Greene, a controversial Georgia Republican who has emerged as a leader among U.S. conservatives, has often faced backlash from Democrats for her comments on topics such as race, vaccines or the 2020 election. But her status a woman politician recently drew an attack from a right-wing preacher from Spokane, Washington, who blasted her and other female Republicans for running for office.
Pastor Jason Graber of Spokane’s Sure Foundation Baptist Church made the remarks in a sermon uploaded on Tuesday.
“But today we have Marjorie Taylor Greene. And anybody that votes for her, you’re not a real conservative. Fake conservatives,” he said. “Why? Because Marjorie Taylor Greene should be at home being obedient to her husband.”
He questioned why conservatives are being elected to office “when they can’t even figure out a good husband to marry,” describing any man who “allows his wife” to run for public office as a “pathetic beta man.”
A video of his sermon was first posted to Twitter by Hermant Mehta, who tracks extremist content from the religious right.
Women—both conservative and liberal—have raised concerns about these sorts of misogynistic attacks. Women have long been outnumbered by their male counterparts in Congress, and experts say they face misogyny in electoral campaigns.
Greene’s husband Perry Greene filed for divorce from Greene in September, citing that the marriage had been “irretrievably broken.”
The attack came just days before Greene is expected to easily win reelection on Tuesday.
Greene has faced ire from Democrats, and many members of her own party for her divisive remarks—but experts don’t expect that to be a roadblock to her campaign. She represents Georgia’s 14th Congressional District, which contains deeply conservative areas in the northwest region of the state, making it a difficult-at-best reach for Democrats.
She is set to face Democratic candidate Marcus Flowers, who has raised more than $15 million in his bid to unseat Greene despite the deep red tint of the district.
Greene’s first term in office has been marked by controversy. In February 2021, 11 Republicans joined Democrats in voting to remove Greene from her committee seats over past endorsements of several extremist conspiracy theories before her run for Congress, including that the 2012 mass shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School was staged.
Thousands of Christians have signed a petition created by Faithful America condemning Greene and other Republicans as “false prophets” for “misusing and appropriating Christianity for their own political gain at the expense of everyone else.”
Newsweek reached out to Greene’s office for response.
