Republican congressional candidate Mike France raised eyebrows with a since-deleted social media post about breast cancer awareness on Monday that some Democrats called “deeply disturbing.”
Republicans described it as a “well-intended” post about self-examinations that the campaign has since sought to clarify.
On Monday night, France’s campaign posted on Facebook about Breast Cancer Awareness Month with a link to a video from an oncologist about how to perform a self-exam. It also included a photo of France’s head and shoulders atop a shirtless man’s torso, holding a sign that read, “Don’t know how to check your breasts? I can help.”
“In all seriousness, I wouldn’t know the first thing about how to diagnose this terrible disease that impacts 1 in 8 women,” the initial post said. “But, now that I have your attention, please check out this instructive video where an actual expert tells you what you need to know.”
The post was deleted after it was first reported by columnist Kevin Rennie’s Daily Ructions. On Tuesday afternoon, France’s campaign made a new one with a link to the same video about self-exams and the original photo, which was from a video that was part of a breast cancer awareness campaign featuring actor Henry Golding. He explained that he was trying to use his platform as a former lawmaker and current candidate to increase awareness about how women can help with detection.
France, a former state representative and retired U.S. Navy officer, is running for a second time against Democratic Rep. Joe Courtney in Connecticut’s 2nd Congressional District in the November election. The district spans the eastern part of the state and is home to some of Connecticut’s biggest defense contractors.
“After a few hours of reflection, I have chosen to re-share this post with the original art. Cited by Marketing Mind as one of the ‘6 Best Breast Cancer Awareness Ads of All Time,’ actor Henry Golding used a little shock value to draw attention to a critical issue,” France said in the new Facebook post.
“Breast cancer is not a trivial issue. My family has dealt with it in some form or fashion for years and I understand how significant this terrible disease can be,” France followed up in a statement. “Accordingly, I chose to highlight a successful advertisement for self-examinations in the hopes of drawing attention to Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and we seem to have done just that.”
While the original post was taken down, some Democrats strongly pushed back on his joking approach earlier on Tuesday. They also cited his vote in 2016, while he was in the state legislature, against a bill to require insurance to cover 3D mammograms. The bill overwhelmingly passed the House. France was one of only three people to vote against it.
“Early prevention methods such as self-examination or mammograms and any follow-up testing can be embarrassing, invasive and anxiety-inducing enough. Sexualizing and teasing women who are taking the important steps to ensure their health is shameful,” Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz said in a statement through the Connecticut Democratic Party.
“This post is nothing more than a disgusting attempt at a joke under the guise of ‘raising awareness’ from one of only three House members who voted against an overwhelmingly bipartisan bill that required health insurance policies to expand coverage for breast cancer susceptibility screenings and additional tests such as breast ultrasounds,” she continued. “Common-sense legislation … is saving women’s lives by promoting access to essential early detection tools.”
State Sen. Martha Marx, D-New London, also issued a statement, using France’s post to broadly criticize Republicans on issues like women’s health care, which has become a more prominent issue in recent campaign cycles. She argued that it “continues the GOP and MAGA assault on women,” referring to former President Donald Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.”
“If he truly cared about women’s health, he would have voted to protect it then,” Marx said. “I am outrageously disgusted and insulted by this post, and I certainly hope we hear from GOP leadership and candidates about whether conduct like this is acceptable,” Marx said.
In his social media post on Tuesday, France pushed back against Marx’s statement and defended his 2016 vote on mammogram coverage, which he described as “taking principled stands against unfunded state mandates and fiscally-questionable policies, even when they sound good.”
“Name-calling and finger-pointing because you don’t find an advertisement to be effective is unbecoming of a public official. Leaping at every opportunity to politicize something does a disservice to our constituents and only further degrades the already-sad political discourse on social media,” France said on Facebook.
Ben Proto, chairman of the Connecticut Republican Party, said it looked like the first post “was trying to get people to look at it and click on the link” about women performing self-examinations.
Before the campaign reshared the link and made a clarification, Proto called on France to “indicate what he was attempting to do.” But he noted that people are not objecting to the substance of his message surrounding breast cancer awareness.
“It was not necessarily how I would have done it. I think it was a well-intended idea that was not well-executed,” Proto said in an interview. “The way they delivered the message could have been done better clearly.”
“Informing women about breast cancer and how to do a self-exam — I don’t think anyone has an issue with that,” he added.
France and Courtney will face off in a rematch on Nov. 5. France lost to Courtney by a double-digit margin in the 2022 midterm elections. When Courtney first ran in 2006, he barely won the seat, by just 83 votes. But in subsequent races, the congressman has won reelection by much wider margins.
Courtney, who has represented the 2nd District since 2007, argued that the initial social media post was part of a pattern regarding France’s record on women’s health care.
“His creepy Facebook post is just the tip of the iceberg in his record against women’s health and safety,” Courtney said in a statement. “Mike France cannot be trusted to protect women’s privacy rights, health, and safety.”
The Connecticut Mirror/Connecticut Public Radio federal policy reporter position is made possible, in part, by funding from the Robert and Margaret Patricelli Family Foundation.
This story was originally published by the Connecticut Mirror.
