The most crushing defeat for Democrats on November 8 was quite obviously Hillary Clinton’s. The party’s next most significant loss, however, may well be that of Brad Avakian. He was an obscure candidate for what might seem to be a relatively inconsequential position. But as it turns out, Oregon’s secretary of state race provides an instructive lesson about the Democratic party’s culture-war extremism.

Avakian briefly gained national headlines last year when, in his capacity as the Oregon commissioner of labor, he fined Aaron and Melissa Klein, the proprietors of Sweet Cakes By Melissa, $135,000 for refusing to bake a cake for a lesbian commitment ceremony. (Gay marriage was not yet legal in Oregon at the time.) The Kleins said they would be happy to serve gay customers, but they drew the line at participating in a specific ceremony contradicting their religious beliefs. What was especially notable about the fine Avakian doled out was its egregiously punitive nature. Owing to public outrage, the Kleins had shuttered their bakery a year and a half earlier. Aaron Klein had then taken a job as a garbageman to support his family.