moe brown

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Moe Brown targets Republican incumbent’s comments on RBG following her passing

The past few weeks have been filled with a whirlwind of events, from the continued pandemic, to the loss of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, to the subsequent nomination of Amy Coney Barrett as her replacement.

The passing of Ginsburg was met with condolences from leaders on both sides of the aisle who expressed their admiration and respect for the legendary legal force. In South Carolina’s 5th District, however, Ginsburg’s passing prompted the resurfacing of comments made by Representative Ralph Norman in 2018.

ABC News reports that in his opening remarks of the 2018 5th Congressional District debate, Norman joked, “Did y’all hear the latest, late-breaking news from the Kavanaugh hearings? Ruth Bader Ginsburg came out [saying] that she was groped by Abraham Lincoln.”

Norman later defended his comments, tweeting that “people really need to learn to lighten up.”

Moe Brown, the Democratic challenger for South Carolina’s 5th Congressional District, released a campaign video highlighting Norman’s 2018 comments and his lackluster career in Congress following the passing of Ginsburg in September.

Despite Brown’s capitalization on the resurfacing of Norman’s insensitive comments, the matter has received next to zero coverage from local media outlets like the Rock Hill Herald or Lancaster News, representing a larger trend of little press for the Democratic campaign.

While the campaigns of U.S. Senate candidate Jaime Harrison and U.S. House candidate Adair Ford Boroughs have rightfully gained momentum in the press, Brown’s campaign has not been covered with any real depth despite a looming election only twenty-two days away.

Regardless of this lack of coverage, Brown’s campaign has remained strong as the former Gamecock football player has worked to spread his vision to his constituents. Throughout his campaign, Brown has earned endorsements from some of the top names in politics, including Senator Cory Booker, Majority Whip James E. Clyburn, former presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, State Representative Mandy Powers Norrell, and former S.C. Governor Jim Hodges.

While it is safe to assume that Brown will continue to be neglected by both local and national media outlets beyond being mentioned on informational ballot guides, the Democratic candidate’s messaging on economic recovery and healthcare expansion remains popular with South Carolina voters. With this messaging in mind, as well as the resurfacing of Norman’s insensitive comments about the late Justice Ginsburg, the race in the 5th Congressional District is shaping up to be more competitive than the Republican incumbent would like to admit.

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Ralph Norman’s Friend, The Witch Doctor

Ralph Norman has a lot on his plate these days: a growing pandemic within his home state of South Carolina, a stimulus package to deliver to constituents, and a popular Democratic challenger with a campaign that continues to gain momentum. Oh, and demon sperm.

On Monday, July 27, U.S. Representative Ralph Norman of Rock Hill appeared at a press conference hosted by the Tea Party Patriots in which he introduced a group named America’s Frontline Doctors. In a video from the press conference that has now been deleted from most social media platforms, Dr. Stella Immanuel falsely claims that hydroxychloroquine can cure COVID-19 and argues against mask-wearing and social distancing as effective measures to slow the spread of the virus. 

Per the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, there are no known drugs that are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to adequately treat or prevent COVID-19. Additionally, medical experts agree that mask-wearing and social distancing are effective preventative measures for virus, so what’s the evidence behind Immanuel’s claims?

As it turns out, the answer is demons. Immanuel, a Cameroonian-born doctor with a medical degree from the University of Calabar in Nigeria, doubles as a pastor in her practicing state of Texas. It’s there where she started Fire Power Ministries as well as a Youtube channel through which she peddles her medical conspiracies — some of which are amusing and others downright dangerous.

One of the doctor’s most notable claims falls into the former category. Immanuel argues that diseases such as endometriosis are actually the result of sex demons. In a video posted to her Youtube channel in 2013, Immanuel states that demons “turn into a woman and…sleep with the man and collect his sperm…then they turn into the man and they sleep with a man and deposit the sperm and reproduce more of themselves.”

It’s not just demons that Immanuel says we should worry about, though. The doctor claims that witches can have “astral sex” in which they “astral project and sleep with people,” and that alien DNA is involved in the process of creating our medicine. Immanuel has even gone as far as to advocate against media such as Disney Channel original shows “Hannah Montana” and “Wizards of Waverly Place,” as well as “Pokémon,” as they introduce children to witchcraft and sin.

Is this the kind of medical expertise Ralph Norman supports? In a statement released the day after the video from the press conference went viral, Norman came out strongly against…cancel culture? Yes, despite Immanuel spreading a dangerous conspiracy on the use of an unapproved medication, Representative Norman argued that the doctor has “a right to her opinion!!!” with three exclamation points. 

According to Norman, the real problem is not that he gave a platform to quack doctors, but instead that social media giants took that platform away. The representative argued that companies like Facebook should not have removed the viral video from their platforms, claiming that they were “silencing [Immanuel]” and that their actions were “un-American.” But Dr. Immanuel doesn’t need Norman’s help regarding censorship — Jesus is going to destroy Facebook for her.

Norman’s challenger, Democratic candidate and former Gamecock football player Moe Brown, expressed his shock at seeing Norman align himself with Immanuel’s comments. “That’s when I’ve got to speak up and call out my opponent or anyone who is in a position of power who is not taking these things seriously,” Brown said in an interview with WCNC. Brown’s grandmother died after contracting the virus, making personal Norman’s appearance in the viral video littered with false claims and fear-mongering.

Dr. Stella Immanuel will likely recover from July’s controversy relatively unscathed and with what little reputation she had still intact. If anything, this experience has likely taught her to stay out of politics, something that should be easy seeing as she believes the U.S. government is run by reptilians (in the case of Ralph Norman, we’re inclined to agree).

But as Moe Brown mounts an aggressive political campaign in South Carolina’s 5th District, Ralph Norman’s appearance at last month’s press conference may come back to haunt him like a demon looking to deposit its demon sperm.

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Brown Hires for Serious November Challenge of Norman

Coming off a historic primary win to face Republican incumbent Ralph Norman in South Carolina’s 5th congressional district, Moe Brown moved quickly to make key additions to his campaign team in the month of July. Brown announced three new hires, building on the established team of senior staff that have been with the campaign from day one. Despite the lull of in-person campaigning from both sides due to the ongoing pandemic, Brown has been gearing up behind the scenes to run a sizable operation to support his bid to unseat Norman.

The Brown campaign brought on two staffers – Jimmy Williams and Meghan Durant – to assist the communications team. Williams (right), who will help oversee messaging and general communications strategy for the campaign, is a veteran political operative from South Carolina with nearly 30 years of experience. Williams spent seven years as a senior staffer in the United States Senate, including five years as the Senior Economic Policy Advisor to Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (IL). After leaving public service, he went on to lobby before the U.S. Congress for multiple interests, begin a career as an independent opinion journalist, and eventually serve as an advisor to political campaigns back home in South Carolina.

Durant (left), who was brought on to assist with media relations, is a graduate of the University of South Carolina with experience in press strategy for candidates across the state. Serving as the Communications Director for the South Carolina Senate Democrats and previously as Deputy Communications Director for the South Carolina Democratic Party, Durant has spent her young career thus far crafting messaging and building profiles for Democrats in the state.

Brown also hired Kristin Broner (right) to ramp up campaign fundraising operations. Broner is a fundraising expert with more than 8 years of professional experience working with political campaigns, political advocacy, nonprofits, and trade associations. She has worked at the local, state, and national levels, and has served in various finance and political positions. Most recently, Broner served as the Southern Finance Director for the Cory 2020 Presidential Campaign where she managed and supervised fundraising for thirteen states. Kicking off her first weeks with Brown, the campaign announced that they had raised more than double their opponent in the second quarter.

These hires come as the Brown campaign builds confidence in their ability to flip South Carolina’s 5th congressional district. Although the district has been held by Republicans since John Spratt’s loss in 2010, recent elections indicate that a strong candidate like Brown could win this seat back for Democrats in 2020.

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Moe Brown is Ralph Norman’s Worst Nightmare

The divide between Republican incumbent Ralph Norman and Democratic challenger Moe Brown could not be wider. Norman, the state’s current representative in the 5th Congressional District, was elected in 2017 after a special election that was undoubtedly won with the support of the growing far-right electorate following President Donald Trump’s victory just one year before. 

Since taking office, Norman has done little to represent the well-being of his constituents, voting against the impeachment on Donald Trump as well as against the second stimulus relief package for Americans affected by COVID-19. And while Norman sits cozy in his seat on Capitol Hill now, he faces a challenger here at home who is no stranger to the playing field.

As a former wide receiver at the University of South Carolina, Moe Brown has the name recognition that Democrats need to take back a seat that has not been held by the party since Mick Mulvaney defeated Democratic incumbent John Spratt, Jr. in 2010. More importantly, though, Brown has the pro-business policies and community support that may make him Norman’s worst nightmare come November.

Brown’s platform prioritizes investing in his community through the creation of jobs, an improvement in transportation and healthcare infrastructure, and an investment in renewable energy. Brown touts the impressive achievement of bringing over 5,000 jobs to the state and “over a billion dollars in economic development to mostly rural towns in South Carolina” through his work at the state Department of Commerce, a feat that has gained him the support of his neighbors in the 5th Congressional District.

What has Ralph Norman done for District 5? Here are a couple things that he has voted against: protecting older Americans from workplace discrimination, regulating the tobacco industry’s targeting of teenagers, disaster relief funding, lowering the cost of prescription drugs, and tax fairness. Norman was also one of only 37 representatives who voted against establishing a women’s history museum in the Smithsonian Institute. If Norman can’t seem to vote for his constituents, why should his constituents vote for him?

Moe Brown represents a new generation of leaders who know the issues that are most important to their community because they are a part of the community themselves. Norman, on the other hand, represents everything South Carolinians despise about politics: a distant career politician who profits in office while his neighbors go without quality education or paved roads. The 5th Congressional District deserves better than the Republican status-quo that has dominated its last decade and Moe Brown is ready to fight for it.