Trump-Endorsed Candidate Argued Against Women's Suffrage in College
Scott Olson/Getty John Gibbs
A Michigan Republican running for Congress once argued against women's right to vote, writing while in college at Stanford University in the early 2000s that "the United States has suffered as a result of women's suffrage."
In an archived post from Gibbs' personal page at Stanford in 2000 and 2001, the now-candidate wrote: "Some argue that in a democratic society, it is hypocritical or unjust for women, who are 50% of the population, not to have the vote. This is obviously not true, since the founding fathers, who understood liberty and democracy better than anyone, did not believe so."
Sarah Rice for The Washington Post via Getty John Gibbs
Gibbs continued: "In addition, all people under age 18 cannot vote, although they too comprise a significant portion of the population. So we cannot say that women should be able to vote simply because they are a large part of the population."
RELATED: Trump-Endorsed GOP Candidate Allegedly Misrepresented Military Service: Report
Elsewhere on the site, Gibbs questioned the notion of whether men are inherently smarter than women, writing, "if by 'smart', one means the ability to think logically about broad and abstract ideas in order to deduce a suitable conclusion, without relying upon emotional reasoning, I think the answer is yes."
He added: "Note that this by no means implies that men are 'better' than women, or vice versa. Nor does it imply that it is the case that 100% of women are not capable of abstract logical thought, and that 100% of men are ... Rather, this is simply an explanation of the general case which applies to the vast majority of people."
Despite the rhetoric, a spokesperson for Gibbs told CNN that the site was meant to "provoke the left," and that the Republican "does not believe that women shouldn't vote or shouldn't work."
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer.
"John made the site to provoke the left on campus and to draw attention to the hypocrisy of some modern-day feminists. It was nothing more than a college kid being over the top," the spokesperson told the outlet in an email. "Of course, John does not believe that women shouldn't vote or shouldn't work, and his mother worked for thirty-three years for the Michigan Department of Transportation!"
Gibbs, who worked as a conservative commentator before joining the Trump administration as an advisor to former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, launched his U.S. House campaign last November.
A staunch Trump ally, Gibbs was endorsed by the former president shortly after announcing his candidacy, and went on to win his primary race against incumbent Republican Peter Meijer, who was one of ten House Republicans to vote to impeach Trump over the 2021 Capitol attack.
