Carl DeMaio is a lot of things: a California resident, an entrepreneur, a gay man, a Republican, and a radio host — but one thing he’s not is a quitter.
The former San Diego city councilman ran for Congress in 2014 as one of the first viable, out, gay GOP candidates, and the first to feature a same-sex partner in a campaign ad. After last-minute shoddy allegations of impropriety emerged (and later fell apart), DeMaio lost to incumbent Scott Peters by about 3%.
But he’s back.
A few weeks ago, DeMaio announced that he’s running for Congress again in 2020, this time in California’s 50th Congressional District. With a long record as an advocate for tax cuts and limited government, the candidate is running on free-market economic policy. DeMaio said in his campaign announcement: “In California, voters have only been given two choices: socialists or ineffective career politicians.”
And his opponent is a career politician, indeed.
DeMaio is running against Rep. Duncan Hunter, who currently faces serious corruption charges. According to Politico, “He and his wife were indicted a year ago after authorities said they used more than $250,000 in campaign funds for personal expenses ranging from groceries to golf trips and family vacations. Prosecutors also say Hunter spent campaign money on extramarital affairs.”
If the allegations are true, Hunter is a textbook swamp creature.
Meanwhile, DeMaio’s other two main platform issues are border security and anti-corruption congressional reforms. He also holds fiscally conservative positions on entitlement reform, proposes market-based healthcare reform, strongly supports the Second Amendment, and unlike some Republicans, is good on other constitutional issues such as overarching government surveillance too.
The candidate strikes a refreshing balance on issues such as LGBT rights and religious freedom as well. DeMaio, unsurprisingly, is pro-gay rights and an outspoken advocate for marriage equality. However, he also believes in the First Amendment even when it’s used by those he disagrees with — the test of an intellectually honest, principled politician, if such a thing exists.
DeMaio says he strongly supports religious freedom, and while he confirmed to me he would consider expanding anti-discrimination law to protect sexual orientation, the candidate only believes in doing so in a way that’s compatible with religious pluralism.
He “will oppose any effort, law or regulation to force Churches and faith-based organizations to violate their religious beliefs,” according to the campaign. And in our interview, he called the Democrats’ so-called LGBT rights bill, the Equality Act, a “divisive, fatally-flawed proposal.” Instead, the candidate told me he seeks “to protect religious freedom while also safeguarding against discrimination … there shouldn’t be a problem with treating all people with respect and dignity.”
DeMaio’s chances look good: The latest polling shows him ahead of Hunter, with higher favorability ratings than the incumbent, and ballot tests project him winning both rounds of the election in a variety of scenarios.
Still, there’s one question mark lurking around DeMaio’s campaign: the issue of abortion.
The candidate seems hesitant to identify as either pro-life or pro-choice, calling himself “constitutionally libertarian” on the issue in our conversation, and saying that Roe v. Wade is “settled law.” But he also made it clear to me that he supports the Hyde Amendment and does not believe taxpayer funds should pay for abortion. DeMaio also touted his support for increasing birth control access to help reduce the number of abortions overall.
It remains to be seen whether the abortion question will be an issue for the DeMaio campaign, but it isn’t their focus.
When I spoke with DeMaio, he told me, “The overarching motivator for me across all the issues is that in California, we have no voice for Republicans. We don’t have effective leaders — they’re too afraid to speak up. California needs to have a voice of opposition, and I want to lead the fight to save our state from socialism.”
He pointed to California’s failing schools, unemployment problem, population flight, and even its rat problems as indicative of what could happen if the “AOC agenda” wins the day on the federal stage.
With all this in mind, one thing is clear: President Trump should endorse DeMaio over the incumbent, Duncan Hunter. It’s the only decision consistent with the president’s desire to defeat socialism and “drain the swamp.” Plus, with Trump’s largely pro-gay record, a DeMaio endorsement would offer yet another opportunity to silence the left-wing critics who cry “homophobia” at everything the president does.
And DeMaio is strong on the issues Trump cares about. If the president wises up and endorses DeMaio, history could be made by sending an openly gay Republican to Congress. And Trump could make himself a strong ally on Capitol Hill, too.
