Virginia election: McAuliffe appears on video with disgraced official who called for defunding police

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McAuliffe, Youngkin in tight race for Virginia governor

Washington Examiner editor-in-chief Hugo Gurdon says perceptions of which party is 'on the side of the little guy' is shifting.

Virginia's Democratic gubernatorial nominee Terry McAuliffe appeared in an Instagram video with a former member of the state's Board of Education who has a history of homophobic tweets and calling for the defunding of police.

Dr. Wes Bellamy, who was appointed by McAuliffe during his first term as governor and was forced to resign in 2016, posted a video on Sunday afternoon that he filmed with McAuliffe at Virginia State University. It appears the video was recorded Saturday when McAuliffe attended the homecoming football game.

"Make sure everybody comes out and vote with less than 14 days away. Vote for the man, the myth, the legend himself, Governor McAuliffe, the greatest governor Virginia has ever seen. My man," Bellamy said, as McAuliffe gave a thumbs up and put his hand on Bellamy's shoulder.

"Now listen, I'm going to say this. There's a lot of people who talk about the things they want to do," Bellamy continued. "A lot of people who say they're going to do one thing or another, but when the rubber hits the road and when you want to know who your real friends are when everybody else turn their back on me, this man was right here with me, so he's not going to turn his back on Virginia. Let's make sure we vote for him."

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McAuliffe then chimed in to tell Virginians to get out and vote early, saying that there were only nine days left until Election Day.

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"We can't let a Trump wannabe — you know a lapdog for Donald Trump. I call him Trump in khakis take over this state because you know what? It's too important," McAuliffe said. "We got to fix education. We gotta get everybody health care. We got big challenges. I got us out of a mess before. I'll do it again. Go vote. Get your boyfriends, girlfriends, whatever you got. Get them out there."

Vice President Kamala Harris waves to the crowd along with Democratic gubernatorial candidate, former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, left, during a rally in Dumfries, Virginia, Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021. McAuliffe will face Republican Glenn Youngkin in the November election.  (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Bellamy, the former vice mayor of Charlottesville, Virginia, currently serves as the national co-chair of "Our Black Party," a group that supports defunding the police and ending collaboration between police and ICE. In a tweet last year, Bellamy said it is time to defund the police and "DISMANTLE AND DEVELOP NEW CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM." In a 2012 tweet, he called police "pigs."

Fox News reported last month on dozens of tweets from Bellamy's Twitter profile that disparage White women and uses an anti-gay slur in the singular and plural forms. He also repeatedly praised notorious anti-Semitic Louis Farrakhan, who has called Jews "wicked," "termites" and said they are the "the synagogue of Satan."

"It's the wicked Jews the false Jews that are promoting Lesbianism, homosexuality. It's wicked Jews, false Jews that make it a crime for you to preach the word of God, then they call you homophobic," Farrakhan said during a 2006 speech.

VA DEM GOV NOMINEE MCAULIFFE REFUSES TO REJECT ENDORSEMENT FROM GROUP THAT SUPPORTS DEFUNDING THE POLICE

In a 2015 tweet, Bellamy said Farrakhan "spoke to my soul today" and said it made him feel like "moving mountains." In 2012, Bellamy tweeted that it was an "honor" to be in the presence of Farrakhan, calling him a "wise man." He also tweeted, "HELL YEA" in response to a tweet asking whether someone would go see Farrakhan speak if they were given the opportunity to do so. 

When Bellamy's vulgar tweets were first unearthed in 2016, a McAuliffe spokesman said the then-governor was "horrified" after he learned about the sexist and homophobic content of the posts. Bellamy would later apologize for his tweets, calling them "disrespectful, and quite frankly, ignorant."

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In addition to McAuliffe visiting Virginia State University, where Bellamy is the chairman of the political science department, over the weekend, he also visited last month and said that Bellamy has "been a great friend for so many years" and is a great "leader" and "mentor."

In October 2019, McAuliffe also thanked Bellamy for inviting him to speak at Virginia State University. 

The McAuliffe campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.