Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) took a page out of Sarah Palin’s book on Monday when he brought a 7-Eleven Big Gulp on the campaign trail while stumping for Virginia gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli.
At an event in Fairfax, the third and final Paul-Cuccinelli campaign event that day, the Kentucky Senator took the stage with giant plastic cup in hand — but it was simply filled with water, according to reports from Twitter.
The gesture was an intentional shot at New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has unsuccessfully attempted to ban large sugary drinks in his city. Bloomberg has spent $1.1 million on TV ads attacking Cuccinelli for his pro-gun rights stance, according to POLITICO.
At a Virginia Beach event earlier on Monday, Paul openly criticized Bloomberg’s involvement in the Virginia faceoff between Cuccinelli and Democrat Terry McAuliffe.
“Once he takes your guns, he’s coming after your Big Gulp,” the Kentucky Senator told the crowd.
Paul added that he would like to see a Virginia governor who supports the Second Amendment, as well as the First and Fourth Amendments. Cuccinelli said that the two Republicans had stopped for Slurpees before reaching the event location.
Palin, the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee, famously brought a Big Gulp to the 2012 Conservative Political Action Conference. She noted at the time that Bloomberg was not around to prevent her from taking sips of soda mid-speech.
