Wisconsin Republican Peter Schmidt, who appears to be barred from running for a state seat in November’s election, is downplaying his past homosexuality in order to side with conservative Christian voters.

Earlier this month, Schmidt won the six-party primary by just 63 votes, making him the credible Republican candidate for six seats in the red zone. But his nomination means more people are digging into his past… which is disturbing for two main reasons. The first major problems arose in November 2019, when Schmidt, then a member of the Shawano County Board of Trustees, was accused of strangling an employee to death on his family’s farm.

On Nov. 22 of that year, two employees who lived on the farm told an official they had overslept in the morning shift, OnlySky Incident reported. Schmidt is said to have stormed into the apartment, “yelled at her” and then got even angrier when they weren’t done 15 minutes later. And then the employees say they won’t work… which annoys Schmidt:

Peter then pushed [the victim] onto the bed, pressing down on the base of [the victim’s] neck without his permission and causing him pain. [The victim] had trouble breathing, started to lose consciousness, and didn’t fight back because he was afraid of him, and if he fought back, he might do worse things. [The victim’s co-worker] recorded the interaction on his cell phone. The video shows Peter grabbing [the victim] by the throat where the bed sank…

Schmidt later told officers he “grabbed the victim by the neck but did not choke him.” In each case, he was arrested and later charged with disorderly conduct (a misdemeanor) and strangulation and suffocation (a felony). He was eventually sentenced to two years probation, required to take anger management classes, undergo a psychological assessment and was ordered to write a letter of apology to the victim.

It all became known when Peter Schmidt was in the Wisconsin State House race. In fact, the local GOP chairman told WisPolitics.com that Schmidt was reprimanded for the criminal conviction, a move that prevented him from attending local GOP events or displaying campaign material at their headquarters. The chairman also asked Schmidt to drop out of the state House race…but those requests were ignored. Well, WisPolitics points out, the Shawano GOP said it wouldn’t support Schmidt’s campaign because “members believe criminals don’t reflect the party’s values.” (The irony of Republicans saying criminals don’t reflect their values ​​should not be missed.)

“We didn’t do anything before because, honestly, we didn’t think he was going to win,” [Shawano GOP Chairman Richard Kuckersdorff] said, referring to Schmidt.

They didn’t think he would win, so they didn’t release his criminal history, and he won. Interesting how it works. The censorship is also hardly a punishment, since it’s unlikely that a Republican will lose a race in that particular district. On Dec. 31, 2019, about a month after assaulting an accomplice, Schmidt went to the local sheriff’s office to file a personal complaint that someone was trying to blackmail him.

The unidentified suspect demanded $50,000…in exchange for not releasing the sex tape of Schmidt “performing oral sex on another man.”