A racially inflammatory flier claims Gov. Kay Ivey and other Alabama Republicans support -- what it calls -- President Trump's plan to "Make America White Again." The mailer included images of the President, the Confederate battle flag, the Ku Klux Klan, and a swastika. The text charged Ivey, state Attorney General Steve Marshall, and GOP lawmakers with plotting to kill Obamacare, food stamps, criminal justice reform, college programs, and voting and civil rights, and exhorted supporters to vote on Nov. 6. The flier lists several sponsors, including "Vote or Die," and the Alabama New South Coalition, an organization of black Democrats whose political arm supports Ivey's opponent, Tuscaloosa mayor Walt Maddox. Maddox's campaign has not condemned the flier.
Alabama Republican Party Chairman Terry Lathan issued the following statement:
“The only hate on the rise is paying for and condoning blatant lies such as this incendiary garbage. Producing this outlandish propaganda is trying to divide and scare people- the opposite of what they claim they don’t want.”
“I call upon the ‘Vote or Die’ group to apologize for their disrespect and total falsehoods to all Alabamians regardless of their skin color and to stop being a part of hurtful divisiveness.”
Observers said the tract appeared aimed at energizing the Democratic Party's base, especially black voters, to turn out in large numbers for the election. The incendiary language employed, say analysts, raises questions about the enthusiasm levels of those voters.