Republican Congressman: No Money For Gay Candidates

One Republican Congressman is reportedly pushing the National Republican Congressional Committee to refrain from funding the campaigns of openly gay Republican candidates for Congress:

Virginia Rep. Randy Forbes, a senior House Republican eyeing a powerful committee chairmanship, is causing friction with some of his colleagues by pushing the House GOP campaign arm to deny support for some of the party’s gay congressional candidates.

Forbes has waged a lengthy crusade to convince his colleagues and the National Republican Congressional Committee brass they shouldn’t back some gay candidates. His efforts on Capitol Hill were described to POLITICO by more than a half-dozen sources with direct knowledge of the talks.

The issue is particularly acute because House Republicans have two promising openly gay candidates in 2014 vying for seats held by Democrats. Richard Tisei, who narrowly lost to Democratic Rep. John Tierney in 2012, is running again in northeastern Massachusetts. And in San Diego, Carl DeMaio, a former city councilman, is trying to knock off Democratic Rep. Scott Peters.

Asked directly about the matter, Forbes is a little more circumspect but doesn’t directly deny the allegations:

On Wednesday, Forbes told POLITICO he thinks “GOP leaders can do whatever they want to do,” in terms of giving money to gay candidates.

He said he is more concerned about members being asked to contribute to the campaigns. The NRCC is partially funded by collecting tens of millions of dollars from House Republicans, who pay dues to the organization.

“There would be a different situation if they tried to force other members to give money,” Forbes said.

Asked whether he would have a problem with the NRCC donating money to DeMaio, Forbes said, “That’s a little different situation.”

“I don’t think they’ve done that yet,” Forbes added.

When asked if he would withhold political contributions to the NRCC if they backed DeMaio, Forbes said, “I’m not going to be hypothetical on what we would or wouldn’t do at this particular point in time because you’ve got a lot of scenarios. I don’t think we’ve had primaries and nominations to nominate people. So I don’t want to prejudge.”

The article goes on to note that Forbes’s view is apparently not generally shared by the party leadership, and notes that Speaker John Boehner made a donation to Tisei’s campaign in 2012 and that Darrell Issa has publicly stated that he’d back DeMaio if he turns out to be the party’s nominee for the California seat. So, in some sense, it appears that Forbes may be in the minority in his party even while he seems to be using this issue to somehow help his bid for a committee chairmanship in the future. More broadly, though, it seems quite clear that this is not the kind of news that is helpful to the GOP has a whole as it seeks to broaden its appeal beyond a base that is quickly becoming a smaller and smaller portion of the nation as a whole.

FILED UNDER: US Politics, , , , , , , ,
Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. grumpy realist says:

    Aaaand the next spokesman for the Republican Outreach Program steps up…..

    By the time the Republican Party has pared itself down to Teh Troo Elect, they’ll be able to hold their next convention in a pup tent.

  2. legion says:

    I typically have little respect for “single-issue” voters – the result is often someone who only gives lip service to the single issue and is disastrously incompetent on every other – but when it comes to minorities of any kind vs. the Republican party, I simply can’t see why anyone supports them. Time and time and time and time again, the GOP telegraphs that if you’re not a rich white Christian male, you have no value to them.
    There is no group – LGBT, blacks, hispanics, women, Jews – that will not be thrown under the bus as soon as the previous group gets sufficiently downtrodden. Conservatives _must_ see themselves as oppressed, and that means they _must_ continually demonize some external group. And when they run out of external enemies, they _always_ pick out internal enemies…

  3. beth says:

    @legion: Forget about the voters – how can a gay politician belong to a party that thinks it’s okay for him to be fired based on his sexuality, denies him the opportunity to get married to the one he loves and would throw his partner out of a hospital room he’s dying in? I just don’t get it.

  4. OzarkHillbilly says:

    @beth: It’s called “delusion”, a well known side effect of conservative thought processes. 😉

  5. Mikey says:

    @beth: Perhaps he agrees with most of what the party says it stands for and believes by being an openly gay candidate (and if elected, an openly gay GOP representative) he can effect change from within.

  6. Dave D says:

    @beth: Because when you are rich these “silly” things fall by the wayside.

  7. al-Ameda says:

    The GOP has the best damned outreach program … EVER!

  8. James Pearce says:

    Wait….so there’s an openly gay Republican candidate?

    There’s two???

    Oh, they’re from Mass and Cali. That explains it. Only in a blue state……

  9. Socraticsilence says:

    Can’t wait til 2030, when the RNC starts sending out whatever the equivalent of tweets are touting brave conservatives like Harvey Milk who stood up for the civil rights.

  10. wr says:

    @Socraticsilence: “Can’t wait til 2030, when the RNC starts sending out whatever the equivalent of tweets are touting brave conservatives like Harvey Milk who stood up for the civil rights.”

    Apparently you’ve already forgotten that Milk used to attend RNC fundraisers along with MLK.

  11. steve s says:

    how can a gay politician belong to a party that thinks it’s okay for him to be fired based on his sexuality, denies him the opportunity to get married to the one he loves and would throw his partner out of a hospital room he’s dying in? I just don’t get it.

    Well if you’re extremely bad at math and/or totally misinformed, you might think the GOP is the fiscally prudent and responsible party.

  12. OzarkHillbilly says:

    @Socraticsilence: Hehee… Well said sir, well said!

  13. Tillman says:

    To think, they’re one typo away from “No Money for Guys.”

  14. dennis says:

    You know, my gay friends, about the time I’d garnered the notion that those at Townhall.com, Newsmax.com and Human Events REALLY didn’t care for me, well, I left them alone, too. Republicans received my last vote in 2006. Don’t mistake me, now — I’m still registered Republican (something I’ll have to change to Independent); however, it’ll probably be a long time before I vote R again, unless something drastic changes.

    One day, too, you’ll realize that the GOP establishment — leaders, rank-and-file and lay — REALLY don’t care for you, either. Quit voting against your own interests.

  15. Jen says:

    Between this and the “how to talk to women” workshops they are running, the rebranding (TM) seems to be hitting some bumps in the road.

  16. Well, to be fair, this is Randy Forbes we’re talking about here.

  17. Just 'nutha' ig'rant cracker says:

    @beth: It’s really easy, he bases his allegiance on the delicate balance between party and wallet. No delusion here, just unenlightened self-interest.

    Libertarians do it all the time, too. Right Doug?

  18. Franklin says:

    Forbes said, “. So I don’t want to prejudge.”

    Irony alert.