Representative Derrick Van Orden, a Republican from Wisconsin, arrives to speak during the first day of the Republican Midterm Convention at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, US, on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026. November's midterm elections will hinge in large part on Americans' attitudes toward the cost of living, and the polls show the public giving the president poor marks for his handling of the economy. Photographer: Mark Felix/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Van Orden says a gay person can’t be the Democrats presidential nominee because Black people ‘don't want to vote for a homosexual’
Sep 17, 2026, 5:15 PM CT
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Congressman Derrick Van Orden believes a gay person can’t get elected in the Democratic Party because Black people wouldn’t vote for them.
“If you look at it statistically, if you’re doing political science, African-Americans don’t want to vote for a homosexual,” Van Orden told TMZ on Thursday.
The conversation was centered on former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who is a married gay man who has been a presidential candidate.
Buttigieg faced this narrative while courting votes in 2020 in the crucial South Carolina primary, where Black voters decided the election result. The narrative is that Buttigieg has always polled poorly with Black voters, with some assuming it’s because he’s gay while others say it was his poor tenure as mayor of South Bend, Indiana.
At the time, a poll commissioned by Winthrop University found 79% of Black voters said sexual orientation didn’t make a difference, which was slightly lower than white voters. Conversely, 16% of Black voters said they’d be less likely to support a gay candidate, slightly higher than white voters, at 13%.
“I’m endorsed by the Log Cabin Republicans, which are a group of conservatives that happen to have a different view on who they want to be with than me,” Van Orden said. “I don’t think in those terms and I never have. Even as a kid. To me, it’s irrelevant. I don’t care. It’s not part of my calculus when I look at a person and when I interact with a person and whether or not they are in a position of leadership over me or if I’m in a position in charge of them. I just don’t think like that.”
But Van Orden said because Black voters set the tone on the left, a gay candidate doesn’t stand a chance.
“The Democratic Party needs to carry African-American votes or they’ll never get anyone elected,” he said. “And statistically speaking, if you look at the actual polling, African-Americans are not ready to vote for a gay candidate.”
Van Orden added that it is more likely for a gay Republican president as opposed to a Democrat.
In Wisconsin, voters have reelected Senator Tammy Baldwin for over 30 years. She is the first openly lesbian woman elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly (1993), the first openly lesbian woman and first woman elected to the U.S. House from Wisconsin (1998), and the first openly LGBTQ person and first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from Wisconsin (2012).
Shaundel Washington-Spivey is the first Black person to be elected mayor of La Crosse. He also is openly gay.
“Van Orden is making an out-of-touch and sweeping generalization about the Black community to serve his own political agenda,” Washington-Spivey said in a statement. “Claiming Black people aren't ready for a gay president is just his most recent attempt to divide Americans by pitting two communities against each other. He would rather blame historically marginalized groups rather than reckon with the Republican Party's history of enabling homophobia. That is holding America back, not Black people.”
Van Orden’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. He is seeking reelection against Democrat Rebecca Cooke.
Drake Bentley is the general assignment reporter for the Milwaukee Courier, covering politics, sports and the community. He is an award-winning investigative journalist who has worked for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wisconsin State Journal, Newsweek, Heavy and The Sporting News. He is a northside Milwaukee native, former political staffer and graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and the University of Nebraska.
