Democrats Standing by NC Senate Candidate Cal Cunningham Despite Sexting Scandal
“Democrats need to net at least three seats to win back the majority, and North Carolina has been seen as a potential tipping point state by both parties.”
Despite the news that North Carolina Senate candidate Cal Cunningham has been caught in a sexting scandal, Democrats are standing by their man.
They have little choice in the matter. Their donors have already invested millions in this race, and it is seen as the possible tipping point in control of the Senate.
James Arkin and Burgess Everett write at Politico:
Sexts and coronavirus: Must-win Senate race upended down the stretch
It was a crazy 24 hours in North Carolina’s Senate race: Just a few hours after Republican Sen. Thom Tillis reported a positive coronavirus diagnosis on Friday evening, his Democratic opponent Cal Cunningham admitted to sending romantic texts to a woman who is not his wife.
The events have upended what’s seen as a must-win race for Senate control. Cunningham said he would not drop out of the race after the text messages were revealed on Friday evening, while Tillis had to close his campaign headquarters and quarantine ahead of confirmation hearings for a Supreme Court vacancy…
In a statement on Saturday morning, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee indicated it was sticking with Cunningham.
“North Carolinians are supporting Cal because he will protect health care coverage for pre-existing conditions, fight to bring down the costs of prescription drugs, and help our country recover from this crisis. We are confident that he will bring the same courage and determination to the Senate as he has while serving our country in uniform,” said Lauren Passalacqua, a spokesperson for the DSCC.
This is the bottom line:
The stakes couldn’t be higher for Senate control. Democrats need to net at least three seats to win back the majority, and North Carolina has been seen as a potential tipping point state by both parties. It’s unclear how Cunningham’s text messages or Tillis’s positive diagnosis might affect the polls, which have narrowly favored Cunningham.
Cunningham has one thing going for him. Democrat voters likely care more about taking control of the Senate than they do about a sexting scandal. We’ll soon find out how independent voters feel about it.
The stakes are high and anything could tip the scales of the race.
Christina Zhao writes at Newsweek:
Sexting Scandal in North Carolina May Help Republicans Hold on to Senate
The sexting scandal that has plagued North Carolina Democratic Senate candidate Cal Cunningham’s campaign could help Republicans hold on to the legislative chamber this November in a brutally competitive race with 35 seats up for election.
North Carolina Democratic Senate candidate Cal Cunningham, a married father of two, has admitted to sending romantic text messages to Arlene Guzman Todd, a former female staffer who is not his wife. With the scandal emerging one month before Election Day, Cunningham, who’s taking on first-term Republican Senator Thom Tillis, has declined to drop out of the race.
“It’s chaos—it’s really what I see it is,” said David McLennan, a Meredith College political science professor, according to the Associated Press.
One has to wonder if North Carolina voters are having John Edwards flashbacks.
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Comments
Walk this way, Mike: Democrats Standing by EMBATTLED / CONTROVERSIAL / JEOPARDIZED / Etc. NC Senate Candidate Despite Sexting Scandal.
PHM: Proper headlines matter.
He can show up in blackface for his next public meeting and they would still vote for him.
No more democrats, no more bullsh!t. Vote against them at every single level.
The Dhimmi-crats are unfit to wield even a scintilla of political power, after all the excrement that they’ve pulled, over the past four years.
Let’s recap what these idiots have put the country, and, our President, through:
1) A lawless, unprecedented and brazen campaign of sabotage and subversion, bought and paid for by Obama and his minions, with the connivance of the crone Clinton campaign, and, foreign actors;
2) A contrived and phony partisan “investigation” into #1, above, with the obvious intention of hurting POTUS, politically, as opposed to uncovering the malfeasance of Obama and Clinton;
3) A laughable hoaxpeachment for alleged misdeeds committed during a totally innocuous phone call with a foreign leader; initiated by a vindictive and partisan NSA “Call me Lieutenant-Colonel,” and, a partisan zeaolot, CIA protege of the vile John Brennan;
4) Murder, riots and looting, all behavior rationalized, excused, whitewashed and otherwise ignored by the Dhimmi-crat leadership, and, committed by groups embraced by the Dhimmi-crat leadership, including dim-witted, dotard-marionette, Biden;
5) A totalitarian and callous Wuhan virus “lockdown,” transparently motivated by a desire to hurt POTUS, politically, by inflicting the maximum possible economic pain and lifestyle hardship, on the populace.
After all this crap, the Dhimmi-crats think that they deserve to wield political power? We are truly fools, if we give it to these snakes.
I left out the Kavanaugh witch hunt and Stalinist show trial — ostensibly affecting only one man and his family, but, in actuality, a calculated campaign of personal destruction and slander by the vile Dhimmi-crats that was transparently intended to make millions of conservative Americans — in all industries and in all spheres of society — understand that they will pay a heavy price for daring to enter the public square and for daring to reject Dhimmi-crat orthodoxies.
“Dems standing with…….” Well not much option at this point, so not a surprise here. Smartest move by Dems would be to yell squirrel.
John Edwards must not be available to replace him on the ballot.
It’s exceedingly demoralizing to see formerly solidly GOP states such as NC and VA, turn increasingly “blue,” as the vile Dhimmi-crats move there and spread their ideological poison, with predictably deleterious and destructive results.
These totalitarian narcissists are like locusts — once they’ve finished destroying the finances, economic vitality and freedoms of their states of origin, they move to well-run and well-managed states, to work their Leftist “magic.” And, so the cycle continues, anew.
Questions have been raised about where he met this woman and how long this has been going on. According to a Twitter feed I saw (Dallas Woodhouse), it’s possible they met while Cunningham was on active duty officer at Ft. Bragg while the woman’s husband (an enlisted man with a history of five combat deployments) was also posted there. If that is confirmed, Cunningham’s problems become worse.
Important point Kate, but you didn’t include the kill shot: Cunningham, as a Army officer and JAG officer is prohibited from having an extra-marital relationship while serving. Since his best opportunity for extra-marital fun would be when he was away from home serving his Army reserve requirements, the odds increase that he has violated his oath as an officer.
It seems somehow wrong to give this a ‘thumbs up’, but in the absence of an Arte Johnson-esque “very interesting” option, tarheelkate and muneshadowe, it will have to do.
Oops, mistakenly attributed Redneck Law’s post to muneshadow…
Well, isn’t that what Gen. Petraeus was run out of the service for doing? I think, or I hope, that people are investigating to find evidence that actual adultery has occurred, although the text messages certainly make it sound likely, and whether it was during active-duty phases of Cunningham’s service. Does the code apply to Reserve officers, even if not on active duty?
I traveled from Raleigh to Cola, S.C. last weekend, down US 1 thru a number of small towns. I did not see a single Roy Cooper, Cal Cunningham or Biden sign. Saw lots of Trump, Forest and Tillis. While anecdotal, I have heard from a number of others, with the same observations.
I’m in Johnson City TN. I’m seeing Biden-Harris signs. I also live near ETSU.
I saw ONE modified sign. The :Harris” was put above “Biden”. Harris-Biden 2020.
Quick question, no Googling: Who is the Democratic candidate for Lt. Governor in NC?
Uhhhhhh …
You can stick a fork in Cal, he’s done. The people of NC got fooled by John Edwards and now know an adulterer when they see one. Interesting too, both were Democrats. The religious vote in NC is now solidly Tillis – so this is over. Chuck U – time to retire before you get a primary from AOC.
Listen to you people! SO judgmental! This is all just some misunderstanding!
/must I?
But I like being Judgy McJudgerson. ;p
That was for Grizzly above. I don’t need no steenkin’ “Reply” button. LOL
McJudggerson? or McJudgPERSON? Don’t be sexist!
Stop being politically correct, then.
Yessir.
Just remember, folks, Leftists (i.e. Democrats) have no standards.
“OMFG! Trump is a national disgrace! Did you see him at the debate we need a mute button!”
Yeah he sure lowered the bar for decorum, didn’t he? Recall the solemn, serious, sober, and dignified way the Democrats conducted the…
Kavanaugh hearings. In which among other of their descents into the gutter Democrat Senator from R.I. Sheldon Whitehouse did a deep dive into Brett Kavanaugh’s H.S. yearbook and questioned the SCOTUS nominee about fart jokes.
Of course for a Republican inquests into what they did in H.S. is fair game. But don’t you DARE question Hillary! Clinton about what her activities or lack thereof while she was Secretary of State. Benghazi, uranium sales, her hubby getting $500k checks from Russian oligarchs, illegal servers all old news. It all happened less than ten years ago, but still old news.
But what Republicans did as minors decades before the turn of the century? It’s all on the table.
They loved how Grandpa Gropey was rude, obnoxious, and constantly interrupted Paul Ryan in 2012 (I have my issues w/Ryan, too, but let’s not get sidetracked; this is about how the left loves “unpresidential” behavior as long as it’s there guy doing it).
Trump out-Bidened Biden, that’s all. And they can’t stand it.
So, now, here they are “raising the level of political discourse.” By giving us Anthony Weiner 2.0 in NC. That worked out well the last time.
As Napoleon famously said when the enemy is in the middle of making a fatal mistake, don’t be so rude as to interrupt.
Sorry, Arminius, I mean my response as an “upvote.”
No problem. That didn’t even make the top one hundred list of, “Worst things that happened to me all day.”
If I were an NC Democrat (which I most definitely am NOT), I’d be furious with Chuck Schumer. They had a strong candidate in the primary, Erica Smith, a black woman who has been a Dem leader in the state senate. Schumer intervened in the primary to boost Cunningham because he was a better fund-raiser, Schumer thought. I wonder if this scandal will reduce black Democrat turnout, since enthusiasm for Biden is already low.
This is NOW, not 2, 5, 10 or 20 years ago but now. If he is not honest with his wife ne will not be honest with the constituency.
Dude looks like the sort of cretin who goes around thinking with his dick all the time. Feel sorry for his wife and kids. No political future for him. He’s just too stupid.
HIS dick and OUR money.
The democrat party is where all the pervs go.
Bill Gates, who denies ever working with Epstein, worked with Epstein:
New Report Reveals Billionaire Bill Gates, Jeffrey Epstein and the Nobel Committee Chair Behind Obama’s Award Met in 2013:
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/10/new-report-reveals-billionaire-bill-gates-jeffrey-epstein-nobel-committee-chair-behind-obamas-award-met-2013/
Cal Cunningham is a home wrecker. He violated officer conduct rules for the Army. Ms. Guzman, the woman he had affair with, is the wife of an enlisted solider. It’s heartbreaking, Cal “Pants” Cunningham has wrecked this man’s family. https://youtu.be/HgecwWYf7ow
That is tough to watch, knowing what has happened since. I wonder if her husband was the one who shared the text messages. They appear to be taken from her phone.
It’s a bit more than a tenet of some officer’s code of conduct or a rule. It’s a violation of article 134 of the UCMJ. The maximum penalty for this violation is dishonorable discharge (dismissal in Cunningham’s case as he is an officer, which carries the same disgrace), forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and one year in confinement.
It has to involve actual physical sex, not just virtual sex via sexting. Everyone know it’s not normally charged as a stand alone offense unless it’s particularly egregious. It has to be directly contrary to good order and discipline or particularly service discrediting.
Usually it’s one or the other, but in this case it’s both. I can’t imagine anything more directly contrary to good order and discipline than this. It would meet the criteria if it was merely a LCOL sleeping with an enlisted man’s wife. Cunningham is a lawyer, a JAG officer. What would happen if his side squeeze’s hubby was charged with a crime and during one of his periods of active duty he or the officers below him were tasked with prosecuting him? Or defending him?
We already knew his wife can’t trust him, but she doesn’t seem to care about anything except being a Senator’s wife. Now no one up or down this guy’s chain of command can trust him.
And what could be more service discrediting than a reserve JAG officer to get exposed having an affair with an enlisted soldier and then have it become national news because the idiot is campaigning to be a Senator in a high profile contest?
On another thread this guy said he wanted people to respect his family’s privacy and in the next breath said he wasn’t going to drop out of the race. I noted that if had any concern at all for his family’s privacy he’d drop out of the race, and out of the public eye.
But considering the legal jeopardy he may have put himself in family privacy may be the least of his concerns. I look at people like TFG and I can’t for the life of me understand what they can possibly be thinking. There’s no way I’d put myself in this position in the first place. Not that I want to portray myself as some kind of saint. But if I was tempted, I at least know better not to s*&t where I eat. But if I ever did find myself in this position I’d do some quick mental math and get out of the spotlight as soon as possible.
Not this arrogant, self-absorbed jackass.
And I couldn’t be happier. I’m so glad the Dems haven’t learned a lesson from the Anthony Weiner debacle. As in, “Hey, you know, maybe we shouldn’t throw our full support behind a candidate who is caught up in a sexting scandal because, you know, maybe middle age crisis type candidates don’t exercise good judgement.”
Hell, no! The Democrat party is all in. It’s orange man bad, full speed ahead, damn the torpedoes, hold my beer month at the DNC.
Excellent.
Interesting that leftist NC newspapers like the Jacksonville Daily News refuse to report on Cunningham’s sex scandal, not surprisingly, after giving him a glowing front page review.
Hold on. Is there a second mistress?
https://nationalfile.com/north-carolina-attorney-claims-friend-is-nc-democrats-second-mistress/
Hoo boy. If verified, that’s really the end for Cunningham.
He’ll replace Harris as Biden’s running mate. In the Democrat party you can’t confine such talent to a mere statewide office.
“Democrats Standing by NC Senate Candidate Cal Cunningham Despite Sexting Scandal”
You misspelled “because of”.