Republican congressional candidate torches Qur’an in hate-fueled campaign ad
Valentina Gomez is betting her open bigotry will earn votes in a party where cruelty is a credential
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In a disturbing video shared on X/Twitter, Republican Valentina Gomez, who is running for Congress in Texas’ 31st District next year, set fire to a Qur'an as she declared she would “end Islam” across the state.
Your daughters will be raped and your sons beheaded unless we stop Islam once and for all.
We're done turning the other cheek. Remember, David didn't pray for Goliath. He killed them. America is a Christian Nation, so those terrorist Muslims can fuck off to any of the 57 Muslim nations. There is only one true God, and that is the God of Israel.
That video ends with a note saying her campaign is “powered by Jesus Christ”… because of course it is.
Subtlety isn’t her strong suit.
To get the obvious out of the way, equating all Muslims to terrorists is blatant bigotry. America is not a “Christian Nation.” There isn’t a God. And if you’re using a flamethrower on a single book, it’s overkill.
While I don’t particularly care about her burning a holy book—that’s not a crime—what’s disturbing is her stated justification for it. She’s a far greater threat to society than the Muslims she’s slandering. (Muslims who, by the way, represent roughly 2% of Texans.)
The goal here, where she admits it or not, is to terrorize peaceful Muslims. She wants her symbolic act of hate to inspire others to commit actual hate crimes, and her M.O. is dehumanizing her perceived enemies. Earlier this year, when Muslims held an event at the Texas Capitol, Gomez charged the podium so she could scream more racist bile to the crowd.
If you think this is about grabbing attention more than anything, you’d be right. She did something similar when she ran for Secretary of State in Missouri in 2024 and used her flamethrower on LGBTQ books as a way of announcing she would ban those books if elected. She later finished 6th out of 8 candidates in the GOP primary. Which is to say even Republicans (though not all of them!) were turned off by someone that unhinged.
Months later, she staged a mock execution of a law-breaking immigrant, leading the president of Colombia to note that Gomez was herself an immigrant.
She’s a failed clout-chasing carpetbagger who only has one move. Yet being an outspoken failure is also a ticket to success in the conservative world. Just ask Riley Gaines.
The concern isn’t that she’s going to win the GOP primary for Congress—there’s already a popular Republican incumbent running for re-election in that district. But it says something about the conservative Christian brand that Gomez believes she can get traction among some of those voters by spewing the most vile, hateful rhetoric she can think of against marginalized groups. While her Lord and Savior Donald Trump has vowed to prosecute people who burn an American flag if it leads to “imminent lawless action,” he had nothing to say about the burning of this particular holy book.
It also says a lot about our broken media ecosystem that while elected Democrats have to answer for random comments made by random college students at protests, Republicans are rarely held accountable for something said by one of their own candidates for Congress. It’s not like the party has kicked her out or pledged to disavow her entirely if she won the primary. It’s not like conservative pastors are being asked if they denounce her faith-based hate. But ignoring her won’t make this shameless attention-grab stop.
That’s because Gomez isn’t an extremist as far as GOP candidates go. Like so many other Republicans, she knows that cruelty is a virtue if it’s cloaked in the name of Christ and aimed at the “right” enemies.
She’s a grifter who understands that in a party led by Trump, decency or competence aren’t necessary. It’s a race to the bottom to see who can offer the most grotesque displays of religious bigotry.
If our country was in a healthier place, politically and spiritually, Gomez would be disavowed by everyone in positions of power. Instead, she has calculated—likely correctly—that there is a market for this hate, a pulpit ready to receive it, and a base conditioned to view her as a warrior for “Christian” values.
She made this video because she knew it would find fans. And in far too many corners of the Republican and evangelical worlds, she will get them.
"Your daughters will be raped and your sons beheaded..."
Typical behavior found in your buybull, Val ol' gal.
She's one of those that will do anything for attention. I have a screenshot of her last run for office where she shoots a black dummy tied to a chair in the back of the head.
Nice.