Lincoln Project takes credit for tiki torch stunt McAuliffe campaign passed off as genuine Youngkin supporters

Before the source of the stunt was known, former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s campaign portrayed the group as genuine supporters of his Republican opponent.

The five people pictured outside Youngkin’s campaign bus holding tiki torches in the rain wore khaki pants, white button-up shirts, sunglasses, and baseball caps. Local news reporter Elizabeth Holmes tweeted that the group approached Youngkin’s campaign bus as it pulled up to an event at Guadalajara restaurant in Charlottesville, saying, “We’re all in for Glenn.”

With McAuliffe spending much of the closing argument of his campaign trying to tie Youngkin to former President Donald Trump and paint him as a book-burning radical, it is extremely likely that the group included anti-Youngkin demonstrators performing a political stunt to make a point that radicals like Youngkin. It is common for political satire to spring up at political events, such as the “billionaires for Bush” street theater ahead of the 2004 election.

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But tweets from Jen Goodman and Christina Freundlich, both of whom work in communications for the McAuliffe campaign, reacted as if the torchbearers were legitimate Youngkin supporters.

“This is disgusting and disqualifying,” Goodman tweeted.

The McAuliffe campaign workers’ tweets were deleted Friday night, after the Lincoln Project issued its statement claiming to be behind the stunt, but not before the Washington Examiner got screenshots.

“The Unite the Right rally was one of the darkest days in the Commonwealth’s history. this is who Glenn Youngkin’s supporters are,” Freundlich tweeted.

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A social media staff member for the McAuliffe campaign sent one of the initial viral tweets, which was amplified by Lincoln Project co-founder Rick Wilson. After the Lincoln Project took credit for the stunt, the staff member deleted the tweet and changed his Twitter handle.

“Wow. At a campaign rally with Glenn Youngkin this morning, people were holding tiki torches and chanting ‘we’re all in for Glenn.’ Disgusting reference to the 2017 Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville,” the tweet said.

After the Lincoln Project took credit for the stunt, McAuliffe campaign manager Chris Bolling said in a statement: “What happened today in Charlottesville is disgusting and distasteful and the McAuliffe campaign condemns it in the strongest terms. Those involved should immediately apologize.”

It is unclear who exactly the people in the photo were, other than that the Lincoln Project has claimed they are affiliated. Some internet sleuths have identified similar-looking young Democratic operatives to those in the photos, but the Washington Examiner cannot independently confirm those matches. The Virginia Democratic Party and the Virginia Young Democrats said that some of their staff members were wrongly identified as being a part of the stunt, and were in other parts of the state during the event. Those who were misidentified deleted or made private their social media accounts, they said, because they had started to receive threats.

“We will continue to hold Glenn Youngkin accountable. If he will denounce Trump’s assertion that the Charlottesville rioters possessed ‘very fine’ qualities, we’ll withdraw the tiki torches. Until then, we’ll be back,” the Lincoln Project said in a statement.

Lauren Windsor, a left-wing operative who has recently made news by catching politicians’ statements on undercover video, also admitted involvement with the stunt. McAuliffe used her undercover footage that Windsor recorded of Youngkin saying that talking about his anti-abortion stance “won’t win my independent votes that I have to get” in a campaign ad.

“In my capacity as a communications consultant, I worked w @ProjectLincoln to coordinate today’s Youngkin action in Charlottesville. I join them in the fight to defend our democracy from rightwing extremists and call for Glenn Youngkin to denounce Trump’s ‘very fine people,’ Windsor said in a tweet.

Vice News reported the Lincoln Project and Windsor only took responsibility for the stunt after identifying a low-level sting operative holding the tiki torch who had previously appeared in a Windsor video.

For hours, it was unclear who the demonstrators were, and several internet commentators reacted as if they were actual Youngkin supporters.

Holmes, the NBC29 reporter who tweeted out the photo of the group, said she did not interact with the torchbearers because her colleague was the person assigned to cover Youngkin’s event and she was only quickly delivering something to her team.

(Screen grab)

“I think they work for Terry McAuliffe, and I’m sure he sent them,” Youngkin told NBC29 when asked about the group of torchbearers. “They’ll do anything to win, and he’s doing anything to win. And so he’s paying people to show up and act silly at our rallies.”

Youngkin Communications Director Matt Wolking added in a tweet: “Terry McAuliffe’s campaign has been the dirtiest, nastiest, most dishonest campaign in Virginia history. This morning they’re closing out his career by going even lower.”

McAuliffe’s campaign denied that it had any involvement with the stunt.

“This was not us or anyone affiliated with our campaign. There is one candidate in this race who has embraced white nationalists — and his name is Glenn Youngkin,” McAuliffe spokesman Renzo Olivari told Mediaite.

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The campaign did not return an inquiry from the Washington Examiner asking why campaign staffers painted the group as genuine.

“The Democratic Party of Virginia, along with its coordinated partners and its affiliates, did not have any role today in the events that happened outside of the Youngkin campaign bus stop today,” Virginia Democratic Party Executive Director Andrew Whitley said in a statement. “What happened in Charlottesville four years ago was a tragedy and one of the darkest moments in our state’s recent memories and is an event not to be taken lightly. For anyone to accuse our staff to have a role in this event is shameful and wrong.”

This story has been updated throughout to include the Lincoln Project taking credit for the demonstration.