The 2021-entering Congressional Republicans included far-right conspiracy theorists like QAnon-loving Marjorie Taylor-Greene and rootin’ tootin. Lauren Boebert, so it makes sense that a grifter might want to rebrand in a similar manner. That appears to be the strategy of Dan Rodimer, who’s introduced his candidacy for Texas’s 6th Congressional District and unleashed one of the most bizarre ads imaginable in the process.
Rodimer (a former WWE wrestler) is seen in full-on cowboy garb while making a grunty face and pretending to take off bull riding, although he’s using a very obvious stunt double, who’s sporting completely different facial hair (both color and length) and is wearing a different vest. No matter, because Rodimer recovers from his “fall” before strutting through the dirt and promising that “Big Dan” will help “Make America Texas Again” because “the commies in D.C. are ruining America,” and he’s got transphobic rhetoric, too. What’s his ultimate goal? To eject Nancy Pelosi after helping to flip the House for the GOP.
If this doesn’t seem real, well, it sort-of isn’t. Yes, Dan Rodimer is running for Congress in Texas, and yes, he’s adopting this “cowboy” persona to do so. However, it all appears to be an act from a guy with a history elsewhere. Multiple places, actually. As unearthed by the Washington Post, Rodimer was born and bred in New Jersey and attended college in Florida. He later relocated to Nevada, where he lost two political elections (a 2019 run for the Nevada legislature and a 2020 bid for U.S. Congress). Here’s a Nevada ad where he’s relatively polished and suited up and not-at-all cowboy-like.
The Washington Post also notes Dan’s arrest record (he and Boebert have that in common), as well as pointing toward how he’s keeping up the act on his campaign website which states, he “has always thought of Texas as his true home.” He further claims to have (at some ambiguous point) owned property in Galveston and to have worked in Houston. Will his cowboy act work to get him elected? Well, his older campaign ads are making the rounds on Twitter with a compare-contrast approach.
Are you sick of the BULL coming out of DC? Texas has BIG Problems – we need to send a BIG FIGHTER to Congress to solve them.
Send BIG DAN to Congress to put an END to Nancy Pelosi’s BULL!
Let’s Make America Texas Again:https://t.co/YUanbzRGpa pic.twitter.com/okCLir5box
— Big Dan Rodimer (@DanRodimer) March 25, 2021
who is the REAL big dan rodimer?? https://t.co/OLBdTohwvG pic.twitter.com/7mcjndHuLR
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Mark Helenowski (@markhelenowski) March 26, 2021
Yo, Dan. A real “big fighter” would do his own stunts. It’s really obvious the dude getting thrown is wearing a different vest and boots. Deceptive ad that should offend real Texans.
— Jack Kuenzie (@JKuenzie) March 29, 2021
Damn bro, how’d you switch your glove hand in mid air like that? Also your vest is different. Lying to constituents and misrepresenting yourself already? If you can’t even stay consistent in a crappy ad, how can you be trusted to be consistent in a leadership position? pic.twitter.com/EB9dlD9E9C
— Naofumi Iwatana (@ShieldHero85) March 26, 2021
this video now has more views than BIG DAN rodimer’s actual campaign ad.pic.twitter.com/7mcjndHuLR
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It doesn’t seem to be going well!