The co-chair of the Michigan Republican Party is accused of being blatantly homophobic in a tweet about openly-gay U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
Michigan GOP co-Chair Meshawn Maddock is facing criticism for calling Buttigieg, who just recently moved to Michigan with his husband, a “weak little girl” in a tweet on Sunday. The tweet was in response to an interview of Secretary Buttigieg discussing California’s recent ban on new gas-powered vehicles.
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“We’re so blessed this weak little girl moved to Michigan!” Maddock tweeted. “Looks like he’s bringing all his California Dreaming here with him.”
Several people have responded to Maddock’s statement, calling the self-proclaimed Ultra MAGA Republican a homophobe over the tweet.
The secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation is the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana and took office under the Biden administration in 2021. The Naval reserve veteran changed his official residence to Michigan in July, when he and his husband, Chasten, moved to Traverse City, where his husband’s family lives.
More: US Transportation Secretary Buttigieg makes his next move -- to Michigan
Maddock has faced scrutiny for many things she’s said and tweeted during her time in her role.
She was also one of 16 people who posed as fake electors and submitted false electoral college documents in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election results in favor of former President Donald Trump, who lost the election to now-President Joe Biden. Maddock submitted the false documents alongside her husband, Matt Maddock, who is a member of the Michigan House of Representatives.
The couple is said to have helped charter more than a dozen buses to Trump’s “stop the steal” rally, which preceded the deadly Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol in 2021.
Related (from January): New audio shows Michigan Republican Party co-chair reportedly tell crowd that Trump directed fake electors plot