In St. Cloud, Senate hopeful Royce White urges paper ballots, bashes courts, trans people

ST. CLOUD — Minnesota GOP-endorsed U.S. Senate candidate Royce White met with St. Cloud voters Wednesday night at Tech High School where he spoke on the U.S. court system, voting laws and transgender people.

“I'm...a little further to the right than Donald Trump, a little bit further right than the whole bunch of them,” White said. “And for that reason, many of the Republicans here in Minnesota think that I'm unfit or unqualified to be United States Senator, but I think that's exactly what you all need.”

The senate candidate said Minnesota needs a someone who isn’t afraid to speak their mind without censoring their words, saying it will spark what he considers to be necessary conversations. To prove his point, White admitted to being transphobic, saying his honesty on the subject shows his willingness to bring controversial opinions to the table. He also said the LGBTQ+ community is riddled with mental illness.

“Guys, I’m transphobic. I really am,” White said. “Sorry this is getting scary.”

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However, when it came to discussing policy, White focused on the court system and voting rights, alleging Democrats are using the courts to punish political enemies like former President Donald Trump and suggested ballots should be cast on paper.

“I can tell you one thing for sure, one thing I'm very confident, 100% confident and certain that when your courts go corrupt and they start using the law to prosecute their political opponents, you’ve got big, big problems,” White said.

He said this in reference to Trump being found guilty on all 34 counts in his New York criminal hush money trial on May 30. He was convicted of falsifying business records to bury a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential election.

White also said the country needs to only accept paper ballots being collected on one day, saying there could be tampering with electronic machines, alleging some gambling game machines have better accuracy. He also has early voting concerns.

Widespread claims of voter fraud or tampered electronic voting machines have yet to be proven.

“We have to make sure our elections are fair,” White said. “We need to go to paper ballots, one day paper ballot elections. There’s nothing wrong with it…it’s not something that can’t be done.”

White, who played with the NBA’s Sacramento Kings in the 2013-14 season, is currently under a Federal Elections Commission investigation for misusing $157,000 of his 2022 U.S. House of Representatives campaign funds toward cosmetics and strip clubs.

Republican Cicely Davis beat White in the 2022 U.S. House Minnesota District 5 Republican primary. Davis took home 48% of the vote while White garnered roughly 37%.

Corey Schmidt covers local government for the St. Cloud Times. He can be reached at cschmidt@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: Royce White in St. Cloud admits transphobia, calls for candid debate