Adam Schiff’s Next Election Opponent: A History-Making Drag Queen
The campaign poster for drag queen Maebe A. Girl, who is running for Congress against Adam Schiff. Image by Maebe A. Girl/Twitter
By Aiden Pink July 1, 2019
It’s still 16 months until the 2020 elections, but House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff already has an opponent, and it’s someone who has already made history: Maebe A. Girl, the first drag queen ever elected to public office.
In April, Girl was voted onto the neighborhood council in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles. Now Girl, who identifies as genderfluid and trans and uses female pronouns, has set her sights on Washington.
“I want to run against Adam Schiff because I believe the people in (California’s 28th District) deserve a representative that can relate to their struggles and who knows what it’s like to experience systemic oppression,” Girl told the LGBT news site Q Voice News on Sunday. “Too many of our representatives are wealthy, middle-aged white men, and that doesn’t accurately represent our diverse population.”
Schiff, who is Jewish, has served in Congress since 2001.
Girl, who is running on a platform of protecting the rights of minorities, immigrants and the environment, said her quest to serve on the neighborhood council pushed her to seek higher office.
“I’ve been inspired by all the people I’ve spoken to who want to see real change and actual representation in government,” she said. “I want to do as much as possible for both my local community and the nation at large.”
In addition to her work on the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council, Girl is also a performer known for her impersonations of political figures like Melania Trump, Betsy DeVos and Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Los Angeles Magazine reported.
California’s congressional primary is March 3, 2020. The top two vote-getters regardless of party will proceed to the November general election.
Aiden Pink is the deputy news editor of the Forward. Contact him at pink@forward.com or follow him on Twitter @aidenpink
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
