Gay, Christian Republican Runs for Lt. Gov. of Virginia
Plus, Rubio on ‘Hamas animals’; Catholic schools on the nation’s report card

Television reporter and radio talk show host John Reid announced this week that he is running for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor of Virginia.
Reid said he is running “to help create a society where free people can live and work as they see fit,” I discovered by watching some video clips of Reid’s campaign launch via the “Stu” account on X.
So many people told him they can’t vote Republican because the party is racist and homophobic. As half of an interracial gay couple, Reid handles that comment, he says, by passing it off to his partner: “It got to the point where I just said, ‘Alonzo, you want to take this one?’ .. I blow up the whole narrative…”
“My fellow Christians, and yes, I am not afraid to say it, that I am a person of faith, I’m not telling you that I am a perfect person…I am not standing up here trying to be holier than thou or better than anyone else…I am trying to get closer to being the good man that I am meant to be, and my fellow Christians have embraced me….I am going to be honest about who I am and how I feel,” Reid, an Eagle Scout, said in the video clips from the launch event. “Look at Donald Trump, look at Glenn Youngkin, two very different men, but the faith community is discerning and they know that God uses different types of people to achieve his greatest goals.”
At the launch, Reid denounced antisemitism on college campuses: “I stop being nice when they allow Jewish students to be attacked and abused verbally and physically on our college campuses.”
If Reid wins the nomination, Virginia Republicans could have a black woman candidate for governor in Winsome Earle-Sears, a Cuban-American candidate for attorney general in Jason Miyares, and a gay candidate for lieutenant governor. I know the trend is away from identity politics and to de-emphasize diversity, and probably for the best. Yet it’s also probably a healthy thing for the country to have a Republican Party where these attributes aren’t obstacles to advancement. That way no one’s talents are wasted, and people don’t feel like their freedom and dignity are contingent on one party or another having political power.
Catholic schools and the nation’s report card: The results released this week by the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the test known as the “nation’s report card,” were pretty grim, but one bright spot was the performance of Catholic schools.
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