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Corey Gibson, a Republican candidate in the race to represent Washington’s 4th Congressional District, says he believes the “new Republican Party” is uniting Americans – no matter their sexual orientation or gender identity.
While he has not made it a focus of his campaign, Gibson, speaking in a recent interview with Fox News Digital, provided insight into his campaign’s mission and how being a gay man running in a crowded primary field has had little to no effect on how voters view his candidacy.
In large part, Gibson insisted that residents in the district don’t have a problem with him being gay and said the only individual who seems to have a real problem with it is one of his challengers in the primary race who has attempted to use his sexual orientation to attack him in the days leading up to the election.
“As a gay candidate, I have by and large not received any pushback,” Gibson said. “It’s been great. There’s been no issue.”
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Corey Gibson is a GOP candidate running to represent Washington’s 4th Congressional District.
(Corey Gibson Campaign)
“There’s one candidate who decided to attack me on the subject and I think it’s blown up on him in a negative way,” Gibson added. “Jerrod Sessler chose to do a radio interview and say first that I’m not being honest about who I am – and that couldn’t be further from the truth – and then basically equated me being gay with the grooming of children movement that’s happening all over the country.”
Following the public criticism he allegedly received from Sessler, Gibson, who is seeking to unseat Washington GOP Rep. Dan Newhouse, was asked whether he believes the Republican Party is more accepting of the gay community than it has been traditionally.
“I’m going to take a little liberty here and say that I believe I know that it has. I really do,” Gibson said. “I have a lot of support from Trump conservatives… and there’s been no issue. Everyone is just so supportive. I think it’s a part of the new Republican Party.”
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“The only way this country can be destroyed is from within, I believe, and that’s if we’re divided and complacent. We have been divided for so, so, so long, intentionally, and we’re seeing a lot of unity now. We’re seeing a lot of unity that’s focused on policy, not focused on personality, not focused on identity, it’s focused on policy and love for the country. When people talk about America first, that is the movement the Republican Party is going right now.”
Gibson said a new wave of “passionate, first-time candidates” within the Republican Party is leading the charge to defy what “the standards used to be” because they are unhappy with the current economic climate and other issues related to policy from Democrats.
Gibson said he believes the “new Republican Party” has become more accepting as it works to unite Americans on policy issues.
(Corey Gibson Campaign)
“I think it has, in fact, changed a lot,” Gibson added of the GOP. “I have to tell you, as myself, along with other conservatives who happen to be gay, we’re so lost. We don’t know what the hell is going on. I don’t know LGBTQ after that… we have no idea what any of that means. And these new flags – we’re just as lost as every other person is with this sort of divisive, define yourself by your victimhood thing that’s happening… It just makes no sense.”
In a recent tweet, Gibson took aim at Vice President Kamala Harris over her use of pronouns and unique language during a roundtable discussion she led about the overturning of Roe v. Wade and its effects on disabled people.
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“Good afternoon. I want to welcome these leaders for coming in to have this very important discussion about some of the most pressing issues of our time. I am Kamala Harris, my pronouns are she and her. I am a woman sitting at the table wearing a blue suit,” Harris said as she introduced herself at the event.
Corey Gibson insisted that residents in Washington’s 4th Congressional District district don’t have a problem with him being gay.
(Corey Gibson Campaign)
“I’m a gay man. Kamala Harris thinks that by using pronouns to introduce herself she’s going to get my vote. Guess what? It’s not working,” Gibson wrote in response.
Gibson, realizing his “uphill battle” among a crowded field of candidates, said Newhouse’s 2021 vote to impeach former President Donald Trump following the Capitol protests has “brought a lot of people out there running for office” who are concerned with the current state of affairs in American politics.
“I think that we’ve come to realize across the country, certainly in my district, that a weak Republican is more dangerous than a Democrat,” Gibson said. “The Democrats show us what they’re doing and the Republicans have just allowed the country to slip further and further in the wrong direction.”
Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., speaks from the Capitol in Washington on Friday, July 10, 2020.
(Caroline Brehman/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Gibson said he heard several people on the campaign trail suggest that Newhouse’s name recognition will carry him through to the general election, but noted a “huge lack of enthusiasm” for his candidacy.
As for whether he believes Newhouse’s vote to impeach Trump and support for the establishment of the January 6 committee has the potential to impact the outcome of the election or draw voters to the polls, Gibson said he is unsure.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I have to tell you… It’s really strange – the mood around here.”
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Gibson said he believes the issue would rile voters up more if Trump was “actually being active” in the race.
“But he’s really not,” Gibson said of Trump’s involvement in the race. “He made his endorsement, it was fairly quiet, didn’t really help the candidate.”
The Washington primary elections will take place on Aug. 2.
