A woman who made national news this year with anti-LGBTQ campaign videos that went viral lost her race to be Missouri’s Republican secretary of state.
Valentina Gomez, who called herself an “America First-Maga” Republican, got 7.4% of the vote in Tuesday’s eight-person primary and came in sixth place. Democratic Missouri state Rep. Barbara Phifer and Libertarian Missouri state Rep. Carl Herman Freese will run against Hoskins in November. Hoskins won with 24.4% of the vote.
Tuesday, Gomez was asked about the findings. She said, “I made history in the name of Jesus Christ.”
“God took a nobody like me and made me one of the most feared, respected, and loved women in American politics.” Dishonest cops, pedophiles, and groomers should be afraid of God. She used words that are common in the anti-LGBTQ movement in an email. “I never sold out, spoke the truth, and did the right thing for the American people.”
Gomez first got national attention in February when she used a flamethrower to burn LGBTQ-inclusive books and promised to ban them if she became Missouri’s secretary of state.
Gomez said in the video, “These books are from a public library in Missouri. They will burn when I’m in office.” One of the burned books was “Queer: The Ultimate LGBTQ Guide for Teens,” which has tips for queer teens dealing with racism and coming out.
Then, in May, she talked to viewers on X, saying something like, “Don’t be weak and gay in America. You can be anything you want.”
People asked Gomez if she thought these videos might have affected the result of her primary. She said, “I stand by my words, and all of my videos will stand the test of time.” Then she said even more hurtful things about LGBTQ people.
“Kids should learn math, science, and history, NOT how to cut off body parts and become gay,” she wrote. “These LGBTQ people have castrated themselves so they can’t have children, so Darwinism will take care of them.”
Gomez’s controversial campaign has also hurt her brother Jonathan Gomez’s political career. According to public records, Jonathan Gomez gave a lot of money to his sister’s campaign. Jonathan Gomez was fired as an assistant to Jersey City, New Jersey Mayor Steven Fulop after the donations were made public. He was also a part of the mayor’s LGBTQ+ Task Force.
Fulop responded to Valentina Gomez’s video message on X, in which she said she would sue Fulop for firing her brother and said the mayor sounds “like a dictator.” He wrote, “Your brother WAS an “at-will” employee for the city—as of tomorrow, he no longer works there because he doesn’t reflect the values of the city.”
Before Fulop and his sister got into a fight on social media, Jonathan Gomez wrote on X that he loves his sister but doesn’t always agree with what she says and that he doesn’t back ANY hateful comments made about the LGBTQ+ community or anyone else.
When NBC News asked Fulop’s office for a response, they sent them to a Facebook video where Fulop says that Jonathan Gomez’s firing paperwork is being worked on during a Q&A with reporters.
