Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis on Monday defended her now infamous “wheelchair” campaign ad targeting her disabled Republican challenger, Greg Abbott, for ruling against plaintiffs as a state Supreme Court justice, even though he himself once sued and won a settlement.
“Greg Abbott got his justice. Why doesn’t he believe that a rape survivor or a person with a disability or a victim paralyzed forever … should get justice too?” Davis said at a press conference.
“What makes Greg Abbott think it’s okay to deny them, his fellow Texans, the justice that he rightly went to court to receive?” she asked.
But prior to Davis addressing her widely panned attack ad, Lamar White, Jr., who has cerebral palsy, gave a short speech. When he was finished speaking, a Davis campaign staffer dragged White to the side of the stage so that the podium could be raised.
White in an interview with the Houston Chronicle addressed his being dragged across the stage: “I’m clumsy, and I fall sometimes. I didn’t want to fall on camera, so I personally asked them to slide me over in the chair … I asked them to move me. Because I was worried that if I stood up, I’d fall down on camera.”
“These critics have obviously never met someone with cerebral palsy before,” White added. “Our movements are awkward. It’s part of the condition.”
Abbott currently leads Davis 52 percent to 40 percent, according to weighted poll averages presented by the Ace of Spades Headquarters Decision Desk.
