John Lee is seen speaking during the Republican governor debate in Reno, Nevada, on Jan. 6, 2022. | Source: SOPA Images / Getty
John Lee, the GOP congressional candidate in Nevada who made it clear during a campaign event in September that he is “not worried about Black people,” may have become aware that if he wants a seat in the state’s 4th congressional district, he might want to start appealing to people other than the district’s white voters.
Why else is he suddenly tweeting his campaign messages about incumbent Rep. and Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) chair Steven Horsford in Spanish?
“Steven Horsford’s egregious personal scandals clearly show he doesn’t put family first. And now he wants to tell us how to raise our own? I firmly believe parents should be the ones to decide how their children are raised. Vote for John Lee, leadership that values families and respects their choices!” Lee posted last week on X, formerly Twitter, after he made headlines for calling the CBC “racist” and declaring his lack of concern for Black people while attacking his Black opponent in the race.
Here’s what Lee tweeted in English: “Steven Horsford’s appalling personal scandals clearly show that he does not put family first. And now he wants to tell us how to raise our own? I firmly believe that it is up to parents to decide on their children’s education. Vote for John Lee, a leadership that values families and respects their decisions!”
Look, maybe I’m jumping to conclusions here. After all, none of his other tweets posted before or after this one are written in Spanish. Still, considering the fact that he is running in a district that is more than 34% Hispanic, and he has already blown off Black people, who make up 16%, it would make sense that, at some point, he realized he can’t win on white people alone, considering that, at 37%, they only represent a slightly larger percentage of the population than Hispanic/Latino make up. It’s just a thought.
Perhaps he also is unaware that there are Black people whose families’ native language is Spanish.
Either way, his perceived message to Latino voters appears to be falling flat.
As we previously reported, in late September, Lee mocked Horsford, saying, “They made him chair of the Black Caucus. Whoop-de-doo.” He then said that because he’s “from North Las Vegas,” he’s “not worried about Black people” just before declaring that the congressional leaders on the CBC are “the most racist people in the world.”
Lee also attacked the CBC for only having Democratic members, which further indicates that he simply doesn’t do well with percentages, otherwise, it may have occurred to him that there is a grand total of five Black Republican congresspeople in the entire GOP. (But, no, go ahead and ask Sen. Tim Scott or Rep. Byron Donalds if they are interested in joining the caucus. I’m sure they would be excited and ask where they place their green bean casserole dishes at the CBC cookout. )
According to a FiveThirtyEight poll, Lee is trailing Horsford by 10 percentage points a month ahead of the election.
John Lee is desperate. Also, he could use a math lesson.
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