The mailer, which was distributed to voters in N.C. House District 63 this month, received much attention this week after Democratic state Sen. Jeff Jackson posted about it on Twitter, showing the altered photo of Hurtado next to the original photo, which shows him wearing a campaign T-shirt and picking up a bag of trash. Another mailer, targeting Democratic Rep. Terence Everitt of Wake County, was similarly altered to make it look like he was wearing a “defund the police” T-shirt.
Hurtado, a first-term representative who defeated former GOP state Rep. Steve Ross in a tight race in 2020, and now faces Ross in November once again, said he heard about the mailers after getting emails and phone calls from constituents who knew him and knew the photo “could not look like something that I would wear.”
“They were really upset because they understand that we’re in a competitive district, but to sort of be campaigning on misinformation and misleading information at that, trying to mislead voters, I just think this is beyond just distasteful; I think it should be illegal,” Hurtado told The News & Observer in an interview Monday. “We’re not even talking about people’s records or what I have voted on in Raleigh. It’s just pure political propaganda that is rooted in lies.”
