Dave Brat Compares Concerned Constituents at His Town Hall Meeting to Violent White Supremacist Prot
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today EMILY's List, the nation's largest resource for women in politics, is calling out Virginia Congressman Dave Brat's disgusting and craven attempts to compare concerned constituents at his town hall to the perpetrators of white supremacist violence in Charlottesville over the weekend.
“It is disgusting that Dave Brat would compare the outrage of his own constituents over his vote to rip health care away from millions of Americans to the racist white supremacist attacks in Charlottesville this weekend,” said EMILY's List Executive Director Emily Cain. “Instead of using his platform to call for healing after a deeply horrifying weekend of violence, Dave Brat somehow thought it would be appropriate to whine about his own unpopularity. Concerned families are in no way comparable to neo-Nazi assaults on our nation's diversity. This type of warped thinking is precisely why Virginians will vote Dave Brat out of Congress in November.”
On CNN, when asked whether he believed it was important for the president to call out white supremacists, Brat responded, “I got a taste at my town hall. So, yes to your question. But, I got yelled at by 700 people swearing at me — and no call out from the media about, you know, to my senators who are Democrats in my state to say, hey, do you condone the hatred — 700 leftists, not Democrats. Far left. Booed the preacher when we prayed at the opening. Yelled at me, swore at me. And, never a statement, you know, from the governor or my Democrat friends on that.”
On Fox News, Brat again used an interview about the horrific attacks in Charlottesville to complain that his constituents are rightly outraged about the president's rampant sexism and his willingness to destroy their health care, saying, “The hard left came out and the Women's March. And, I was getting caustic comments. I got booed at my town hall by 700 people. They booed the preacher when he prayed. They booed everything, right? So, there's these hard-edged elements.”
EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, has raised over $500 million to support pro-choice Democratic women candidates – making them one of the most successful political organizations ever. Our grassroots community of over five million members helps Democratic women wage competitive campaigns – and win. We recruit and train candidates, support strong campaigns, research the issues that impact women and families, and turn out women voters. Since our founding in 1985, we have helped elect 116 women to the House, 23 to the Senate, 12 governors, and over 800 to state and local office. Forty percent of the candidates EMILYs List has helped elect to Congress have been women of color. Since the 2016 election, thousands of women and counting have reached out to us about running for office. To harness this energy, EMILYs List has launched Run to Win, an unprecedented effort to get more women to run at the local, state, and national levels.
