It was a fringe Republican campaign ad, perfect for parody on late-night TV, fodder for a “Saturday Night Live” skit or the subject of a bewildered Jon Stewart monologue. It’s hard to imagine how to satirize it further, except that it was real.
“In America, you can be anything you want to be,” Valentina Gomez, a 25-year-old Latino immigrant and real estate investor running in Missouri’s Republican primary for secretary of state, said in a video while jogging through the historic district. speak in the. She plays St. Louis music to the uplifting beat of Lupe Fiasco’s “The Show Goes On.”
“So don’t be weak and gay. Good luck,” she continued, punctuating her remarks with an expletive. The area where this video was filmed, Solado, has a significant LGBT community.
The campaign ad, which Gomez shared on his social media accounts, cuts from a video of Gomez wearing running shorts and a vest resembling a bulletproof vest to a still photo of the candidate wearing a helmet in front of a truck. He wears a National Rifle Association hat, holds an American flag by his side, and holds a gun in each hand.
The campaign ad first ran on Sunday and drew criticism and scrutiny online. Mr. Fiasco is condemning homophobia in the hip-hop scenedistanced himself from the video featuring one of his hit singles, stated in the statement He said he was “taking action now.” Jason Kander, Missouri’s former Democratic secretary of state and former military intelligence officer, mocked Gomez in a social media post Tuesday.
“It’s so refreshing to see a female Republican candidate who has never served in the military, just like any other man, cosplaying as a veteran and substituting stolen courage and prejudice for strength. is” Mr. Kander wroteHe was deployed to Afghanistan in 2006 and has been battling symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder ever since.
But Gomez’s online trolling campaign, rife with homophobic and anti-transgender attacks, has attracted far-right politicians including Congressman Matt Gaetz, conservative online influencers, and even the outcast himself, who is gay. He even received praise from former Congressman George Santos and others.
The jogging video isn’t Gomez’s first homophobic stunt. Gomez is aiming to become Missouri’s top election official and appears eager to stand out as a political newcomer in the crowded Republican primary field. In February, he posted a video of himself burning LGBTQ books with a homemade flamethrower. A month later, she said that countries that ban flamethrowers are also “weak and gay”, and she has since repeatedly used the homophobic phrase as an insult and as her campaign slogan. It is being raised.
Mr. Gomez has so far spent little on his campaign compared to some of his more prominent opponents, including Missouri House Speaker Dean Plotcher. But her social media posts, posted at a breakneck pace about X and slamming it as a corrupt and compromised political party, raised her profile.
Gomez defended her ad on social media Wednesday, writing: “I’m speaking the truth and I’m waking up the lions to save America.” “Weakness won’t get us anywhere. The gloves are off, but I’m here to protect Missouri and fight for Missouri.”
Gomez did not respond to requests for comment on social media.
Gomez’s comments stand out not only because of their provocative nature, but also because of the unfairness of the race she is running. The Secretary of State is essentially the state’s highest official, responsible for record-keeping and oversight of the state’s elections. Gomez has ruled out the 2020 election, saying she would eliminate voting machines and deploy the National Guard, powers the secretary of state does not have, to secure the election.
