A mailer sent out by the Democrat party of Virginia depicts Republican candidate Ed Gillespie alongside President Donald Trump with the torch-bearing white supremacists from the rally in Charlottesville pictured below them.
“On Tuesday, November 7th, Virginia gets to stand up to hate,” the mailer reads.
According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the mailer was approved by Gillespie’s opponent, Ralph Northam. This mailer comes on the heels of multiple accusations from Northam’s campaign surrounding Gillespie’s response to the events in Charlottesville.
In a press release in August, Virginia Democrats accused Gillespie of “essentially” defending Trump’s response to the events in Charlottesville. “For seven days, Ed Gillespie has refused to denounce President Trump’s defense of Neo-Nazis,” the release read. “By failing to stand up to the President, Ed Gillespie is essentially defending Trump—at his own political peril.”
What did Gillespie do and say in the aftermath of Charlottesville?
After the events of Charlottesville, Donald Trump stated there were “very fine people on both sides.” According to the Washington Post, Gillespie, in condemning the rally in Charlottesville said “that he saw ‘no fine people’ marching in Charlottesville.” But the Post also notes that Gillespie did not specifically condemn Trump, by name.
On August 19, Gillespie discussed the white supremacist rally during a speech to Americans For Prosperity. He said: “The belief that one race is superior to another or that one’s religion—someone’s religion is inferior to one’s own is not just anti-American, it’s worse than that. It’s not just immoral, it’s worse than that. It is the presence of evil in the world and we reject it.”
Gillespie did not “defend” Trump’s Charlottesville remarks. He did seem to disagree with Trump’s response, but did not condemn Trump by name. However, Gillespie did specifically condemn white supremacists and the far right.
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