With just a couple days to go until Virginia voters head to the polls, why am I not surprised to see Republicans – in this case, a Republican PAC supporting Rep. Scott Taylor (R-VA02) – “meddling in the Democratic Congressional primary with hopes of swaying the election?”
First, see below for audio of the “ScrapPAC” robocall into Democratic VA-02 households, hitting Democratic candidate Elaine Luria’s voters for Taylor in 2016, including in the general election when Taylor “had a Democrat opponent.” Note the use of “Democrat” (as opposed to “Democratic”) as an adjective, by the way, as it’s a clear “tell” that these are NOT Democrats behind the robocalls.
Also check out Vivian Paige’s blog post on all this, which writes that “It is clear that the PAC is trying to influence this election” and also links to the “State Conservative Reform PAC” (ScrapPAC)’s website, as well as to this tweet by ScrapPAC (“.@RepScottTaylor‘s opponent @ElaineLuriaVA voted for Taylor in the 2016 primary and general and is now challenging him b/c she’s #PelosiFunded.”) Based on all this, it seems like Scott Taylor and his allies are trying to sow dissension among Democrats in VA-02 and/or trying to boost one Democrat candidate (Karen Mallard) over another (Elaine Luria). Whatever their motives, Democrats should absolutely NOT fall for this garbage.
Last but not least, check out the following statement by Virginia Beach Democratic Committee Chair Carla Hesseltine, which says, “We encourage our members and the voters of Virginia Beach this Tuesday June 12th to not fall prey to these underhanded tactics.” I couldn’t agree more.
Statement from VBDC Chair Carla Hesseltine:
Unfortunately, a Republican PAC that endorses Scott Taylor has decided to take a page out of President Trump’s playbook by meddling in the Democratic Congressional primary with hopes of swaying the election this Tuesday June 12th. https://bit.ly/2JtUelM
We encourage our members and the voters of Virginia Beach this Tuesday June 12th to not fall prey to these underhanded tactics.
The Democratic candidates in the primary for CD 2, Karen Mallard and Elaine Luria have done a terrific job getting their message out on why they should be the choice of voters to represent the people of Virginia Beach in Washington. https://vbdemocrats.org/cd2-candidates/
The Virginia Beach Democratic Committee stands for a vibrant electorate with voter participation that in the end unifies our city and our community to carry this blue wave forward into November.
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