An off-the-line progressive candidate for Camden County Commissioner in the June 6 primary has a history of misogynistic and childish social media posts that have damaged his bid to flip to the Camden Democratic machine as a candidate for a vacant Gloucester Township council seat.
Sam Sweet, who is running on a ticket with former Collingswood Democratic Municipal Chair Kate Delany, has dozens of potentially offensive posts that project a fascination with women’s breasts, male genitalia, and erections.
“It was eighth-grade humor,” Sweet said in an interview for the seat of Andrea Stubbs, a controversial councilwoman who resigned last month. Sweet is seeking party support for her seat.
But while Sweet apologized to one of the organization Democrats for offending her, he doubled down on what he thought was funny.
“I mean, everybody has a different definition of right or wrong when it comes to humor,” he said. “For instance, I’ll look at Dave Chappelle. People in Netflix boycotted him because it was humor. Was that humor offensive to some people? Yes. Some other people find it not offensive.”
Asked about online comments that could be found offensive to women, Sweet suggested that not all women were bothered by his comments.
“What about the women who found it humorous who actually came up and complimented me on it? Where do we go with it?” Sweet asked.
Sweet sent out one meme where he wrote, “A PSA for the ladies,” that said: “Gals if you’re in an argument with a guy and there’s no way to win – start playing with your boobs.”
In another social media post, Sweet asked, “Again, is this true?” The image of a woman said: “Maybe if I wear this shirt that shows my boobs, I’ll meet a nice guy who wants me for my personality.”
Other posts referred extensively to penises.
In his interview, Sweet struggled to define what a progressive Democrat was.
“So basically, Democrats want government, and they want essentially control of the government, where Republicans say the government can run itself per se,” said Sweet. “I think the progressive Democrat, for me at least, is, well, they’re right to an extent, but you can’t let it run rampant. You have to control certain items. And because everything has, as I’ve used the word before, ramifications. We can control things, but we also have to be transparent and let things kind of go on their own, and then if you need to control them, then control them. But I don’t think we need as much control as we have now. There’s a little too much control in the government, and there’s not enough understanding of the government.”
Since the appointment for Stubbs’ seat is only for the remainder of the year, Sweet so no problem with remaining in the county commissioner race.
“They wouldn’t coincide, so it wouldn’t really be an issue,” he said.
Sweet has lost races for school board in 2015 and 2019, for mayor in 2017, and for council in 2019.
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