Listen as Larry spoke with Virginia’s Republican Committee Chairman John Whitbeck regarding the controversial mailer sent to Virginia residents linking Republican gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie and President Trump to the events in Charlottesville.
.@RalphNortham’s campaign reaches a new low: exploiting Charlottesville tragedy to score political points https://t.co/JHJiXyZ5V1 #VAGov pic.twitter.com/4IATNh5Qq0
— Eric Wilson (@ericwilson) October 25, 2017
Virginia Democratic mailer links Gillespie to white nationalists in Charlottesville
By Fenit Nirappil (The Washington Post)
Virginia’s heated election cycle is becoming increasingly nasty, with the statewide Democratic ticket sending out a new mailer linking Republican gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie and President Trump to the torch-bearing white nationalists who descended on Charlottesville over the summer.
In August, violent clashes between white supremacists in Charlottesville rallying to defend a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee and counterprotestors left one woman dead and two state troopers died when their helicopter crashed.
The mailer features images of both Republican men above a photo of the white supremacists with the text, “On Tuesday November 7th, Virginia Gets To Stand Up…To Hate.”
[How Virginia candidates responded to Charlottesville unrest]
The back of the literature features a prominent image of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ralph Northam, along with Democratic lieutenant governor nominee Justin Fairfax and Attorney General Mark Herring, with the message “This is our chance to stand up to Trump, Gillespie, and hate.” All three Democrats approved the ad, and the Democratic Party of Virginia paid for the mailer.
But Gillespie has repeatedly condemned the white nationalists behind the Charlottesville protest.
President Trump blamed both sides for the violence and said there were “very fine people” on both sides. Gillespie has said there was no “moral equivalency” between the white supremacists and counterprotesters and that he saw no “fine people” marching in Charlottesville but he stopped short of criticizing Trump, as many Republicans and Democrats did.
Gillespie’s campaign condemned the mailer, which was first reported by the Richmond Times-Dispatch. [Read More]
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