained publicity by hosting a public affairs TV program and enhanced her appeal with ethnic Italians by taking Italian lessons (Wasniewski, 611). Although Jimmy Carter won Rhode Island, Carter’s victory in the state was not enough to save Beard, and Schneider won the election by over 10 points, making her the first Republican elected to the House from Rhode Island since 1938.
Congresswoman Schneider
Schneider supported a number of Reagan’s budget and tax policies in 1981 but she also voted favorably on many policies typically opposed by conservatives, such as arts funding, the Legal Services Corporation, food stamps, and the use of busing as a means of desegregation. Schneider also opposed the Reagan Administration on funding of military priorities such as the B-1 Bomber and the MX-Missile. In 1983, Schneider was the only Republican in the House that Americans for Democratic Action scored as a liberal, meaning she voted liberal on at least 14 of 20 of their selected votes (Associated Press). She was foremost an advocate for environmental issues and was an early proponent of climate change legislation. One of her major victories in Congress was defeating the Clinch River Breeder Reactor in 1983, which was strongly supported by the Reagan Administration and the GOP leadership and opposed by environmentalists. Schneider said of the reactor that it was “a confederacy of corporate issues” (Wasniewski, 612). Her DW-Nominate score was an unusually low -0.026 and she had an average of 21% by Americans for Constitutional Action for her first four years in Congress. Schneider opposed President Reagan’s position 75% of the time and became extremely popular in her district, whose voters were largely against Reagan and in 1988 she won reelection with 72.1% of the vote, the highest for any Republican since 1878 (Wasniewski, 612). However, this came at the cost of being passed over for committee assignments best suited to her specialty.
Schneider in 1989 originated a joke about Dan Quayle which was mistaken by a number of publications as one of his gaffes, “I was recently on a tour of Latin America, and the only regret I have was that I didn’t study Latin harder in school so I could converse with those people” (O’Connell). Given her popularity in her district, Republicans saw her as a top contender to take on Democratic Senator Claiborne Pell. Pell had been in office since 1961, and perhaps it was time for a change in Rhode Island. However, he had high favorables in Rhode Island overall, and many Democratic voters, although they liked Schneider, didn’t want to risk the Senate being majority Republican, and Pell won reelection with ease (Wasniewski, 614).
Post-Career
After her career in Congress, Schneider was further involved in the environmental movement. She also accepted a teaching position at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and served on the Competitiveness Policy Council during the Clinton Administration (Wasniewski, 614). Although her Congressional career has long passed, she isn’t quite history. Schneider has lately been critical of GOP environmental policy and in a 2019 interview she asserted that they had been “bought off by the fossil fuel industry” (Bologna & Borchers). She endorsed Democrat Seth Magaziner in his campaign for Congress in 2022 and as a resident of Colorado was one the plaintiffs in the case to remove Donald Trump from the ballot.
References
Bologna, J. & Borchers, C. (2019, April 28). How The GOP Became The Party To Oppose Climate Change Legislation. WBUR.
Retrieved from
https://www.wbur.org/radioboston/2019/04/25/gop-climate-change
Liberal Vote Gains in House. (1983, December 28). Associated Press.
Retrieved from
O’Carroll, E. (2011, June 3). Political misquotes: The 10 most famous things never actually said. The Christian Science Monitor.
Retrieved from
Schneider, Claudine. Voteview.
Retrieved from
https://voteview.com/person/14857/claudine-schneider
Szkotak, S. (1981, December 20). Eddie Beard — Ex-congressman, now a saloon keeper. Champion of the working class plans ‘one more shot’ at political office. UPI.
Retrieved from
Wasniewski, M.A. (ed.). (2006). Women in Congress, 1917-2006, 611-614. Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Mad Politics: The Bizarre, Fascinating, and Unknown of American Political History 