Gohmert catching criticism with virus
Though Texan draws outrage in Congress, constituents see grit
WASHINGTON — When U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert tested positive for the coronavirus July 29, many of his colleagues in Congress were up in arms after spending weeks on Capitol Hill with the East Texas Republican who hardly ever seemed to wear a mask.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a new rule requiring all lawmakers and staff members to wear masks — the second House rule aimed directly at Gohmert in as many years.
But in his hometown of Tyler, people understood where Gohmert was coming from as he explained that “in the last week or two I have worn a mask more than I have in the last four months” and wondered whether fidgeting with it might have led to his infection.
“I don’t know about everybody, but when I have a mask on I’m moving it to make it comfortable, and I can’t help but wonder if that put some germs in the mask,” he said in a video posted online. “Keep your hands off your mask? Anyway, who knows?”
It was a statement that drew even more groans and outrage — including from Democrats who called him selfish and irresponsible.
Back in Texas, the distaste that some have for Gohmert has always been a part of his appeal. The Republican lawmaker wears it with pride, once joking that the ribs he’s been known to barbecue on his office balcony are “probably the only time here on Capitol Hill when I actually leave a good taste in people’s mouths instead of a bitter taste.”
Gohmert, a former state appeals court judge, has been in Congress since 2005 with the same sort of populist wild-card appeal as President Donald Trump, only minus the billions in personal wealth. He sleeps in his office and his supporters are glad to see him ranking among the poorest members of the House, which they see as proof he hasn’t been bought off during his 15
year tenure.
He’s followed the president’s lead through impeachment and the pandemic — and after he got sick, Gohmert said his doctor prescribed him hydroxychloroquine, a coronavirus countermeasure touted by Trump despite stern warnings about side effects from medical experts.
And like Trump, the East Texas Republican has drawn TV airtime with take-no-prisoners sound bites. He’s the congressman who compared Black Lives Matter protests across the country to “the Bolshevik Revolution, the Mao Revolution.”
Last month, as Democrats moved to take down Confederate statues in the Capitol, Gohmert pushed a resolution to “ban” the entire party for supporting slavery in the 1800s.
“I like what he does in Congress. I like when he stands up,” said Susan Jasper, a longtime supporter of Gohmert’s who considers the congressman a friend. “He gets a little overzealous sometimes. But he doesn’t get overzealous and bend. He gets overzealous when he really believes in something.”
“He doesn’t waste his time with praise and adoration,” she said. “He gets in there and digs for what he wants to dig for.”
Gohmert did not respond to requests for comment. A sign was posted on the door of his office, where he is reportedly quarantined: “Nightly cleaning is required! PLEASE CLEAN!”
Immune to blue waves?
As frustrating as he may be to many of his D.C. colleagues — and as often as he is mocked by national pundits — Gohmert is beloved by many in his East Texas district, where no challenger has come within 40 percentage points of beating him.
This year, it’s Hank Gilbert, a cattle rancher, taking a run at Gohmert. Gilbert says many others are growing weary of the sort of attention Gohmert draws.
“Since his announcement that he has contracted COVID, my phone has been ringing off the wall from self-identified Republicans … wanting to know what they can do to help my campaign,” Gilbert said. “They’re tired of his antics, they’re tired of his showboating.”
Gilbert raised more money than Gohmert during the second quarter of 2020 — $54,204 compared with $37,482 — and has nearly kept pace with the Republican’s fundraising since last fall. He says he’s giving Gohmert his first serious challenge.
Gilbert calls Gohmert an opportunist who has used his time in Congress to “pursue other things like talk radio and he’s made a lot of appearances on Fox News” rather than pushing for things such as bringing more broadband access to the district. He says 30 percent of residents have no internet access.
“Texas has developed, unfortunately, a reputation across the country as a state full of kooks — and you can’t blame people for thinking that with the likes of Rick Perry and the likes of Louie Gohmert and the antics they pull on a national stage,” Gilbert said. “Every time Louie does something like this, the city of Tyler and East Texas as a whole gets a black eye.”
Mark Owens, a political scientist at the University of Texas at Tyler, said it’s true Gohmert hasn’t faced a comparable challenge. For the last four elections, he’s faced Shirley McKellar, a retired U.S. Army officer who recently won a spot on the Tyler City Council. McKellar never raised as much money as Gilbert and never came closer than 44 percentage points of Gohmert.
Still, Owens said, the district is solidly red.
“It’s going to take a major wave to change the 1st District of Texas,” he said. “And I think that the resources that are being put into Texas are going elsewhere in the state.”
A recent rally on Tyler’s town square illustrated the uphill climb Gilbert faces. The Democrat reserved space on the square to protest the “illegal occupation of Portland by federal law enforcement,” but he and his supporters were overwhelmed by armed counterprotesters, including several holding “Louie” signs, who chanted the incumbent’s name.
Gilbert claimed he knew of many more supporters of his who were planning to turn up but were scared off by the counterprotesters. Gilbert’s campaign manager was pushed and scratched on the face during a scuffle.
Gilbert said Gohmert needed to get his supporters under control. Gohmert questioned whether paid provocateurs started it.
‘Louie Gohmert rule’
In Washington, it’s Gohmert who has often been the provocateur.
Gohmert spent weeks walking the halls of the Capitol without a mask. At least one other congressman tested positive after Gohmert: U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat who went into self-isolation and got tested after he had been in a hearing with Gohmert the day before Gohmert’s diagnosis.
“While I cannot blame anyone directly for this, this week has shown that there are some Members of Congress who fail to take this crisis seriously,” Grijalva said in his announcement. “Numerous Republican members routinely strut around the Capitol without a mask to selfishly make a political statement at the expense of their colleagues, staff, and their families.”
Gohmert is also one of several members who live out of their offices, leaving Democrats especially concerned about whether he would be quarantining in the Rayburn House Office Building across from the Capitol.
“Congressman Gohmert’s behavior is not only irresponsible, it’s dangerous and reckless,” U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier, a California Democrat, said in a statement after Gohmert’s diagnosis. “It’s beyond comprehension that anyone would act in this way, let alone a member of Congress.”
The mask rule is not the first Gohmert has inspired. Last year, Democratic leadership limited so-called “special-order speeches” to one a week. Gohmert had built a reputation for opining on the House floor in hourlong speeches, logging hundreds of C-SPAN video clips on topics ranging from “terror babies” to barbecued ribs. In 2014, Gohmert claimed nearly 29 hours of C-SPAN airtime.
Gohmert took pride in the rule limiting such speeches. “One Democrat friend said ‘It’s the Louie Gohmert rule’ — which to me is quite a compliment,” Gohmert said at the time.
That nonconformist spirit is something his constituents take pride in, too.
“He sort of uses that East Texas part to push against D.C.,” said Owens, the UTTyler
political scientist. “And it normally comes from playing against whatever the dominant storyline is.”
Jasper, who saw the press accounts about Gohmert’s diagnosis, said she called his office to see how he was feeling.
“They said there are just so many untruths,” Jasper said. “People were up in arms because he was staying in his office. … Where would he go?”
‘Not afraid to dive in’
His supporters know him best as a responsive congressman, eager to give his famous tours of the Capitol to anyone visiting D.C., and as someone who taught Sunday school in Tyler for years after getting elected, who still regularly speaks at his church. Gohmert has been known to show up on UT-Tyler’s campus to visit the baseball team or the veterans center and never publicizes the visits.
Kirk Phillips, 49, said he really became a fan of Gohmert’s after the congressman helped him when he was going through a divorce. The state was trying to count Phillips’ GI benefits, which he was using to pay his way through Tyler Junior College, as income toward child support payments. When he went to Gohmert’s office for help, Gohmert went to the general counsel of the Department of Veterans Affairs and got a signed letter to stop it.
“A lot of people have stigma, ‘These politicians and congressmen, they don’t care about anybody, they’re so far up in Washington, they don’t care,’ ” Phillips said. “That’s not how Louie portrays himself at all.”
“If you have something you want to ask him … he’s not afraid to dive in,” Phillips said.
He’s since run into Gohmert many times at local Republican events and speaking to him is “just like as if you’re the neighbor and you’re going to have a barbecue together.”
“It’s not a blunt conversation like you’re in front of a judge or anything,” he said. “It’s very personable.”