The Republican Party's antipathy toward childless Americans is giving rise to some strange behavior
Republicans have taken Resentment at the idea that they are strange – especially when it comes to accusations that they are strange to people (usually women) who do not have children.
The feeling in Republican politics that childless Americans are, in J.D. Vance's words, confusing and annoying, has become so prevalent that one GOP candidate even borrowed his friends' wife and children for photo ops.
According to a report on Friday new york times, Derek Anderson — a former Green Beret running for the Virginia House of Representatives — has repeatedly featured a woman and her three daughters in campaign materials.
One photo shows the group standing close together in a photo you might find framed on grandma's mantle, the kind of photo your parents make your uncle take with a DSLR because “we never get nice pictures together.”
VA-07 GOP candidate Derrick Anderson and the NRCC posted this holiday card style photo in publicly available b-roll (intended for IE groups to use in their own campaign advertising). Only problem is it isn't his wife or his kids 😬 https://t.co/kKj3eWplNw pic.twitter.com/RAxIoqlRfW
— Jacob Rubashkin (@JacobRubashkin) September 27, 2024
In one campaign video, Anderson is seen walking side by side with the same woman. In another video, which appeared on the National Republican Campaign Committee's website and on its YouTube channel, Anderson is shown speaking to the woman and the three girls as they sit in the home's dining room.
According to times, The woman and girls are “the wife and children of an old friend.” Anderson's campaign website does not mention his wife or children, but notes that he “lives in Spotsylvania County with his dog, Ranger, a Dalmatian.” The Republican candidate recently revealed on social media that he is engaged to his girlfriend, Maggie, and posted photos of her — and she is definitely not the woman in the photos and videos.
An Anderson spokesperson told times “Derrick’s opponent and every other candidate in America appear in similar photos and videos with supporters of all kinds,” adding that the content in question simply appeared “with female supporters and their children.”
It's weird, but so is the rest of the party.
