NC House Dem candidate's ad falsely paints bi-racial opponent as a criminal
NC House Dem candidate's ad falsely paints bi-racial opponent as a criminal
An ad by Democrat NC House 73 candidate Diamond Staton-Williams used a fake mugshot to portray Republican Brian Echevarria, who has no criminal record
The N.C. Republican Party is calling out an ad paid for by Democrat NC House 73 candidate Diamond Staton-Williams that uses a fake mugshot to portray her bi-racial opponent, Republican Brian Echevarria, as a criminal despite Echevarria never having been arrested.
The fake mugshot is paired with a claim that Echevarria issued a bad check and had one time filed for bankruptcy.
In the second half of the ad, Democratic Governor Roy Cooper gives remarks endorsing Staton-Williams and inadvertently admitting inflation is out of control, stating that he and Staton-Williams will “work together to get the cost of living under control.”
Here is the ad:
Both the NCGOP and Echevarria have called out Staton-Williams and Cooper for their participation in the racist ad.
Echevarria responded to the ad in a video on Facebook.
“It is crazy,” Echevarria said of the ad. “Listen…amazing that old racist Roy Cooper - and he is a racist - you want to know where I see racism? I see it in the leadership of the Democrat Party.”
“Because what can they do? Out of all the ideas to campaign, they have to pretend I'm a criminal. How original is that?” said Echevarria. “'Let's take a man who is Black and Hispanic, who's never been arrested, let's make fake mugshots!' 'Let's pretend and let's project that he's a criminal when he has never had that kind of run-in with the law!' The idea that Governor Cooper, the seat of authority in our state, would come on and endorse outright lies and stand behind a fake mugshot of a Black, Hispanic male really shows his true colors."
“It’s the Democrat Party pretending like Black people don’t have IDs and we’re not competent to get one,” added Echevarria.
Echevarria also called out Cooper for his record-setting number of vetoes as governor and Democrat policy ideas that put the public in danger like removing School Resource Officers from schools and dropping cash bail which results in criminals being released back into society.
The N.C. Republican Party issued a statement condemning both the ad and Cooper for participating in it.
“There is no doubt that if the roles were reversed Democrats, including Governor Roy Cooper and the media, would be howling from the rooftops for Republicans to condemn such an ad,” the statement read in part.
The statement went on to say the NCGOP “stands with Mr. Echevarria and condemns these dirty attempts by Governor Cooper and Democrats to smear a strong Family First advocate for Cabarrus County with false attack ads. We invite the voters of NC House District 73 to reject such dishonest campaign tactics and return strong Republican representation to the N.C. General Assembly.”
Echevarria made national headlines in February of this year for his public comments calling out Critical Race Theory at a Cabarrus County school board meeting.
“As a parent, I speak to other parents,” he told Cabarrus school board members, “And there’s a few things we don’t want.”
“I’m biracial, I’m multilingual, I’m multicultural. The fact is in America and North Carolina, I can do anything I want — and I teach that to my children,” Echevarria said. “And the person who tells my little pecan-color kids that they’re somehow oppressed based on the color of their skin would be absolutely wrong and absolutely at war with me.”
He also took a shot at the board over the continued masking of children.
“What the masks showed us is the parents, the most powerful group in the country, are taking back the wheel,” Echevarria said.