Trump loyalist Dave Brat was in a meat sweat at this year’s Labor Day parade in suburban Richmond (how much BBQ did he eat?). Brat won the gerrymandered #VA07 four years ago and probably thought he was as safe as a mouse in a malt-heap. He’s even said he would term limit himself.
But then along came Abigail Spanberger (WEBSITE) and it looks as though she just might term limit him the old-fashioned way: by winning an election! And what’s the best evidence for that? The desperate and despicably Islamophobic attack ad against Abigail released today by a Paul Ryan-linked PAC and which Dave Brat has yet to denounce.
Brat has little to show for his four years in DC; he’s lost touch with constituents (even refusing to shake hands with one because she was a woman) and his Trumpian positions
are too extreme for most of the district’s suburban population.
This letter to the editor in today’s Fredericksburg Free Lance Star is telling, and several analysts now consider the once safe Republican district a toss-up.
Brat’s campaign hasn’t released internal polling figures, so they must not have anything to brag about. No wonder Dave was in a sweat on Labor Day (and SUCH a sweat!).
No wonder, too, that the Paul Ryan-linked Congressional Leadership Fund felt they needed to rush to Brat’s side and sling some mud — hideously anti-Muslim fear-mongering mud. They’ve got nothing else and they REALLY don’t want to lose this seat.
Landon Shroder gave an account of it today in RVA Magazine, connecting the rhetoric of the ad with the rise in attacks on Muslims in America. Here’s his opening paragraph, including a link to the ad; you can read the full article here.
The Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF), the controversial Republican PAC linked to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, has just released an attack ad against the Democratic candidate for the 7th District, Abigail Spanberger. CLF is the same PAC, who only last week, released Spanberger’s un-redacted security clearance forms in a move that was highly controversial and condemned by the national security establishment. The documents showed that Spanberger, a former CIA case officer for counter-terrorism, was briefly a substitute teacher at the Islamic Saudi Academy (ISA) in Fairfax, Virginia. The international school, before closing, was funded by the Embassy of Saudi Arabia, who is an ally of the U.S. in all counter-terrorism efforts.
The Spanberger campaign issued this response:
Today, in response to a despicable attack ad from Congressman Brat’s Washington allies that attempts to distort her background and belittle her record of service, Abigail Spanberger, Democratic nominee for Virginia’s 7th Congressional District, issued the following statement:
“Like most CIA officers, I neither expect nor want accolades for my service, the classified details of which I’ll never be able to share or celebrate publicly. However, it is with the knowledge of my own service, the work I did to keep this country safe, and the intelligence I provided to Republican and Democratic Presidents alike, that I find these attacks to be absolutely shameful.
“For a Republican Super PAC to question my national security credentials and integrity based on the time I spent as a long-term substitute, teaching English to children at an embassy school in Northern Virginia, is desperate and weak, and it shows just how terrified they are of having an independent voice representing this community in Congress.
“The CIA hired me, gave me a Top Secret//SCI security clearance, and trusted me with some of our nation’s greatest secrets in part because of my engagement with and knowledge of other languages, perspectives, and cultures. I drew on this knowledge every day at CIA — doing so made me a strong operations officer.
“As an operations officer with CIA, I took risks, made sacrifices, and worked tirelessly on programs ranging from counterterrorism to nuclear proliferation to protect every citizen in this country — including Mr. Brat and his partisan allies responsible for these despicable ads.”
Kossacks: Democratic enthusiasm in #VA07 is high. We won big in last year’s General Assembly races and while bigotted fear-mongering may rouse some in Virginia, it will rouse our side, too. We are cautiously optimistic of a win, but we will be fighting for every single vote, and that takes money. You can help us defeat an opponent who is all too willing to sow hatred and iniquity. Thank you.
DONATE
WEBSITE
FACEBOOK
TWITTER