Winning Isn't the Ultimate Prize

Sometimes it is better to be right than victorious.

In 2008, I ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in New Jersey’s 1st Congressional District. My opponent was a 9-term incumbent running for re-election in one of the safest Democratic districts in the entire country. So safe, in fact, that a Republican congressman hadn’t been elected there since 1972.

Despite being called a “no-hoper” by one of the local newspapers, I campaigned as hard as I knew how, knocking on 10,000 doors in the process. Although I didn’t win, I managed to earn the endorsements of the ultra-liberal Philadelphia Inquirer, the Gannett-owned Courier-Post, and two county papers. I also received more votes than any GOP candidate in 35 years.

However, when I think back to my 2008 campaign – as well as to my 2010 rematch against the same opponent – I am proudest of three things. First, I boldly and unashamedly shared my faith everywhere I went. Second, I took the right stance on every major issue from abortion and the economy to taxes and government spending.

Third, I repeatedly called out my opponent for illegally using campaign funds for personal expenses such as family vacations to Scotland and Ocean City, stays in five-star hotels and meals at five-star restaurants, and a trip to California to promote his daughter’s nascent singing career that included limousine rides and a stay at the Beverly Hills Hilton. He also funneled government grants to the Rutgers Law School’s Office of Admissions, which was run by his wife, and channeled campaign monies to the Walnut Street Theater to land his daughter a part in a play.

Of course, the mainstream media refused to cover his corruption until a watchdog group in Washington D.C. followed up on the story. Designating him as one of the 10 Most Corrupt Members of Congress, they pressured the House Ethics Committee to open an investigation into his campaign finances. When the committee found serious instances of fraud and recommended that the full House take up the investigation, he retired from Congress midterm rather than be censored or expelled.

A day late and a dollar short for me and my campaigns, but personally satisfying nonetheless.

Six years later, having relocated to Vero Beach, Florida, I decided to throw my hat in the ring one more time, running for state representative. My platform was simple – faith, family, and freedom – and once again, I took strong stands on social issues such as abortion, where I called for a Human Heartbeat Act that would outlaw abortions after 18 days when the embryo’s heart starts beating. Of course, the local newspaper mocked my position, saying that Roe v. Wade was “settled law”. Fortunately, the Supreme Court of the United States decided otherwise in 2022 in Dobbs v. Jackson.

Another issue that I addressed head-on and was ridiculed for in the paper was biological men who identified as women being allowed to use the ladies’ restroom. The Indian River Press Journal ran a banner headline that read, Candidate Dale Glading to transgender women: 'Get the heck out of the ladies room!'

Here are a few excerpts from that article…

'Hey buddy, get the heck out of the ladies room!' reads the subject line of an email Vero Beach state House candidate Dale Glading's campaign sent to voters earlier this month.

The ordained Baptist minister and self-proclaimed underdog has made social issues a platform in his bid for state Rep. Debbie Mayfield 's open seat. He's proposed banning abortions after 18 days of conception and urged his opponents to sign a pledge against the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to legalize same-sex marriage.

Glading's topic du jour is the Obama administration's guidelines issued this month directing public schools to allow transgender students to use bathrooms matching their gender identity.

'Folks, we are morally decaying from within,' reads another Glading campaign email on the issue.

Glading, 56, said he's not trying to cater to a particular section of the electorate and is simply speaking his mind. He said the Legislature should pass bills to reject what he described as President Barack Obama's 'federal overreach.' He also said he supports North Carolina's ban on people using public bathrooms that do not correspond with their biological sex.

Well, guess what? I failed to win the Republican primary, but I still stand by every one of the conservative positions I took in 2016. As a professing Christian, how could I do otherwise.