Alex Askew, a Democratic member of the Virginia House of Delegates, accused his Republican challenger of using racist imagery in campaign attacks that depict him burning and hanging by ropes. In a tweet on Saturday, Askew called out GOP candidate Karen Greenhalgh for sending out two separate attack mailers that show him in controversial positions."Karen -- last month, you sent an attack mailer that displayed a darkened, burning photo of my face. Now, your party is depicting me as bound & hanging by rope. YET AGAIN: These images rely on some of the laziest, most blatantly racist tropes about Black people in history," Askew tweeted Saturday. He shared an image of one mailer that shows him tightly bound and hanging, in the manner of a puppet on strings. Three weeks ago, Greenhalgh's team sent voters an image of Askew's face engulfed by flames. On Saturday, Askew also re-shared a tweet he wrote in September condemning that imagery."My opponent's attack mailer displayed a darkened, burning photo of my face. I'm a black man. Depicting any black person as burning or hanging propagates some of the most dangerous, racist tropes in history. This dog whistle attack has no place in our politics," he wrote. Askew, who represents Virginia Beach, continued on Twitter by stating that it is "clear" Greenhalgh lacks the ability to represent people of color and called on her to "immediately cease and denounce these deeply racist attacks."Askew's statements come just one month ahead of the Virginia House of Delegates election, which could prove to be the first indication of how Republicans and Democrats will fare in next year's midterm elections. Virginia Democrats currently hold 55 of the 100 seats up for election in November, and their ability to keep those spots could suggest national trends in the battle to control the House of Representatives in Washington, D. C. Delegate elections "can certainly, at times, play the role of canary in the coal mine. And I think that's even more true now given how nationalized our elections at every level have become," Tucker Martin, who served as a top aide to former GOP Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell, told The Hill last month. "If there are trends developing you'll see some of them in the results."Askew told the news outlet earlier this month that Democrats have done "amazing" things to transform Virginia in the past two years, adding that "we cannot afford to go back to 20 years of Republican leadership."Newsweek reached out to Greenhalgh for comments, but did not hear back in time for publication.
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Article Link: https://www.newsweek.com/virginia-delegate-alex-askew-denounces-overtly-racist-gop-attack-mailer-demands-apology-1635037
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