Well, that’s one way to grab the bull by the horns.
A New Jersey native’s run for Texas’ 6th Congressional District has proven so unconvincing that even Trump loyalist Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) couldn’t get behind the cowboy hat-wearing candidate’s charade.
Dan Rodimer’s first campaign ad as a Republican candidate in Texas released last week features the former pro-wrestler speaking in an indistinct Southern accent while likening Democratic politics and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to a bull. Rodimer boasts that he and his family wanted to settle in the “constitutional-friendly state” of Texas.
In the ad Rodimer also tries to advertise himself as a bull rider — which has drawn skepticism from internet sleuths who noticed that the camera angle in the campaign ad never shows the face of the rider, and that the rider is wearing different boots and vest than Rodimer.
Even Gaetz, the outspoken Trump loyalist who continues peddling the former president’s bogus claims of widespread election fraud, called out Rodimer’s bluff soon after the campaign ad was released.
Fake Texan makes fake video of fake bull ride.
We already have enough phonies in congress.
Texans, please send this Nevada man back to his true home state (where he lost two prior elections).
Texas shouldn’t import its congressmen.
Big Dan is all hat, no cattle. https://t.co/CcGZsUG4kv
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) March 26, 2021
Running to fill the seat of late Rep. Ron Wright (R) against 22 other candidates, Rodimer told voters in Austin earlier this month that he was encouraged to run by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and members of Trump’s family, according to Politico.
The cowboy cosplaying tactic deployed by Rodimer appears to be just one of the personas that the Texas congressional candidate has embraced to win the hearts and minds of voters in congressional bids in the last two years.
A New Jersey native, Rodimer went to preparatory school in the state’s suburbs before attending college and law school in Florida. Rodimer’s campaign website claims he previously lived in Houston, worked as a home builder and owned a home in Galveston. Neither of Rodimer’s supposed homes in Texas are near the district he is running to represent.
Last year, Rodimer launched a controversial and unsuccessful bid for Congress in Nevada — with no bull or Southern drawl involved. In a campaign ad for his congressional run in the Battle Born State, Rodimer is shown at home with his children and wife, who at one point in the campaign cycle was forced to explain two 9-1-1 calls she made against him in 2018. Rodimer’s wife accused him of stealing her money, jewelry and guns at the time.
More troubling information of Rodimer’s past resurfaced during his campaign last year as well, such as old arrest records during his time in college and law school in Florida. Rodimer was accused of assault three times between 2010 and 2013, and he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor battery charge spurred by a confrontation at a Waffle House in 2019. That charge against Rodimer was dropped after he had completed a six-week anger management course.
