Story thread · 2 reports / 2 sources

Audio emerges of MAGA candidate wishing COVID killed more people: 'Wasn't bad enough'

rawstory.com · 5h · first reportShare

Newly resurfaced audio shows Texas Republican congressional candidate Brandon Herrera suggesting COVID-19's death toll wasn't severe enough because the virus failed to disproportionately kill overweight Americans, comments he made years before launching his current campaign. The remarks surfaced from a July 2022 appearance on Elijah Schaffer's podcast "Slightly Offensive," roughly a year before Herrera's first run for Congress. The conversation began as a discussion about racial preferences on dating shows before veering into commentary about obesity, with another guest launching into a tirade calling overweight people "the most undisciplined, freaking disgusting people ever." Herrera didn't push back. Instead, he doubled down on the sentiment. "I'm of the opinion COVID wasn't bad enough because if you had something that just unfairly targeted fucking fat people, I'm here for it," Herrera said. "I would have worn my mask nowhere on purpose." Herrera, now the Republican nominee in Texas