Brian Fallon, former spokesman for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, compared Virginia GOP gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie to white nationalists in a Friday tweet.
Fallon, who also serves as a CNN political commentator, tweeted a photo of neo-Nazis carrying torches in Charlottesville, Va., taken this summer and added the caption, “Live look at Ed Gillespie campaign strategy meeting.”
Gillespie, who is locked in a tight race with Democrat Ralph Northam, Virginia’s lieutenant governor, in August denounced the protests in Charlottesville that left one dead and dozens injured.
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“It was not surprising to me to read in one news report that 90 percent of the torch-carrying, shield-bearing white supremacist and neo-Nazi mob in Charlottesville on Saturday were from outside our Commonwealth. They essentially invaded Virginia,” Gillespie said in an Aug. 16 statement.
“But Virginia is better and stronger than them. In the aftermath of Hateful Saturday in Charlottesville, I know we can have this discussion about our shared history and how we recognize it in a thoughtful and respectful manner worthy of Virginia,” he said.
On Friday, his campaign denounced Fallon’s comparison.
“Northam, the entire Democratic ticket and CNN should condemn this ugly character smear that has no place in our Commonwealth’s political discourse,” Gillespie spokesman David Abrams told Fox News.
The “Unite the Right” rally in August was held at the site of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, and the issue of Virginia’s many Confederate memorials has become one of the most contentious of the campaign, with Northam in favor of taking the statues down and Gillespie supporting leaving them up.
The Fallon tweet comes as Northam stood by a Democratic mailer sent out on Wednesday that tied Gillespie and President Trump to the Charlottesville rally.
“Ed Gillespie has had over 70 days to denounce the president of this country for not calling these white supremacists out for who they are, and I would hope that he would come forward and do that,” Northam said in a Wednesday interview while campaigning.
“Because the message is that we live in a very diverse society,” he said. “That means that we need to be inclusive. We need to welcome people. Our lights need to be on, our doors open. We don’t promote hatred and bigotry in this country and in the commonwealth of Virginia.”
The RealClearPolitics average of polls shows Northam with a slim 2.8 percentage point lead, with Gillespie gaining momentum in recent weeks after trailing by 6.8 points on Oct. 9.
Election Day is Nov. 7.
Fallon’s tweet was denounced by conservative media members and pundits on Twitter.
—Updated at 5:02 p.m.