Unhinged GOP candidate accuses Democrat of “raising a groomer” because her grandchild is trans

Valentina Gomez, a Republican candidate for Missouri secretary of state, has quickly gained a reputation for her unhinged stunts and vile anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric. But her cruel words about state Rep. Barbara Phifer’s (D) family crossed a line.

Phifer is one of three Democrats running for their party’s nomination for state secretary of state in the August 6 primary. She has been open about her support for LGBTQ+ rights and about the fact that she has a transgender grandchild.

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She didn’t convince all of her supporters though.

“I have a transgender grandchild. I say that with pride,” Phifer wrote in a June 3 post on X. “As their grandma, all I want is to see them happy and healthy – but there are people, some of them my opponents, that have said terrible things about people like them.”

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“I stand by my grandchild, and all LGBTQ+ people,” she added.

I have a transgender grandchild.
I say that with pride.

As their grandma, all I want is to see them happy and healthy – but there are people, some of them my opponents, that have said terrible things about people like them.

I stand by my grandchild, and all LGBTQ+ people.

— Barbara Phifer (@Phifer4MO) June 3, 2024

While Phifer didn’t mention her by name she in the post, it’s safe to assume Gomez was one of the opponents to whom she was referring. Gomez’s campaign website promises, among other things, that if elected, she will ban transgender “exposure” to children and oppose “biological boys” in girls’ and women’s sports.

In a crowded field of eight Republicans running for Missouri secretary of state, the 25-year-old real estate investor — who has never held elected office and has no prior experience in government — has stood out for her incendiary rhetoric. She gained national attention in February for a campaign video posted on social media in which she used a flamethrower to burn LGBTQ+ books. She has made the phrase “Don’t be weak and gay” something of a campaign slogan. She has described countries that ban guns as “weak and gay” and used the phrase to insult the Biden-Harris administration in a May interview with right-wing Sinclair Broadcast Group’s The National Desk.

Last month, Phifer posted a clip from a segment on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show poking fun at Gomez’s recent antics — which have included a hateful attack on out WNBA star Brittney Griner. “Valentina may be a laughingstock, but she represents a dangerous ideology that values hate above all else,” Phifer wrote in the June 21 post. “Our children and grandchildren deserve to live in a country – and state – that loves and accepts them.”

In response, Gomez left the following comment on Phifer’s post: “You have a trans grandchild. That means you raised a groomer. You failed your children, and they failed your grandchildren. Also, you’re irrelevant and belong in a nursing home.”

You have a trans grandchild. That means you raised a groomer. You failed your children, and they failed your grandchildren. Also, you’re irrelevant and belong in a nursing home.

— Valentina Gomez (@ValentinaForSOS) June 21, 2024

This week, Phifer addressed Gomez’s vicious comment in an interview with The Advocate. “It’s concerning any time a person attacks a child,” she said. “Attacks on children have no place anywhere on anything.”

According to the outlet, in the weeks since Gomez posted her attack, not one of her seven Republican primary opponents has disavowed her comments.

“It’s fine to disagree with me all day long, but we’re a community together, and we’re supposed to value our kids,” Phifer said of the Republican candidates’ silence on the matter, adding that attacks like Gomez’s put people at risk and degrade political discourse.

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