This was spotted at a big campaign event for Christine Drazan, the Republican candidate for governor.
We’re the Wurst garnered attention after several incidents where the owner made inflammatory statements, most recently attacking the Juneteenth holiday. That latest round of attention drove the community – and especially users on Reddit – to question those carrying the Wurst’s wursts. The brats were pulled from the shelves at stores like Grocery Outlet and taken off the menu at local breweries.
Much as Hillary calling David Duke “deplorable” in 2016 led to many other people buying t-shirts saying, “I’m deplorable”… the negative attention over what most agree are racist statements led many to rally in support of We’re the Wurst.
But the Wurst was upstaged at the Republican shindig held at Smith Rock Ranch in Terrebonne on September 1st. Enter a new food truck in the politically charged scene around Redmond:
Scott Stuart’s new food truck was on site and had a busy line at the start of the event… while the We’re the Wurst’s tent sat quietly off to the side.
The Kilted Kitchen – “A taste of Scotland” – offered $15 plates of BBQ pork, chicken, or sausage with a drink and chips included. Veggies included cole slaw or pickle slaw.
Scott Stuart came to the attention of Central Oregon when he wore a Confederate general’s uniform and waved a Confederate flag at last year’s 4th of July parade in Redmond. He went on to run in the Republican primary for county commission, often himself making inflammatory remarks – and talking about the Lion King.
The event where both these food trucks appeared was billed as a chance to meet the Republican candidate for governor, Christine Drazan. Drazan spoke to the crowd of 200+ people, many who were wearing People’s Rights t-shirts. Her speech was mostly milquetoast, with jabs at a “progressive global agenda,” but overall the red meat for the base was very PG-13.
Drazan was in a closed door fundraiser on site before the event kicked off. Senate Minority Leader Tim Knopp and Deschutes Republican Party Chair Phil Henderson were also inside the private event.
Meanwhile, Patti Adair and Cheri Helt were outside working the crowd. Helt was spotted chatting up Gregg Henton at the Deschutes Republicans booth. Y’all remember angry comments guy Gregg who ran for school board last year, right?
Interestingly, the booth included brochures for People’s Rights alongside flyers for the Republican candidates. That’s… unusual.
And then there was BJ Soper.
About 15 minutes after Drazan spoke and after the cover bland blasted out 80s hits, BJ Soper took to the stage. He spoke for four minutes giving a rousing call to arms. His speech weaved between defensive statements about protecting rights and bluntly emphasizing that they will defend those rights “physically if everything else fails.”
Per Soper, the local People’s Rights group is 4,000 members strong.
The band played some more rocking hits and then Patti Adair and Tony DeBone spoke too.
There were no taco trucks at the Republican event.
