As the Democratic candidates for Virginia governor met on Thursday in their second debate, former Governor Terry McAuliffe committed yet another blunder that would be public relations trouble for anyone without his political capital.

It was revealed that one of his opponents, former Delegate Jennfier Carroll Foy(D-2), was featured in a post promoting his campaign from his campaign’s official Facebook page. According to Tonya James, Carroll Foy’s deputy campaign manager, the candidate’s image was intentionally featured in an ad that had been running on Facebook as recently as last month. 

“Black women have been relegated to the background and even used as props for years, all while being applauded when it’s convenient,” said James. “Jennifer is putting herself in the forefront, with momentum due to her support from countless working Virginians. She is fighting to move the Commonwealth forward and sharing her fresh vision for Virginia, while Terry McAuliffe is relying on tactics that only serve to benefit his ego and his own political and financial gain. Just another reason why we need fresh leadership.”

This was the image used when NBC12 reported that House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn endorsed McAuliffe.

They actually took the image below on January 27 during passaging of the Equal Rights Amendment in Virginia. 

The ads promote an endorsement by Filler-Corn, and various versions of the ad link to two different articles – one by WTOP and another by NBC 12. While the default image linked to the WTOP story is the photo of Carroll Foy along with Filler-Corn, the default image linked to in the NBC 12 story is of Filler-Corn alone. And yet, all versions of the ad, no matter which story is linked, uses the image of Carroll Foy, intentionally implying that she is also supporting McAuliffe, which couldn’t be further from the truth. 

This continues a long line of highly questionable actions by McAuliffe, who is no stranger to controversy. In 2001, a Black delegate of the Democratic National Committee called on McAuliffe to withdraw his candidacy for DNC chair after McAuliffe used the term “colored people” to refer to Black people. When a violent crowd of white supremacists threatened to descend of Charlottesville in 2017 for the “Unite the Right” rally which resulted in the murder of an innocent woman, McAuliffe failed to take precautions. He then wrote a book to profit off the event.

If this doesn’t show why McAuliffe is out of touch and unfit to be the next Governor of the Commonwealth, then nothing will. The amount he’s spent shouldn’t fool black people and by the false narrative that his campaign has created in order to look like he’s working for them. He isn’t. It’s time to send a message and not allow this type of insensitivity in the state’s highest office.