Manuel Medina entered the 2nd Baptist Church Community Center on March 26 hoping to score a mayoral endorsement from the newly formed progressive collective, Our Revolution.

He left the church that afternoon still smarting from an ugly encounter with Our Revolution board member — and longtime Democratic activist — David Van Os.

The argument culminated with Van Os calling the Bexar County Democratic Party chairman a “phony” and Medina shooting his middle finger at Van Os and shouting “(expletive) you,” according to multiple witnesses who attended the meeting.

Medina said Friday he has known Van Os for 25 years and considers him a friend, albeit a friend with whom he sometimes disagrees.

“I would certainly challenge the notion that I used any hand gestures,” Medina said. “But we had a colorful conversation and I’d like to keep that private.”

The conflict revolved around a “faith-based platform” that Medina, the Bexar County Democratic Party chairman and 2017 mayoral hopeful, signed two years ago.

The platform contained 10 planks, including commitments to “protect and defend the sanctity of life” and “protect, defend and support the traditional family.”

Anyone familiar with the kind of euphemistic code language employed in American politics would recognize the former plank as an anti-choice statement on abortion, and the latter one as a rejection of pro-LGBT legislation.

Van Os, a trial lawyer and former Democratic nominee for state attorney general and the Texas Supreme Court, thought the platform was at odds with Medina’s self-proclaimed progressive world view, and he wanted some clarification.

After Medina made his 15-minute pitch to the Our Revolution attendees and started to take some questions, Van Os challenged the party leader about the platform.

“I just want political candidates to be honest,” Van Os said. “I respect everybody’s different opinions and beliefs, but I want political candidates to be honest about what they stand for and what they don’t stand for.”

Van Os said Medina evaded his questions and then sat down. Moments later, a Medina handler walked up to Van Os, tapped him on the shoulder and said Medina wanted to talk with him, one-on-one. Van Os resisted, but Medina’s surrogate was insistent, so Van Os walked across the room and sat down in front of the mayoral hopeful.

Medina argued that he didn’t interpret the platform — developed by the Christian Leaders Forum — the way Van Os did. Van Os didn’t buy it.

“At one point, David got up and said, ‘I’ve got to go,’” said Van Os’s wife, Rachel Barrios-Van Os, a 2012 candidate for chair of the Texas Democratic Party. “Manuel grabbed him firmly by the arm and said, ‘No, you can’t go yet. We’ve got to talk this out.’”

After a few more minutes of testy banter, David Van Os stood up and called Medina a “phony.” Medina responded by shooting the finger at Van Os and dropping an f-bomb on him. Van Os reciprocated with an f-bomb of his own, according to Barrios-Van Os.

Steven Lane attended the meeting and was sitting close to the two verbal combatants when the argument broke out.

“David was calling out Medina about this language (in the platform), and Medina was just saying, ‘Well, that’s your interpretation of it,’” Lane said. “But David was holding his feet to the fire and telling him that he’s been in politics long enough to know what this code language means.

“When he called Medina a phony, Medina got pissed, flipped him off and said, ‘(expletive) you.’ It’s one thing to disagree with people, but when you start flipping them off and cursing at them, it becomes an impediment to communication.”

The dustup cuts to the core of questions about Medina’s politics. He built a successful consulting business and secured the county chairmanship of the Democratic Party by presenting himself as a progressive champion. That included adamant calls for San Antonio to declare itself a sanctuary city, and the production of a controversial 2014 Spanish-language TV ad in which he branded tea-party Republicans as “radical terrorists.”

But the faith-based platform was an early indication of an ideological pivot that Medina has executed during this mayoral campaign, courting the support of hard-core conservatives such as Jeff Judson, George Rodriguez and Carlton Soules, and defining himself as an advocate for low taxes and a lean municipal government.

The visit with Our Revolution might have elevated Medina’s blood pressure, but it did nothing to enhance his mayoral prospects. Our Revolution declined to endorse him and is staying out of the mayor’s race.

ggarcia@express-news.net

Twitter: @gilgamesh470