A former official in the Biden administration who advanced Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) personnel in the Pentagon has begun a campaign to win a seat in the House of Representatives in 2020.
Cisneros lost his congressional campaign in 2020 to Republican Rep. Young Kim. According to Ballotpedia, Cisneros is now a candidate in the 2024 California primary elections for the 31st Congressional District.
In addition to two state senators with deep connections to the area, Bob Archuleta and Susan Rubio, Cisneros must contend with a large Democrat field.
Reports show that from 2021 until September 2023, multimillionaire Gilbert Cisneros served as the Department of Defense’s Under Secretary for Personnel and Readiness, bringing issues of abortion and DEI to the top of the Pentagon’s servicemember agenda.
In 2021, Biden officially confirmed Cisneros as the Pentagon’s chief civilian in personnel. When Republicans in Congress accused the Pentagon of favoring DEI, abortion, and broad sexual and gender identity attitudes above military preparedness, he became the focal point of the Republican-Democrat cultural warfare.
Reports show Rep. Matt Gaetz grilled Gilbert Cisneros in a March hearing about a Department of Defense Diversity employee under investigation for making racist remarks against white people on social networking sites.
Gaetz questioned Cisneros, who repeatedly had no answers.
Kelisa Wing, formerly the Defense Department’s top DEI officer, has written books on “white privilege,” BLM, and the need to defund the police. She has a long history of making anti-white comments on social media.
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) made an announcement about the removal of the DEI Pentagon website and the reassignment of Wing in real-time during the session.
After showing Cisneros an inflammatory tweet, Stefanik asked whether he agreed with its sentiment.
He remarked Neither he nor the Department of Defense support such behavior.
Stefanik said that Wing was moved to a different position without any duties related to diversity, equality, or inclusion.
She suspected it was because they were now bringing this to light after months of Cisneros’ department blocking an inquiry.
