This week, the News & Observer published an article calling out the blatant lies presented by the House Republican-backed Carolina Leadership Coalition in one of their mailers against Alamance County Rep. Ricky Hurtado. In the mailer, the Coalition doctored an image of Hurtado cleaning up trash in his district and altered his campaign shirt to say “Defund the Police.” The mailer also falsely cites a pledge Republicans claim contains defund language – a claim made against multiple Democratic legislators that has been confirmed as false.

“This mailer is just one clear example of the shameless doctoring that the Carolina Leadership Coalition has been distributing on many of our Democratic candidates for several election cycles now,” said North Carolina Democratic Party spokesperson, Julia Walker. “While Republicans blatantly and unabashedly lie to voters to spread fear, Democrats are fighting for real solutions to strengthen law enforcement, make communities safer, and increase transparency and accountability.”

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News & Observer: Fact check: Mailers use altered photo to claim NC Democrat supports defunding the police

• Voters in a competitive state House district in Alamance County may have received a mailer showing Ricky Hurtado, the Democratic incumbent running for reelection, wearing a T-shirt that says “defund the police.” The problem? The photo isn’t real.

• 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.”

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