Catalina Lauf Immaturity Produces Gaffe Implosion

Written by John Lopez

The first week of October was not a very good one for IL-11 Republican nominee Catalina Lauf of Woodstock.  After being elevated by the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) to full Young Guns status at the end of September, Lauf entered October with a fundraiser planned in Las Vegas and hosted by Congressman Burgess Owens (R, UT) through his Dream Big PAC.

While Lauf was doing local events before departing for Las Vegas by week’s end, Monday afternoon, Lauf came under fire by local and state media over the tweet response to a tweet and news story by Andrew Kaczynski, CNN reporter concerning a report in Minnesota litter boxes were used in schools for kids who self-identified as animals was a hoax.

Lauf responded with the following:

“Andrew — with all due respect, this is not a hoax and is happening in schools in Illinois, too.”

Rich Miller at Capitol Fax posted on his blog the following in an article:

“Debunked here, but the Google can be your friend, so click here for local stories. Here’s just one…

“How goofy do you have to be to believe this nonsense?  It’s just so silly and downright stupid…

“That was in March.

“An attempt at an explanation for this phenomenon is here.

“Get off Facebook.

“…Also, if she takes it down after work hours, the screen shot is here.”

To Lauf’s credit, she has not taken down the tweet from Twitter.

This is not the first time Lauf has inserted her foot in her mouth in Twitter, and because of her celebrity, she now has over 175K followers in Twitter, plus 100K in Instagram.  

During the 2020 IL-14 Republican primary campaign, Lauf went after Geneva-based blogger/political consultant Jeff Ward using a “mean girls” approach:

So when Lauf tried to be in an online battle of wits with someone, she pulled out a year and a half (at the time) old story to trash Ward, whose initial tweet was his schtick to report Lauf’s gaffe at a candidates’ forum in Batavia where she did not know what the acronym “ERA” means.

Ward’s conviction on the domestic battery charge was overturned at the Appellate Court level in mid 2021, and the article Lauf sourced in February of 2020 was taken down.  To my knowledge, Lauf did not apologize to Ward for her tweet about charges that were overturned.

Back to Lauf and the litter box hoax, she attempted to get into a battle of wits with Capitol Fax‘s Rich Miller with this tweet and Rich Miller quickly responded in Twitter and in his Monday, Oct 3 article, described Lauf’s pivot as “Weak game”.

On Tuesday morning, Oct. 4, Miller posted a new article on the Lauf hoax which concluded with the following:

“Remember the people who were completely freaked out a couple of years ago about widespread rumors that Antifa was going to invade their Downstate town?

“I’m not sure how to effectively counter this crud because a large percentage of our country’s population and the folks who bring us the news are so eagerly gullible. And, of course, it’s Halloween month, which seems to bring out the kookie in all of us.”

On Twitter, most of the feedback against Lauf was negative, and Lauf lashed out at the media in a video Thursday night and tried to pivot/change her direction, but the Daily Herald published an article Wednesday where Lauf tried to continue to stand by and defend her tweet responding through email:

” ‘I hear story after story from teachers and school administrators detailing meetings about this ‘furry’ trend in (Illinois) public schools,’ Lauf, of Woodstock, told the Daily Herald in an email.

“When repeatedly asked to share proof of such activity, Lauf provided none.”

It’s one thing to hear stories, it’s another thing to provide proof/documentation these stories are true or at least something more than hearsay.  Lauf claimed she talked to teachers and school administrators, but refused to name who these people were, or at the very least, which school district in Illinois actually has litter boxes for students’ use.

The Daily Herald article was reprinted in all of the Shaw Media publications, most publish somewhere within the 11th Congressional District.

Then Thursday, Shaw Media’s Scott Holland published an op-ed on Lauf and the litter box story, and included the following:

“Lauf either won’t accept reality and doesn’t grasp the amount of mockery invited by repeating such an absurdity or is willing to endure scorn because of the return on the investment of signaling to her base.  She tried to pivot Monday by directing conversation toward other issues where public schools and gender identity overlap, arenas where she might have influence if elected because they involve at least kernels of truth.

“But this type of language most certainly does matter.  We have either someone willing to lie to get elected or someone who speaks before confirming the truth.  Neither bodes well for long-term governance, but also consider the rhetorical implications.  The credibility of the candidate is at stake, and by extension her supporters.  When you go banging about on something so demonstrably false, why should any of your other concerns be taken seriously?”

Friday morning, Lauf tweeted her first shred of evidence where she was coming from on Monday, but with out complete information, but her message to her opponent Congressman Bill Foster (D, Naperville):

“Bill Foster is this how you feel about parents who have voiced concerns about what’s going on in IL schools, too?  Do you think they live in an ‘alternate reality?’

“You co-sponsored legislation to allow ‘men’ in female sports, so maybe you don’t care what they think?”

While Lauf’s Friday tweet included two screenshots, the beige-colored one is the only one that matters for this discussion.

With the screenshot, the school district traced to the Community Unit School District 158 based in Algonquin, but commonly known as “Huntley D158”.

The screenshot was from a website of a grassroots group known as Parent Union D158, so these appear to be the parents, or at least one group of parents who’ve raised concerns about issues within schools, but there was no indication of litter boxes in schools.

The screenshot is a meeting recap of the May, 2022 meeting of the D158 school board in Algonquin.  For some reason, the May meeting minutes have not been officially approved and published, but the meeting recap can be read, with cued video on YouTube can be viewed here.

A word search on the page for “furry” and “furries” will quickly bring the relevant information.  The video provides the names of the parents during public comment.

So after nearly a week, while one of Lauf’s sources is finally identified as far as a specific school district and two schools, no proof of litter boxes in Illinois schools yet to be verified.

Discernment failed on Lauf’s initial claim of litter boxes in Illinois schools, and as Scott Holland stated, “The credibility of the candidate is at stake.”

How Lauf can rebuild what credibility was lost during the first week of October for the final month of the campaign remains to be seen.

Unfortunately, Lauf’s descent from credibility took another turn given her fundraising texts have messages and images which cross the line to be provocative.

Catalina Lauf Descends into Hypersexualizing to Raise Money & Attention

Catalina Lauf (R, IL-11) and Anna Paulina Luna (R, FL-13) in Las Vegas October 8, 2022

Lauf held a fundraiser with Congressman Burgess Owens (R, UT-04) in late August in Woodstock and she participated in a 2nd fundraiser in Las Vegas the 1st week of October with Owens and others which included attending the Notre Dame-BYU football game at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

Illinois Family Action called out Lauf for her immodest dress emphasizing her looks during the primary campaign.

Observers, myself included, had noticed after Lauf won the primary, she had been keeping attire modest.

Then came a mid August fundraising text reverting to the late 2021 picture of Lauf with her father’s Harley-Davidson motercycle she used on some of her 4×4 campaign signs during the primary.

But also notice the language and seeing the picture with Lauf dressed in tight clothing, one might hear the strains of George Thorogood’s “Bad to the Bone” song as they read the text, beginning with the sexually charged:

“You are the reason I am smiling today, Joshua.”

When a couple of friends from out-of-state (and the text appeared to be targeting out-of-state donors) shared this texts’s screenshot, I immediately hoped this Joshua fellow is not married or in a serious relationship, given the picture of Lauf was void of any campaign graphics.

Here’s the rest of the text transcribed, and beyond what is displayed on the screenshot:

“Hi, I’m Catalina.  I’m the America First Hispanic woman running for Congress in the most competitive race in America- the one seat that will decide who controls Washington.

“This is my first time reaching out to you, and I’m afraid what happens if this text doesn’t work.

“But I’m not afraid to tell you that I am a Christian who is Pro-Life, Pro-Family, and Pro-Law Enforcement.

“Democrats and their liberal partners in the liberal media will tell you that someone of my ethnicity and my age can’t be any of those things.

“They assume that I’m just a Hispanic millennial who won’t challenge them on their lack of principles, platform, and patriotism.

“And they’re spending millions to shut me up because they know they can’t take another humiliating loss from within the Hispanic community.

“But I refuse to be muzzled & I’ll never back down from challenging the radical left on their divisive, Anti-American bull****

“I will always stand up to defend our Christian conservative values, and our way of life.

“I’ll admit that I struggle to…” 

My source’s text screenshots stopped, but readers get the gist.  Using a hypersexualized picture of herself, applying the word Christian in the context of a flirtatious text, and the fruit of Lauf’s fundraising text is not sweet, let alone believable in the full context of the text’s delivery and with reality to Lauf’s record, or lack of one.

Sadly, Lauf’s descent back into the oversexualizing her campaign doesn’t stop there.

The Jesse Kelly Show‘s namesake host runs a faux contest, titled “The Bipartisan Hottest Women of Congress” where the host will unapologetically say after the November 8 election and seeing who wins their respective races, him and his staff will rank the top-10 women, “solely on their looks” to compete with reigning champion Congresswoman Lauren Boebert (R, CO-03) and runner-up, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D, NY-14).

Some women Kelly has mentioned in the past took the high road, and contacted Kelly privately to no longer be included or mentioned in the faux contest.  One who’s known to have asked to be removed is U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D, AZ).

Not Lauf, as her late August quote tweet indicates.  She embraced being mentioned by Kelly, and her 175K Twitter following and is “PROUD” to be on the shortlist.

“PROUD” to be a woman, or proud to be objectified solely on her looks?

Mainstream voters, in my honest opinion, would prefer the maturity of Sinema over the immaturity of Lauf, but Lauf has proven multiple times she is not a true Christian social conservative (based on her fruit), but a cultural conservative to push her product, her candidacy.  Proof, if any more needed, was when Lauf stripped both her “Pro-Life Conservative” claim and stance on the Second Amendment from her campaign website last month, as noted in Illinois Family Action’s September 24 article.

The embedded video tweet in the screenshot above has been deleted by Jesse Kelly, but the video brought up Catalina Lauf as a gamechanger to his contest if she were to win election.

Through prayers and in time, one hopes Lauf will mature and really be the woman God blessed her to be, and in God’s timing she will grow-up and mature, possibly in the next 4 to 6 years.  Not only concerning her wardrobe, but also how she can convey how future constituents feel on an issue, like the public schools, without blowing her credibility on ridiculous claims like litter boxes in schools for student use without proof, and hearsay from the campaign trail is not proof.

Sadly, during the first week of October, another social media user complained about receiving another unsolicited flirtatious text from Lauf’s campaign fundraising team.

The recipient made very clear in Twitter he is married and not happy with the text and its content.

More “Bad to the Bone” music.

John Lopez has written about policy and elections through the McHenry County Blog since 2019 through July 2021.  He is now semi-retired, and does freelance work with analytics, as well as political candidates, emphasizing policy as the means to advance the conservative message, by engaging through policy “dog fighting”, applying discernment for winning and advancing God’s Kingdom agenda.

John’s known for getting past the talking points, the narratives, the abstracts, the platitudes and the bromides in order to discuss policy and apply Scripture to overcome unholy divisions in the local community, our state, and nation.  John has been married for over 17 years.

Follow John on Twitter: @MarcVAvelar