{"id":153406,"date":"2026-02-06T07:25:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T07:25:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/153406\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T07:25:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T07:25:18","slug":"immigrant-maga-candidate-too-extreme-for-texas-gop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/153406\/","title":{"rendered":"Immigrant MAGA candidate too extreme for Texas GOP"},"content":{"rendered":"

A far-right social media influencer whose political<\/a> career has been fueled more by provocation than by votes complained this week that Texas<\/a> Republicans<\/a> have barred her from party events. She also claimed, without evidence, that she was stripped of her ability to vote, allegations that arrive amid a familiar mix of incendiary rhetoric and unverifiable claims.<\/p>\n

Keep up with the latest in LGBTQ<\/a>+ news and politics. Sign up for The Advocate’s email newsletter.<\/a><\/p>\n

Valentina Gomez<\/a>, who has described herself to her more than 400,000 followers online as a Colombian immigrant and a MAGA conservative, made the assertions in a video posted Wednesday to Instagram<\/a>. In it, she says the Republican Party of Texas is \u201cso corrupt\u201d that it banned her from party functions after she \u201cexpos[ed] the horrible health condition of 84-year-old Congressman John Carter,\u201d the longtime incumbent in Texas\u2019 31st Congressional District. She also claims she is \u201cunder investigation by multiple federal agencies\u201d and alleges that officials \u201cused their power to remove me from the voting rolls,\u201d adding that \u201cthey made it illegal for me to cast my vote.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related: Anti-LGBTQ+ Republican trounced in Missouri Republican primary. Was it worth her brother\u2019s cushy job?<\/a><\/p>\n

Related: Don’t be ‘weak & gay’: Republican announces congressional run with controversial video<\/a><\/p>\n

Related: Missouri Republican candidate burns LGBTQ+ books with flamethrower and posts the video online<\/a><\/p>\n

The video quickly veers from grievance to exhortation. Gomez urges supporters to \u201csend your mailing ballot to Texas,\u201d describes her campaign as \u201cDavid versus Goliath,\u201d and asks viewers to \u201cvote me to Congress.\u201d It closes with a pledge to \u201cmake Texas the worst place for terrorist Muslims, illegals, and corrupt politicians to live in,\u201d followed by a religious sign-off.<\/p>\n

Local Republicans<\/a> describe a narrower dispute. The Williamson County Sun reported<\/a> last week that Gomez was barred from county party events following an altercation at a GOP<\/a> gathering. Party officials told the paper the restriction stemmed from conduct at the event, not from policy disagreements. The report described a confrontation involving Carter, 84, who has represented the district since 2003.<\/p>\n

Related: Missouri pol says \u2018unpatriotic lesbian\u2019 Brittney Griner should be in Russian jail, not Olympics<\/a><\/p>\n

Related: Missouri Republican’s antigay slur-filled posts remain on Instagram despite violating Meta\u2019s policies<\/a><\/p>\n

Related: Missouri Democrat defends trans grandchild against GOP secretary of state candidate\u2019s attack<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, an opportunistic candidate for Congressional District 31 chose to turn this joyous occasion into a campaign gimmick for social media clout,\u201d the Williamson County Republican chair, Michelle Evans, said in a January 27 statement. \u201cThe type of self-serving behavior displayed Saturday is unacceptable in this context, and this candidate has been informed that she is no longer permitted to attend our private events or meetings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gomez has offered no evidence to support her claims that she was removed from the voter rolls or placed under federal investigation. Texas election law sets out specific, documented procedures for any change in a voter\u2019s registration status, and election officials have not confirmed any action affecting her eligibility.<\/p>\n

The episode follows a familiar pattern. Gomez previously ran as a Republican for Missouri<\/a> secretary of state in 2024 and lost badly, finishing near the bottom of a crowded primary. That campaign drew national attention for antigay slurs, attacks on transgender<\/a> people, and inflammatory stunts. LGBTQ+ advocacy group GLAAD<\/a> has repeatedly documented<\/a> her posts and videos, saying she used slurs and trafficked in dehumanizing rhetoric that fueled harassment and threats against queer people.<\/p>\n

Related: Aide to N.J. mayor loses job over support of anti-LGBTQ+ sister running for Missouri office<\/a><\/p>\n

Related: Former Jersey City aide fired over support for right-wing extremist sister sues Democratic mayor<\/a><\/p>\n

Related: Meta disables far-right Republican’s Instagram after months of antigay, slur-filled posts<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>Meta<\/a> later disabled her Instagram account for repeated violations of its policies. After her decisive defeat in 2024, Gomez resurfaced in Texas to run for Congress against Carter, bringing the same culture war messaging. In recent videos, she has vowed to \u201ckick every\u2026 Muslim out of Texas\u201d and to make the state \u201cfree from terrorists and illegals,\u201d rhetoric that has drawn condemnation even within Republican circles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A far-right social media influencer whose political career has been fueled more by provocation than by votes complained…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":153407,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[30180,3141,287,3270,27,29,28,63411,63412],"class_list":{"0":"post-153406","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas","8":"tag-glaad","9":"tag-missouri","10":"tag-politics","11":"tag-republican-party","12":"tag-texas","13":"tag-texas-headlines","14":"tag-texas-news","15":"tag-valentina-gomez","16":"tag-williams-county"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}