Support truly
independent journalism
A Republican candidate for Missouri Secretary of State who used homophobic slurs in her campaign videos lost significantly in her primary race on Tuesday evening, receiving less than 8 percent of the total votes.
Valentina Gomez, a 25-year-old woman who sought the Republican nomination, made headlines this year with her eye-catching campaign videos that included burning LGBT+-friendly books for children and teens, attacking people in the LGBT+ community with vulgar language, promoting AR-15s, abolishing voting machines and more.
Critics of Gomez accused her of spreading “hateful” content because much of her content included vulgar language. She called Vice President Kamala Harris a “hoe” and “little b****”, used the word “f****t” to describe transgender people and described Democrats as “full of gay s***”, among other things.
But it seemed Gomez’s message did not resonate with Missourians.
Unofficial preliminary results released on Tuesday evening indicated Gomez finished sixth out of eight potential candidates with 7.4 percent of the vote.
The Missouri Secretary of State position is primarily tasked with overseeing statewide elections. The position also requires a person to manage current and historical records, develop and improve library services, publish administrative rules and regulations and more.
Gomez said, if elected, she would abolish voting machines and return Missouri’s voting system to paper ballots. She also suggested using the National Guard to oversee polling and require voters to present ID on voting days.
Much of her rhetoric around voting integrity echoed those of former president Donald Trump. She insinuated the U.S. has a history of mass voter fraud in elections and particularly accused non-citizens of voting for Democratic candidates.
Missouri State Senator Denny Hoskins clinched the Republican nomination with 24.4 percent.
After polls closed, Gomez posted a video message to social media thanking supporters for putting their faith in her but did not address her loss or any plans for what she will do now.
