Meet MAGA Mike: The “Moderate” GOP Candidate Who Associates With Conspiracy Theorists and Gay-Bashers

Salt Lake City - Mike Bird, the Republican Candidate for Utah House District 35, claims to have a “people over party approach” to politics - but his record tells a different story. As a candidate for the Chair of the Utah Republican Party, Mike Bird campaigned on promoting the party’s platform, stating in an interview with MAGA extremist John Johnson, “one of the things that unifies our party in general is our platform.”

Let’s take a look at what the Utah GOP platform calls for:

• A near-total ban on abortion:
• “We oppose abortion… and the public funding of any of these abhorrent practices.”
  
  
• Opposing Equal Rights for Women and LGBTQ+ People:
• “We believe that no individual is entitled to rights that exceed or supersede the God-given individual rights guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Utah.”
  
  
• Suspending Birthright Citizenship, in violation of the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution
• “We support suspending automatic U.S. citizenship to children born to illegal immigrant parents.”

Adding insult to injury, Mike Bird has promoted MAGA extremists like Mike Lee, who voted against federal recognition for gay marriages and once said voters should think of Donald Trump like “Captain Moroni,” Kera Birkeland, who sponsored laws restricting abortion access and forcing the state government to police who uses what bathroom, and Dinesh D’Souza, who was convicted of campaign finance fraud, mocked school shooting survivors, outed gay students, and promoted the racist conspiracy theory that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States. 

“Mike Bird’s shameless association with gay-bashing politicians and conspiracy theorists proves that he is not the moderate he pretends to be,” UDP Vice-Chair Oscar Mata said. “It’s time for voters to meet the real Mike Bird: ‘MAGA Mike.’ I call on Mike Bird to clarify his position on abortion and LGBTQ+ rights, and explain why he is so comfortable around MAGA politicians and gay-bashing conspiracy theorists.”