Nick Freitas, a Republican military veteran with a Portuguese last name, is running for U.S. Senate in Virginia. Supporters of his Trump-style opponent, Corey Stewart, have responded with taco jokes http://www.richmond.com/news/virginia/government-politics/gop-s-nick-freitas-says-at-liberty-university-debate-that/article_44c592e9-01ab-5940-aba5-3a8ef476664a.html …
GOP's Nick Freitas says at Liberty University debate that Corey Stewart's camp attacked his ethnicity
By PATRICK WILSON Richmond Times-Dispatch 14 hrs ago
LYNCHBURG — GOP U.S. Senate candidate Nick Freitas in a debate on Thursday called out rival Corey Stewart’s campaign for making ethnic jokes about his name. Stewart responded that if a little name-calling got under Freitas’ skin, he would be thrashed by Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine should he be the GOP nominee in the general election.
The scrap came toward the end of a lively debate at Liberty University featuring Stewart, Freitas and minister E.W. Jackson of Chesapeake, who are competing in the June 12 primary. The candidates discussed foreign policy, defended President Donald Trump and the tax cut he signed last year, and called for an end to the special counsel’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
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House of Delegates member Freitas, who recently told a group he was speaking to that he is Latino, launched his offensive.
“My daughter came over to me one day and asked, ‘Daddy, what is wrong with our last name?’ And it’s because two of [Stewart’s] field directors were putting out memes that were saying things like ‘Freitas sounds like something more on the dollar menu at Taco Bell than it does a U.S. Senate candidate.’ ... “I fought for my country. I am every bit as much a citizen as you are, Corey Stewart, and I don’t appreciate it when my kids have to ask me that question in this country.”
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pwilson@timesdispatch.com (804) 649-6061 Twitter: @patrickmwilson
Staff writer Graham Moomaw contributed to this story.
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