House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) pledged to defeat Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) after the Republican congressman made an inflammatory social media post Tuesday morning.
Ogles wrote, “Homosexuality has no place in America.” He has since deleted the post.
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“He’s someone who continues to make clear that Republicans have zero interest in actually doing anything about any of the issues that the American people care about in terms of the economy, and he’d rather spend time trying to divide us, say outrageous things to appeal to his MAGA base,” Jeffries told the Washington Examiner.
“Ultimately, I think Andy Ogles is going down in flames and will be defeated in November,” Jeffries continued.
Ogles’s post, which had over 2 million views as of Tuesday afternoon before its deletion, comes on the second day of Pride Month. Ogles in the post went on to declare June “Nuclear Family Month.” Gov. Bill Lee (R-TN) signed a resolution earlier this year designating June Nuclear Family Month in Tennessee.
Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ) said in a text message to the Washington Examiner that the post was “insane” and that she’d consider voting to censure Ogles.
Ogles initially faced a possibly competitive reelection, even as his seat went to President Donald Trump by double digits in 2024. Poor fundraising and a spate of ethics issues made him vulnerable to a challenge from Democratic Columbia, Tennessee, Mayor Chaz Molder.
But Tennessee legislative Republicans moved quickly after the Supreme Court curtailed the Voting Rights Act in Louisiana v. Callais and cracked Democratic stronghold Memphis into three districts. The move placed Memphis in Ogles’s Middle Tennessee seat.
According to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, Trump would have carried his redrawn district by 23 points in the 2024 election, making it highly unlikely for Democrats to flip the seat in November.
Ogles, however, drew bipartisan condemnation for the post.
“I never thought I’d hear a person I consider a friend say there is no place for me in this country simply because of who I chose to love,” former Republican New York Rep. George Santos wrote on X in response.
“Homosexuality exists,” Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) wrote on X. “In America. In fact Andy, you have family, friends, neighbors, colleagues and constituents who are gay and lesbian. It doesn’t make them less than or somehow unworthy of being an American. What an absolutely idiotic statement to make.”
