The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) trolled North Carolina Senate candidate Cal Cunningham (D) as the state’s early voting begins on Thursday. Cunningham is embattled by a series of extramarital affairs that amounted to a nationally-watched sex scandal, unfolding in a battleground Senate race that is crucial for both Democrats and Republicans.
Cunningham continues to run from his self-inflicted, adulterous scandal. The GOP’s Senate arm poked fun at the Senate hopeful with a Spotify playlist, dubbed “Kissin’ Cal’s Early Vote Playlist,” accessible to voters that captures the sequence of Cunningham’s sexual impropriety.
Both the NRSC and the campaign of incumbent GOP Sen. Thom Tillis have rightfully called for transparency from Cunningham, which the Democrat challenger has not afforded voters thus far.
“Cal Cunningham told North Carolinians 'the truth still matters,' and voters deserve the truth from him now in order to determine whether someone under military investigation with potentially multiple affairs yet to be exposed is fit to represent them," NRSC spokesperson Joanna Rodriguez said. "We hope this playlist reminds those heading to vote early of that.”
Cunningham built his campaign against Sen. Tillis on “character” and “truth,” but refuses to disclose whether he was involved in even more extramarital affairs. The original allegations of infidelity stemmed from digital correspondences between Cunningham and a woman other than his wife, but it was discovered that the two Cunningham had “intimate contact.” Given his military rank, Cunningham faces an investigation by the Army Reserve and had a complaint filed against him with the Department of Defense Inspector General.
The race remains competitive, but the nationally-watched sex scandal has done Cunningham no favors. In his quest to take back the majority in the Senate, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) once said that he sought to keep Cunningham in a “windowless basement” until after election day; perhaps the adulterous Senate hopeful would be better off there.
