LOUIVILLE, Kentucky (AP) — Republican Senator Rand Paul was the victim of a violent attack outside his Kentucky home in 2017 when a neighbor slammed into him from behind. Earlier that year, Paul took cover when gunmen opened fire while Republican congressmen were practicing for a charity baseball game.
Paul revived those traumatic events in a inflammatory social media video attacking Democratic challenger Charles Booker in his bid for re-election this year. A video released Monday just before the Senate election forums he refused to attend clearly states Booker “doesn’t believe the civic narrative, only violence”. A state legislator has accused members of the “radical left” of condoning and perpetrating violence.
Booker accused the ad of containing “dangerous and dishonest rhetoric.”
“His ads lie terribly about me and attack the names of Kentuckians in a very wicked way,” Booker said on Tuesday. As an elected official and candidate, my family and I have received death threats – I understand the issue very well and do not take it lightly.
The video was the latest eyebrow-raising tactic in a campaign that employed unconventional politicians.booker appears noose around his neck An online ad just after the spring primary drew attention to Paul’s stance on anti-lynching laws.
Paul’s video makes no mention of unrest from the far right or the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol. law enforcement officer Across the country, it warned of increased threats and possible violent attacks on federal agents and buildings.
The video was released as a preemptive strike against Booker just before the Democratic challenger appeared on a statewide televised campaign forum. Paul, who will be in his third term in November, was invited, but he did not participate in the program.
Paul’s campaign scrutinized social media and claimed in a video that Booker’s campaign “embraced those who celebrated and glorified” the violence against Paul. Booker’s volunteers allegedly tweeted “graphically defaced images” of Paul with his neck broken. It also claims that a woman endorsing Booker in her media video on Social calls Paul’s attackers her heroes.
The senator broke a rib and then underwent lung surgery Due to his injuries, he says he was taken in the attack. The perpetrator was given a prison sentence and Paul was given his $580,000+ bounty. Compensation and Medical Expenses in his case against a man.
Booker said Tuesday that he associates Paul with “a violent argument with a neighbor from five years ago that was hopeless, ridiculous, completely offensive and unacceptable.”
Booker said, “Rand Paul used the racist dog whistle throughout this campaign to tell me and the people of Kentucky that instead of giving me an opinion on the merits of our vision for this federation, my I have been painting violent pictures.
The video also references statements that appear to condone violence against Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell in 2019 by the leader of Louisville’s Black Lives Matter.
“Civil debate is a celebrated quality in a republic, but it should be rejected to justify, ridicule, or glorify violence, as documented in this video of Booker and his allies. is,” Paul said on Monday.
Appearing on Kentucky Educational Television on Monday night, Booker accused Paul of “whistling” on public safety and police matters. Paul’s campaign and his supporters attempted to associate Booker with the “defend the police” movement.
“Rand Paul wants people to look at my skin color, not my record,” Booker said.
During his tenure in the Senate, Paul frequented primarily black neighborhoods to promote criminal justice reform, anti-violence efforts, and education initiatives.
When asked during the KET program if he supported cutting law enforcement budgets, Booker said:
Supporting “structural reform” is not the same as supporting “abolition of any kind,” he said.
“When there is a crisis, when someone is in an emergency, everyone wants to call 911 and have someone from law enforcement come help,” Booker said. “What we don’t need is the same agency that protects us, serves us, and calls to kick in the door and shoot us in the middle of the night.”
In 2020, Booker marched to protests caused in part by the death of black woman Breonna Taylor. shot When police officers burst into her apartment in Louisville during a drug raid. Booker ran for Senate that year but narrowly lost the Democratic primary.