A Democrat state representative in Philadelphia, who made headlines in 2019 after filming himself harassing and doxxing teenage girls praying outside an abortion clinic, announced he is running for lieutenant governor.
Brian Sims said he plans to run for the office in 2022, claiming his campaign will be one that emphasizes “empathy” and “courage.”
After 10 years in the State House, I’ve taken the lessons that my parents taught me & reinforced them in my work as a legislator: to take responsibility, commit to service, be courageous, & push for fairness.
I’m ready to take these values to lead the Commonwealth. pic.twitter.com/lcNmYQghgr
— Brian Sims (@BrianSimsPA) February 15, 2021
“I think every day about the values that my Army officer parents instilled in me: to take responsibility, to show empathy, to have courage, and to be authentic,” Sims said. “I want to put those values to the direct service of the commonwealth.
Sims, a radical LGBT activist, has repeatedly generated controversy over his inflammatory rhetoric, often targeting peaceful pro-life protestors.
In 2019, he shamelessly posted an eight-minute rant in which he berated a woman praying with a rosary, and he later doubled-down on his attack by playing the victim after hundreds turned up to call for his resignation.
But he is, perhaps, most notorious for accosting Ashley Garecht and her two teenage daughters, who were 13 and 15 years old at the time, for demonstrating outside a Planned Parenthood clinic. He offered to pay to anyone who could find their names and addresses.
“What we’ve got here is a bunch of protesters—a bunch of pseudo-Christian protesters who have been out here shaming young girls,” Sims said in the live-streamed video. “So, here’s the deal: I’ve got a $100 for anyone who will identify any of these three.”
Garecht said in a statement that the Pennsylvania legislature is “sullied by [Sims’s] cowardly presence, and the state of Pennsylvania deserves better in the office of lieutenant governor.”
Despite his brazen hostility and overt antagonism toward dissenting opinions, Sims implied that he would approach higher office with the spirit of bipartisan cooperation.
“My time in the Pennsylvania Legislature has taught me a lot about not only how Pennsylvania government works, but a lot about how it doesn’t,” he said. “It has taught me a lot about how to work with people who don’t always agree with me.”
