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‘Drag Is What I Do,’ Adam Schiff’s Bid For Reelection Gets LGBTQ Shakeup

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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.


California Rep. Adam Schiff has a challenger for his spot in Congress and it is going to be a tough one for the radical leftist to fend off.

In battling this new challenger he risks offending the LGBTQ community who could be offended at any attacks on this competitor, The Los Angeles Times reported.

  1. “Maebe A. Girl” Pudlo is taking on Schiff in the general election after receiving 13 percent in the primary.

“There’s a lot of crossover,” Girl said. “When I do drag, I host a lot of shows. I’m on the mic, listening to people, [and] engaging with people. It’s really not very dissimilar from being in a political setting where I’m giving a campaign speech. I used every drag show that I’m in to speak about politics and speak about my policies and let folks know about our campaigns. It’s actually been a really wonderful tool.”

“I think there’s been overemphasis on the fact that I’m a drag queen and an under-emphasis on the fact that I’m a trans person,” Girl said. “Drag is what I do, trans is who I am. And I’m not running to be a drag queen in Congress. I’m running to be a trans representative. I’m running to be a representative for all the people in my district. But I specifically want to be able to be a voice for trans people.”

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“It was really inspiring because I ran as my authentic, very visibly queer and trans self,” the challenger said. “Putting yourself in a situation like that when you are an openly trans person can be a scary thing.”

Girl has been both the treasurer and the co-chair of the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council’s Budget and Finance Committee. That was the inspiration for campaigning for Congress.

“I thought to myself, the folks who elected me to my local position are going to be the same folks who are voting for every position from city to state to national office. And so I decided to run for Congress,” Girl said.

Girl knows that the challenge is going to be tough, considering Schiff is a very prominent Democrat, famous for taking on former President Donald Trump.

But the best part may be that the challenger believes that Rep. Schiff is a moderate.

“I am running against a very high-profile establishment Democrat, Adam Schiff. I think that probably one of the hardest parts about it is that he has a national profile,” Girl said. “A lot of folks don’t realize that his voting record, in my opinion, is not the cleanest. I think a lot of folks consider him to be progressive when he’s actually pretty moderate as a Democrat. He’s pretty middle of the road.”

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A spokesperson for the Schiff campaign did not dismiss the challenge from Girl.

“Adam doesn’t take any election for granted, and he looks forward to speaking directly with voters about the issues that matter most: attacking inflation, expanding affordable housing, securing universal healthcare, combating the climate crisis, protecting Roe, and creating an economy that works for everyone,” they said.

The challenger said that there has been a characterization because of Girl’s trans and drag profile.

“I feel like I’m mischaracterized in certain ways because I am very visibly queer and I care a lot about LGBTQ rights. But that’s not exclusively what my platform is about. I have a very intersectional platform that includes universal healthcare, housing for all, education for all, environmental justice, racial justice, LGBTQ rights, reproductive rights, alleviating homelessness, staying out of war,” Girl said. “I think that our elected representatives need to be doing a lot more.”

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“And I think that if there’s any place where a progressive, especially a trans nonbinary person can get elected, it’s Los Angeles,” Girl said to NBC News.

“We’re not asking for special rights. We’re asking for equality and respect,” Girl said. “We’re asking to use the bathroom. We’re asking to use the locker room. We’re asking to play sports. We’re not asking for special privileges … We’re going to continue to get louder and prouder and more visible and there’s no way we’re going back into the closet.”

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