WASHINGTON — The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee’s GOP Hall of Shame is reserved for the most reprehensible Republican candidates for state legislative office, and its latest addition demonstrates what’s at stake this election. Paul Smith, who is running to represent Michigan’s HD-25, has made bigoted remarks, referred to teachers and public servants as “parasites that live off taxpayers,” and advocated violence against the country’s first Black president. So, according to the GOP: a top tier recruit.
“Republicans in Michigan are so desperate to cling to their majority, they’re running a racist who is proud of the fact that he was investigated by the Secret Service for holding a sign with President Obama’s impaled head on a spike,” said Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee President Jessica Post. “Paul Smith, who thinks President Obama is worse than Adolf Hitler, is a disgrace to our country. Everyone, regardless of political party, should be able to speak out against encouraging violence — yet the Michigan GOP still won’t denounce his candidacy.”
Democrats need to win four seats in the Michigan House to flip the chamber from red to blue. With candidates like Paul Smith representing the opposition, Democrats are poised to make big gains this November.
Paul Smith is infamous for his racism and xenophobia: he believes that President Obama committed treason and should be publicly executed and he called for hundreds of thousands of Muslims in America to be murdered in the aftermath of 9/11. He is unfit for office and unfit to represent the people of Michigan.
Even more repulsive and disqualifying information on Smith can be found here.
The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee is the official Democratic organization dedicated to winning state legislative seats. Michigan is a top target in the DLCC’s $50 million “Flip Everything” campaign, an unprecedented effort to win legislative majorities across the country. Since Trump’s election, the DLCC and state partners have flipped over 450 seats and 10 chambers from red to blue.
###
