MSNBC’s Chris Hayes put it best: “[Ed] Gillespie beat Corey Stewart only to turn around and run as Corey Stewart.” The Republican Virginia gubernatorial nominee now has at least half a dozen racist, anti-immigrant ads and pamphlets under his belt, one of them yet again pushing lies about so-called “sanctuary cities,” which don’t even exist in the commonwealth. “The Virginia governor’s race is a base election,” notes the Washington Post, “and Ed Gillespie has a problem with his base.” So, it’s now all about tripling down on the racism as he “goes full Willie Horton”:
The 40-second spot, which describes the predominantly Latino MS-13 as a group that “pushes drugs and turns young girls into sex slaves,” inaccurately accuses [Democratic opponent Ralph] Northam of effectively enabling the gang to flourish in Virginia.
“MS-13 is a menace. Yet Ralph Northam cast the deciding vote in favor of sanctuary cities that let dangerous illegal immigrants back on the street, increasing the threat of gangs like MS-13,” the narrator says as ominous music plays in the background. “Ralph Northam’s policies are dangerous.”
In reality, Northam never cast a deciding vote “in favor of sanctuary cities.”
”The Gillespie ad’s use of sexual assault imagery resembles the infamous Republican television ad attacking 1988 Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis for furloughing the felon Willie Horton,” an ad creator Lee Atwater later regretted. Gillespie clearly regrets nothing as long as it means squeaking out a victory, and that includes picking up Stewart’s confederate baton in order to defend racist statues.
Feed Ed’s fear! Donate $3 to Ralph Northam’s campaign today.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch details this second Gillespie-approved pamphlet, mailed out by the Virginia GOP, which “swaps out Gillespie’s usual ‘For ALL Virginians’ slogan for the lesser-used ‘For a safer, stronger Virginia’”—translated, “white Virginians” versus those scary brown people:
A new mailer approved by Republican gubernatorial nominee Ed Gillespie features a photo of the Robert E. Lee statue on Richmond’s Monument Avenue and accuses Democrat Ralph S. Northam of wanting to “tear down history while making life easier for illegal immigrants.”
The political flier, paid for by the Republican Party of Virginia, swaps out Gillespie’s usual “For ALL Virginians” slogan for the lesser-used “For a safer, stronger Virginia.”
The new messaging is the latest sign of Gillespie and his party moving toward a more direct approach to the racially charged issues that carried anti-establishment firebrand Corey Stewart to a surprisingly strong finish in the GOP primary this year.
Gillespie never fully embraced Donald Trump the way Stewart did—now, Gillespie’s just a less orange version of him. But, it’s also important to remember that Trump’s approval rating in Virginia—which he lost to popular vote winner Hillary Clinton in 2016—is a low 35 percent. So, he’s trying to be as Trumpesque as possible without actually being Trumpian. “Republicans know in off-year elections,” tweeted LGBT activist Joe Sudbay, “it's base turnout that matters and they are appealing to their racist base. It's despicable.”