Candidate for Durham City Council moves event after social media post
New tonight language in social media posts forced a Durham
City council candidate to move one of his events
We reported last night about online rhetoric that has some
concern with these wanted posters and a reference to a
guillotine
All of this comes less now than a week before
election day
WO's Monica Casey spoke with the candidate about how this
local election has been different from past ones
Matt Kope is a candidate for Durham City Council who
has run before
He and other candidates say this year has been different
This election cycle the tone the rhetoric has definitely been
a departure from what we have seen in the past
Community members and elected officials have expressed concern about social
Media rhetoric including wanted posters and a reference to a
guillotine
In one post the address of KOAC's fundraising event was
shared prompting his campaign to make a change
And just seeing the extreme rhetoric and understanding what we're
seeing you know nationally in terms of you know violence
Cropping up in new ways in our politics you know
we just thought it was prudent to find a new
location for the event
We spoke with the woman behind the posts Ashley Robbins
on Tuesday
She argues they are metaphor and says she wouldn't do
anything differently
I wasn't calling for anybody to be harmed
Uh on the contrary I was pointing out how the
things that they sponsor and support actually cause harm
Kobach tells me he believes right now the community should
be focused on ways to come together
As someone whose desires to serve in local office I'm
always here to listen
At the same time I think we need to think
about how we keep our focus on the ultimate goal
which is to serve the members of this community in
Durham Monica Casey WREL new