Democratic candidate Laura Benjamin dropped out of a swing seat House race just days after blasting assassinated Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk in campaign advertising.
Benjamin, a transgender former city council member running to unseat three-term Republican Wisconsin Rep. Derrick Van Orden, announced the campaign’s suspension on Friday, citing a lack of fundraising dollars. The Democrat slammed Kirk’s “hateful rhetoric” in a series of Facebook ads that included donation links following the conservative activist’s assassination on Sept. 10.
“Running a congressional campaign across a district as large as WI-03 takes significant financial resources,” Benjamin wrote in a statement. “Despite the incredible support we’ve received, the path to victory simply isn’t there without the level of fundraising required to reach voters.”
Benjamin’s decision to exit the race came just two day after the campaign began including criticism of Kirk in digital ads on Facebook. The digital fundraising appeals blasted Van Orden for criticizing the transgender Democrat’s comments on Kirk shortly after his assassination.
“What kind of person blames me for violence just because I condemned Charlie Kirk’s hateful rhetoric?” the then-candidate wrote in a series of campaign ads that ran on Facebook between Wednesday and Thursday. “Derrick Van Orden, of course.”
Two of the ads featured an image of the slain Turning Point USA founder hosting “The Charlie Kirk Show” and Benjamin’s original comments posted on the social media platform Bluesky — a few hours after Kirk was pronounced dead.
“Charlie Kirk was hateful toward the lgbtq community and called for the eradication of trans care,” Benjamin wrote on the social media platform on Sept. 10. “Not that this justifies the pain his family will endure or the random violent taking of his life. But it’s clear there is a cycle of hate growing.”
“And it’s not going to stop with more hate,” the then-candidate added.
Benjamin falsely claimed the suspected killer in Kirk’s assassination did not espouse radical left-wing views and that Kirk “wanted to eradicate the LGBTQ community.”
The failed candidate reposted a message on Bluesky saying that “Everyone should be Antifa” on Sept. 17. Benjamin also dubbed Immigration and Customs Enforcement “America’s Gestapo” in August.
The transgender Democrat recently labeled a left-wing think tank who urged the Democratic Party not to use terms like “pregnant people” and “birthing person” as “actual cancer.”
“It is par for the course that a radical leftwing zealot would be fundraising off the political assassination of the American hero, Charlie Kirk, so that he can try to get into office and lock in a permanent socialist state,” Van Orden told the DCNF. “This is repulsive but not unexpected.”
“Now is the time for conservatives to steel our spines, stand our ground, and call out the violent political rhetoric spewed by the left and hold them accountable by every LAWFUL means necessary,” Van Orden added. “The fact that Benjamin is fundraising over the political assassination of an American citizen is proof that he hates America and hates you unless you are lockstep with their historically proven fantasy that socialism will lead to utopia, not hell on earth.”
Benjamin’s campaign had just $10,000 in the bank at the end of June, according to a Federal Election Commission filing.
The campaign’s decision to fundraise off of its opposition to the slain conservative activist comes as Democrats have sparked backlash across the country for issuing callous responses in the wake of Kirk’s assassination.
Nearly 60 House Democrats voted against a resolution to honor Kirk’s life on Sept. 19. An additional 38 Democrats voted “present” and 22 did not vote.
Two other Democratic candidates are running to challenge Van Orden during the midterms.
Rebecca Cooke, who has won endorsements from independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and a slate of Democratic Party-aligned advocacy groups, is viewed as the favorite to win the nomination. She lost to Van Orden by roughly 12,000 votes last November.
Early analysis from the nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the contest in Wisconsin’s largely rural 3rd congressional District as a “toss-up.”
A spokesperson for Benjamin did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment. A spokesperson for Van Orden did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
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