By Alexander Lomax
There is a reason why many people call politics a four letter word. Negative campaigning is perceived as a must, dirty tricks abound, slander and libel rules don’t apply so awful things and half-truths (and sometimes lies) are routinely told about opponents. However, there is still a limit of decency that most campaigns will ascribe to. Sometimes it’s an inkling of a moral compass, and sometimes it’s self preservation, as the wrong attack can reflect negatively on your own campaign.
Enter David Schweikert. While generally seen as a relatively meek person, a former accountant by trade who lacks the charisma that can help propel people into the political stratosphere. That said, he’s had a successful career representing what is now Arizona’s 1st Congressional district, covering Scottsdale and areas north.
Schweikert has had an extremely unfortunate history of extremely questionable campaign finance practices (ironic for a former accountant), leading to myriad fines and House ethics violations. But a more recent issue is simply beyond the pale, and demonstrates the truly unfortunate degree that Schweikert is willing to go to win.
In 2022, Schweikert created campaign materials that all-but-stated that his primary opponent Elijah Norton was gay. While Schweikert himself didn’t create those materials (his consultant Jonathan Huey did), it came from the campaign, so Schweikert is all but certain to have at least seen them before they were distributed, and very likely signed off on them.
The problem? Well, there’s actually a few. But for starters, it seems to be a lie, as Norton is straight (and Huey acknowledges that he didn’t know anything about his sexuality). That said, the blatant appeal to homophobia in 2022 makes one want to take a shower to rinse off the filth. If he was gay, so what? IT’S 2022! That sort of tactic makes the entire party look completely backward, and now he’s paying the price for it in the form of a successful lawsuit.
He used a similar tactic against Ben Quayle in 2012, so perhaps it shouldn’t be a surprise, but considering how far America has come with regards to acceptance of homosexuals in that time period, it is still a shock.
To his credit, Schweikert is first in all of Congress in one considerable metric: his campaign has now paid $1.4 million in legal fees since 2018, which is more than any other member of Congress in that time period. Truly breathtaking.
We’re not sure who still donates to Schweikert, but they should understand that they are simply donating to a legal fund to defend his crappy campaign practices. District 1 deserves far better than this embarrassment of a politician, and whether a successful challenge comes from the left or right, it can’t come a moment too soon.