![Surging GOP candidate Kathy Barnette has long history of bigoted statements against gays and Muslims](https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/220512145935-kathy-barnette-0511-super-tease.jpg)
Surging GOP candidate Kathy Barnette has long history of bigoted statements against gays and Muslims
CNN
Surging Pennsylvania GOP Senate candidate Kathy Barnette has a history of anti-Muslim and anti-gay statements. In many tweets, Barnette also spread the false conspiracy theory that former President Barack Obama is a Muslim.
In one speech uploaded to YouTube in 2015, Barnette forcefully argued it was OK to discriminate against Muslims and compared rejecting Islam to "... rejecting Hitler's or Stalin's worldviews." In comments on her radio show, she said accepting homosexuality would lead to the accepting of incest and pedophilia. One post she wrote called a transgender person "deformed" and "demonic."
Barnette surged in recent polls in the upcoming Pennsylvania Republican US Senate primary, putting her in a dead heat between Donald Trump-endorsed former TV star Mehmet Oz and former hedge fund manager David McCormick. The Pennsylvania Senate seat is one of the one of the best pickup opportunities for Democrats this November, and Barnette's sudden, rapid rise is causing worry among Trump allies.
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