Cresent Hardy campaign accusing rival of ‘race-baiting’
U.S. Rep. Cresent Hardy’s campaign is accusing Democratic rival Ruben Kihuen’s campaign of “race-baiting” after a fundraising solicitation from Kihuen suggested Republicans are suppressing the African-American vote.
The emailed solicitation, sent Saturday, came shortly after Hardy, a Republican running for re-election in the 4th Congressional District, had a Saturday campaign event featuring a speech from Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan and Las Vegas Urban League President and CEO Kevin Hooks, an African-American.
The Saturday note from Kihuen’s campaign notified supporters that “everything can change overnight when Republicans are actively trying to intimidate African-American voters.”
“Ruben Kihuen is proving daily that he’ll say anything to win this campaign,” said Ross Hemminger, Hardy’s campaign manager.
Hemminger is also criticizing Kihuen campaign manager Dave Chase’s retweet of a blog post about Hardy’s distancing himself from GOP nominee Donald Trump. The blog post tries to tie Hardy’s move to his religion, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The blog, called “Down with Tyranny,” labels Hardy as a “far-right sociopath” and says his move to pull support from Trump came after “watching one Mormon after another distance himself and herself from Trump.”
“With no accomplishments and no record to run on, he and his staff have taken to race-baiting,” Hemminger said of Kihuen’s campaign, adding that they’re also “disparaging the LDS faith.”
Hardy and Kihuen are in a competitive race in the 4th Congressional district, which includes North Las Vegas and rural areas.
Hemminger says Kihuen’s campaign offers only “empty campaign rhetoric.”
“His attempts at political gamesmanship have failed miserably, and in his campaign’s desperation, they are now stooping to the lowest possible denominator,” Hemminger said.
Kihuen’s campaign said the information is reflected in headlines elsewhere. They point to a Bloomberg Businessweek report that quotes a senior Trump campaign official boasting of three major “voter suppression operations” targeting African-Americans.
“We’re still waiting for Cresent Hardy to apologize for calling West Las Vegas ‘the darker side of town,’ painting African-American communities as welfare districts with Escalades, and aligning himself with racists like Cliven Bundy and Donald Trump,” Chase said. “Congressman Hardy has a lengthy history of offensive and racist remarks, and he’s got nobody to blame for it but himself.”
As for the retweeted blog post, Kihuen’s campaign says it reflects a national storyline about a rise of Mormon opposition to Trump.
The West Las Vegas comment is based on a Las Vegas Sun account of Hardy when he started to say “darker side of … West Las Vegas.” In that account, Hardy said he can say things improperly and have his intentions mistaken.
Hardy’s campaign points to Hooks’ comments alongside Hardy on Saturday, when he said he has “love for Cresent Hardy” because he “cares about communities like ours.”
Contact Ben Botkin at bbotkin@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2904. Follow @BenBotkin1 on Twitter.