Sen. Thom Tillis’s campaign began airing a political attack ad Thursday morning related to a sexting scandal against his embattled Democratic opponent, Cal Cunningham.
In a Thursday morning tweet, Tillis attached video of the new ad and wrote, “Chuck Schumer has spent over $80 million trying to paint one picture of Cal Cunningham, but North Carolinians are now realizing it was all one big lie and that Cunningham’s candidacy is riddled with hypocrisy.”
Chuck Schumer has spent over $80 million trying to paint one picture of Cal Cunningham, but North Carolinians are now realizing it was all one big lie and that Cunningham’s candidacy is riddled with hypocrisy.
Watch our new ad here -> pic.twitter.com/JImz4lcgAe
— Thom Tillis (@ThomTillis) October 8, 2020
Using a montage of local North Carolina newscasters who covered the story of Cunningham’s sexual text messaging with a woman who is not his wife and is married to a combat veteran, the Tillis campaign splices the news reports together to eventually conclude that Cunningham, an officer in the Army Reserve, is currently under investigation by the military for his affair.
Cunningham is part of the 134th Legal Operations Detachment with the Army Reserve Legal Command. He was served in both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Additionally, he has served as a military prosecutor.
The North Carolina Democrat, who was a state senator, is in a closely watched tight race against Tillis. The woman, Arlene Guzman Todd, who Cunningham admitted to sending the sexually explicit texts, confirmed the two had at least one intimate encounter back in July at Cunningham’s North Carolina residence.
Guzman Todd’s husband Jeremy Todd has called on Cunningham to drop out of the race against Tillis, but Cunningham said in a recent local interview he has no plans to do so and will cooperate with the investigation.
Along with Guzman Todd, another extramarital affair allegation was made on Facebook by attorney Erin Brinkman, who claimed her “good friend” has also been in a relationship with Cunningham since 2012.
