MILWAUKEE — Republican congressional candidates in some of the most anticipated races of the 2024 election cycle spoke Wednesday at the Log Cabin Republicans Big Tent event at Milwaukee’s Discovery World Art Museum.
Speakers included Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.), a 31-year incumbent with an anti-LGBTQ voting record who is narrowly trailing Democratic candidate Will Rollins, and Eric Hovde, an entrepreneur who is seeking to unseat the nation’s first openly gay senator, Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.).
Nick Meade, president of LCR Coachella Valley, introduced the California congressman, acknowledging that he “didn’t have the most loving relationship with our community in terms of voting” when Calvert’s district is redrawn in 2022 to include Palm Springs.
“We met with Ken,” Meade said, “and we met with him again. And he showed up again. And he showed up again. We asked him to come to events, and he showed up to events. We asked him if he would support us financially, and he did, and he did again. He keeps showing up.”
Ultimately, Calvert, along with 46 other House Republicans, sponsored the Respect Marriage Act, which codified federal protections for same-sex marriages and interracial couples, and was signed into law in December 2022 by President Joe Biden.
Meade explained that shortly after the July floor vote, a House member gave Log Cabin Republican Representative Charles Moran a slip of paper with the number “47” written on it and told conservative LGBTQ leaders, “This is for you.”
Mr Meade told Mr Calvert: “You are a humble man and say you did not induce votes, but you have many friends near our jurisdiction. [congressional district] They voted in favor, too. I’ll never forget that.”
“I’ve seen a lot of change within the party, and one of them, as Nick pointed out, was getting the same-sex marriage bill through the House,” Calvert said. “It was a good day.”
The congressman then spoke about the importance of providing for the men and women of the U.S. military. “Everyone who serves should be treated equally,” he said.
“It was refreshing to hear Log Cabin Republicans admit that they had never met a gay Republican until Ken Calvert decided he needed Republicans’ support to win his new district,” Rollins said in an emailed statement to the Washington Blade.
“But maybe Ken forgot to tell them that he voted against the Matthew Shepard hate crimes bill, that he voted to defund LGBTQ senior centers, and that he tried to make it harder for spouses of LGBTQ military personnel killed in combat to receive survivor pensions.”
“We have a lesbian Democratic senator in Wisconsin who has consistently voted in lockstep with President Biden and made life worse for LGBT families, business owners and communities,” Moran said while introducing Hovde later in the show. [and] Our military personnel serve not only in Japan but also overseas.”
Senate candidate Eric Hovde speaks at the Log Cabin Republicans Big Tent event at Discovery World in Milwaukee on July 17, 2024. (Photo by Michael Key, Washington Blade)
Moran said gay voters are “not just voting on gay issues” and Baldwin shouldn’t expect the community to support her reelection campaign.
Hovde told the crowd he was “proud” that he had “not been sucked into the identity politics that the left has been pushing based on race, sexual orientation, income level or religion.”
“They’re trying to steer the narrative that you have to vote one way when you’re debating an issue that affects everyone,” he said.
The businessman then voiced his support for Log Cabin Republicans’ positions on transgender issues that Moran had stated earlier, specifically their opposition to irreversible gender-reassignment medical interventions for patients under the age of 18, and bans that would bar transgender girls and women from competing against girls and women in sports.
In recent years, athletics has offered girls opportunities not seen in past generations, she said, and she’s “thankful that they’re taking a common-sense approach to this issue, because that’s where most Americans stand.”
“Boys should not participate in girls’ sports, that’s all,” Hovde said, adding: “That doesn’t mean I’m against transgender people.”
The Republican candidate noted that since “you can’t drive a car under 16” and “you can’t drink alcohol until you’re 21,” the idea that “we should force or allow people to change their gender at 13, 14 or 12” is “insane.”
According to Hovde, Baldwin has courted controversy by claiming that former President Donald Trump is “one of the most dangerous men with a dark heart,” and the Democratic senator is a “sycophant for the progressive socialist left,” as evidenced by his refusal to approve Rick Grenell’s nomination for U.S. ambassador to Germany during the Trump administration (Grenell was confirmed for the post by a 56-42 vote).
Hovde described Grenell, who also served as acting director of national intelligence and presidential envoy for the Serbia-Kosovo peace talks, as “an extremely capable individual with great foreign policy skills” and “exactly the kind of person we want to have serving in our government.”
“As the first openly gay senator, Tammy Baldwin isn’t running to make history, she’s running to make a difference,” said Jackie Rosa, a spokeswoman for Baldwin’s campaign. “She’s proud of the work she’s done to create jobs, reduce health care costs, defend freedom and improve the lives of millions of Wisconsinites.”
“Eric Hovde knows he doesn’t measure up to Tammy’s legislative record, so he has no choice but to resort to false and divisive rhetoric about Tammy,” she said.
