The Congressional Black Caucus PAC is using a blackface scandal to link a MAGA Republican to the recent racist text leak furor involving young Republicans, according to reports.
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) is the focus of the targeted five-figure ad called "Not for Us, which will air on YouTube and television in his district, Politico reports Thursday.
The ad will also mention Lawler's use of blackface while he was a college student. Lawler has said it was "an homage to pop star Michael Jackson."
“Mike Lawler keeps showing us exactly who he is — between now and Election Day we’re going to make sure Hudson Valley voters know he’s not fit for Congress,” a Black Caucus PAC spokesperson said.
The campaign is also working to connect Lawler to Peter Giunta, a member of the New York Young Republicans reportedly involved in the Telegram chats released by Politico earlier this week that included racist, antisemitic and homophobic comments, rape fantasies, and suggestions on how to drive their opponents to suicide.
“They referred to Black people as monkeys and ‘the watermelon people’ and mused about putting their political opponents in gas chambers. They talked about raping their enemies and driving them to suicide and lauded Republicans who they believed support slavery," according to the report.
Giunta has claimed that the chat and its release are “a highly-coordinated year-long character assassination." He apologized, saying, “I am so sorry to those offended by the insensitive and inexcusable language found within the more than 28,000 messages of a private group chat that I created during my campaign to lead the Young Republicans.”