Republicans think they’ve found a winning message in some battleground races: calling their opponents vegans.
In Colorado’s 8th District, where beef production is a major industry, Democratic nominee Manny Rutinel is being attacked for “a decade of pushing veganism” and “hurling disgusting insults at the agricultural community,” as Alexandria Cullen, spokesperson for GOP Rep. Gabe Evans, put it.
As an undergrad, Rutinel posed shirtless draped in a PETA banner, and at Yale Law, he said animal agriculture is a “horrific, exploitive industry,” the Colorado Sun reported. In since-deleted 2017 Reddit posts, he suggested veganism as a solution to high food prices and voiced support for a movement that opposes the slaughter of animals for food.
Rutinel says he was vegan earlier in his life, but no longer is. “The views that Manny posted nearly a decade ago are not his views today,” said Clay Volino, his campaign manager, who noted Rutinel is “laser-focused on lowering costs for families.”
Republicans are making similar attacks elsewhere, trying to wage a new meat-fueled culture war. The push to point out Democrats’ veganism is often about the local economy — but it’s also cultural red meat, and comes at a time as some Republicans and MAHA activists are pushing for more Americans to embrace a more meat-centric diet.
“There’s a masculinity aspect: Being a vegan is viewed as soft,” said Anang Mittal, a Republican strategist who eats meat. “If you’re trying to portray your opponent as left-wing, it’s an easier hit than arguing the policies against the person.”
In Iowa’s 2nd District, home to plenty of cattle and hog farms, Republicans are exuberantly resharing an old social media post from Democratic nominee Lindsay James in which she expressed support for “Meatless May,” a solidarity movement for meat processing workers and farmed animals.
“It’s extremely distressing how corporate meat packing plants have mishandled employee safety,” James wrote in a 2020 Facebook post. “‘Meatless May’ OR supporting your local farmers — is one way to respond.”
James will need to answer for her “anti-farming record,” said NRCC spokesperson Emily Tuttle.
Jackson Smith, spokesperson for James, said she has “always sided with Iowa farmers” and is “focused on talking about the issues that actually matter to Iowans — lowering costs and fighting back against powerful corporations to get prices down for families.”
Even in districts without a heavy agricultural presence, Republicans are looking to make meat an issue. In Arizona’s 1st District, based in suburban Phoenix, Republicans are hitting Democratic nominee Amish Shah for his veganism and animal rights activism. Shah, a physician, identifies as an “animal advocate” and a “vegan” in his Instagram bio. He founded the Arizona Vegetarian Food Festival, where he argued in a 2015 speech that meat consumption can cause cancer.
In a statement, Shah campaign manager Eve Zhurbinskiy said Shah has “a long record protecting animals,” and if elected to Congress, “in addition to working to lower costs for Arizonans, he’ll continue to work to increase protections for animals.”
In the U.S. Senate race in Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton’s campaign has played an old video on loop of state Rep. James Talarico saying it is “existential” to “reduce our meat consumption.” Talarico denied that he is vegan in a post showing him chowing down on BBQ. At a San Antonio rally this summer, he said, “They’ve even called me a vegan, and those are fighting words in the state of Texas.”
In at least one of those three House races, Republicans have polled on their opponents’ comments on the meat industry and plan to use them in paid messaging this fall, according to a Republican operative granted anonymity to discuss private plans.
Republicans haven’t criticized some of their own who don’t eat meat — like Vivek Ramaswamy, the GOP nominee for governor in Ohio, who is a vegetarian. Ramaswamy, who is Hindu, doesn’t eat meat for religious and moral reasons, but he has said he doesn’t expect others to follow suit.
Democrats have largely brushed off the attacks. “After cutting SNAP and leaving millions of kids without access to food, Republicans are focusing on candidates’ diets from years ago to distract Americans,” said Valeria Ojeda-Avitia, spokesperson for the BOLD PAC, which supports Rutinel.
But the attacks could have some potency — especially in rural areas.
“They use those message points to try to put fear in the hearts of the people,” said Joe Maxwell, the former Democratic lieutenant governor of Missouri who now leads the Farm Action Fund. “Out in rural America, it’s not uncommon for me to hear someone pronounce vegan ‘vay-gun.’ They don’t have an understanding, and it disturbs them. It sounds like something foreign. And so it is a tactic to distract from the real issues.”
A version of this article first appeared in POLITICO Pro’s Morning Score. Want to receive the newsletter every weekday? Subscribe to POLITICO Pro. You’ll also receive daily policy news and other intelligence you need to act on the day’s biggest stories.
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