Virginia county Dems post, delete 'angry black woman' cartoon of Winsome Sears in debate with Abigail Spanberger

The Powhatan County Democrats posted and then deleted a political cartoon depicting GOP gubernatorial candidate in Virginia Winsome Earle-Sears as what some people thought to be an "angry black woman" in Thursday's debate with Democrat candidate Abigail Spanberger.

The cartoon depicts Winsome-Sears yelling and screaming at Spanberger while the Democrat candidate says, "May I speak?"

After backlash and reaction to the cartoon, the Powhatan Democrats deleted the post, then issued an apology on X, saying, "We reposted an online political cartoon that some people thought had racist overtones. That was certainly not our intent. We have deleted it out of respect to anyone who took it that way."

Many reacted to the post, calling it out as racist and perpetuating stereotypes. One user posted the names of the Powhatan Democratic Committee board, and then the Powhatan County Democrat account responded with Chair Bob Kelly taking on all responsibility for the cartoon.

"It is Bob Kelly. I take sole responsibility for this. Reposting this cartoon without thinking about how it would impact people was mistake in judgement in the midst of a contentious campaign. I apologize to my GOP friends and to Winsome Earle-Sears. We are, indeed, not enemies."

Another user said, "If you racists didn’t find this on the Jim Crow Museum, you should submit it. It checks all the boxes for disgusting negative racial stereotypes. Spanberger team is disgusting. You just can’t help yourselves."

Another person posted the cartoon in response to the apology and said, "Your candidate literally spent the night simping for a wannabe murderer...and you took away that the African American lady was rude?"

Some also compared it to an incident earlier in the campaign, where a protester held up a sign at a rally for Earle-Sears, which said, "Hey Winsome, if trans can't share your bathroom then blacks can't share my water fountain."

During the debate, Spanberger would often stay silent as Earle-Sears tried to get her opponent to recant her support for Jay Jones in the state attorney general race. Despite multiple times pressing on the question, Spanberger did not reverse her support of Jones. Texts from 2022 recently revealed that he called for the assassination of a political opponent.