Just days out from Virginia’s gubernatorial election, a top staffer for the Democratic candidate has been caught in a scandal over racist tweets.
Renzo Olivari works as communications director for incumbent Democrat Terry McAuliffe, but recently his time has been spent cleaning up a controversy over a series of tweets that went viral.
Terry McAuliffe’s comms guy kinda sounds like a racist. pic.twitter.com/7IE32ECWGE
— Arthur Schwartz (@ArthurSchwartz) October 29, 2021
Some of the tweets have since been deleted.
Hey @TerryMcAuliffe. Come get your comms guy. He’s showing his ass and embarrassing you. pic.twitter.com/r0qdYWICqa
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) October 29, 2021
Olivari reportedly apologized in a statement to Breitbart News, where he called his tweets “clearly unacceptable.”
“As a person of color, I have tried to live my whole life fighting for communities like mine,” Olivari told Breitbart News. “When I was in high school student, I tweeted things that were clearly unacceptable. I am ashamed and I profoundly regret what I tweeted. I take full responsibility and I want to profoundly apologize and use this as a moment to grow and learn from my mistakes. I will continue working to fight for communities like mine in every way that I can.”
Recent polling shows the two candidates are in a near tie in the race, which ends Nov. 2, leaving the best chance for a red Virginia in years. RealClearPolitics and FiveThirtyEight both show Youngkin with a lead.
McAuliffe’s latest staffer scandal isn’t likely to help, and it isn’t the only one. Another McAuliffe staffer accidentally emailed a Fox News reporter about trying to “kill” a story suggesting McAuliffe was already potentially planning to challenge the state’s election results.
Fox News reporter: “I am writing a story about the report that McAuliffe hired Marc Elias, potentially to challenge the election results […]”
McAuliffe spoksperson: “Can we try to kill this” pic.twitter.com/buSINd4wRn
— Corey A. DeAngelis (@DeAngelisCorey) October 29, 2021
