GOP Rep. Jason Lewis of Minnesota made headlines this summer when it was revealed that he called women “sluts” before he took office.
On a syndicated show he hosted in 2012, Lewis wondered why it was no longer acceptable to use the word “slut” to refer to women.
On Tuesday, Lewis was among a large group of Republican men who were defeated by female Democratic challengers.
When it convenes next year, the new Congress will have more than 100 women in its ranks for the first time in history.
Democrat Angie Craig won her bid to unseat Lewis in the suburban district south of Minneapolis by about 5 points.
President Trump with Rep. Jason Lewis
Lewis, who voted with President Trump’s positions about 91 percent of the time, had run on his votes for the tax cuts and the effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.
Craig, a former health-care executive, is being included on the lists of Democrats who represent various demographic firsts in Congress. She is the first lesbian mother and, for Minnesota, the first openly gay woman to be elected to Congress.
“Well, the thing is, can we call anybody a slut? This is what begs the question,” Lewis said on the radio show. “But it used to be that women were held to a little bit of a higher standard. We required modesty from women. Now, are we beyond those days where a woman can behave as a slut, but you can’t call her a slut?”
The comments are part of a long trail of statements he’s made that have drawn scrutiny
. In the run-up to the 2016 election, the Atlantic called him “Minnesota’s Mini-Trump” and noted his history of incendiary remarks on issues of race and gender.
On another show in 2012, Lewis tried to explain support among women for President Obama by saying that they were “guided by emotion, not reason.”
