have_posts() is returning false when page is used as static front page, but true when used normally

I have a page that works fine as a stand alone page, but as soon as I set it as my static front page, have_posts() starts returning false and the page won’t render. I’ve been going after this for a few hours now, and I’m just not sure what else to check.

I added the following code to my template before the loop and got and got the following output:

global $wp_query;
print_r($wp_query->query);

Array ( [post_type] => ajde_events [paged] => 1 [posts_per_page] => -1 [order] => asc [meta_key] => evcal_srow [orderby] => meta_value [event_type] => [event_type_2] => [event_type_3] => [event_type_4] => [event_type_5] => [_featured] => yes [meta_query] => Array ( [0] => Array ( [key] => _featured [value] => yes [compare] => = ) [1] => Array ( [key] => evcal_srow [value] => 1452125853 [compare] => >= ) ) )

Heres My loop:

<?php get_template_part(THEME_LOOP."loop-start"); ?>
    <div class="ot-panel-block panel-light">
        <?php get_template_part(THEME_SINGLE."page-title"); ?>
        <?php get_template_part(THEME_SINGLE."image");?>
        <div <?php post_class("shortcode-content"); ?>>
            <?php if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
                <?php the_content();?>
            <?php endwhile; else: ?>
                <p><?php  esc_html_e('Sorry, no posts matched your criteria.' , THEME_NAME ); ?></p>
            <?php endif; ?>
        </div>
    </div>
    <?php wp_reset_postdata(); ?>
    <?php if ( comments_open() ) : ?>
        <?php comments_template(); // Get comments.php template ?>
    <?php endif; ?>
<?php get_template_part(THEME_LOOP."loop-end"); ?>

Edit: it’s worth noting that this used to work. it broke randomly on it’s own a few days back.

Edit 2: Sigh, I just copied and pasted the body of the page into a different page and set that page as the home page, and that page is working. I would still like to know what is going on, so that this doesn’t happen again.