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Christian Cano, a Democrat running for a U.S. House of Resentative seat in North Carolina, has caused an uproar with controversial comments he made about his primary opponent.
Cano, a challenger for the North Carolina 9th Congressional District House seat, labeled his Democratic opponent a “coward” and a “p***y” in a post to his personal Facebook page.
Cano was calling out Democrat Dan McCready, whom he’s running against in the 2018 election. Cano was extremely critical of McReady for what he says was not going far enough to stand against racism, bigotry and white nationalists after President Donald Trump‘s remarks following violent incidents in Charlottesville, Virginia.
The complete cowardness of @reppittenger & @McCreadyForNC is shameful. I know more girlscotts that have more courage. @dccc @votevets #NC09
“Go on the record you coward!” Cano wrote in a Facebook post. “You’re running as a Marine veteran. Stop being a coward and stand up for something you p***y!”
Read to controversial Facebook post below:
A Facebook post on Christian Cano’s personal Facebook page.
Cano and McCready will face off in a 2018 primary race for the seat currently held by Republican Robert Pittenger.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Cano’s Opponent is a Marine Veteran Who Joined After 9/11
Dan McCready
According to his biography on his campaign website, McCready is a “veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, a business leader, a husband and a father of four.” He graduated from a public school in Charlotte and became and Eagle Scout during his younger years.
After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, though, things changed for good. A freshman at the time of the horrific attacks, McCready said he “felt called to serve our country.” He planned to obtain an economics degree, but ultimately decided to put those plans on hold and join the Marines.
In 2007, McCready led 65 Marines in the 2007 Iraq surge. While serving, McCready was often looked to by his colleagues as a leader of the Christian faith, and he was baptized in water from the Euphrates river. After his service, he was honorably discharged as a Marine captain.
McCready went on to graduate from Harvard Business School and worked for McKinsey & Company. After that, he started his own company that built solar farms throughout North Carolina.
His biography said he was pushed to run for political office because he “feels the American Dream is under threat by Washington politicians who put party before country and special interests before working families.”
2. McCready Commented on the Charlottesville Violence & Trump’s Controversial Remarks
Following remarks by the president that many saw as disparaging toward American society, McCready called out hatred and bigotry in a series of Twitter posts. His opinion came after widespread violence in Charlottesville left three total dead and 34 injured.
“The kind of hate we saw in Charlottesville last night is not what I fought for and it’s not what we stand for as Americans,” McCready wrote in a tweet.
Praying today that my kids will grow up to a world without bigotry or terror, with courageous leaders who call out evil by name.
On August 16, McCready posted a statement to his official campaign Facebook page, saying that when he was a child, he remembered “hearing stories about (his) grandfather serving during World War II.”
“I heard all about the Nazis’ determination to wipe out the free world and replace it with fear and oppression,” he wrote.
3. Cano Has Stood by His Controversial Facebook Post
According to reporter Joe Bruno of WSOC-TV, Cano has since stood by his harsh criticism of McCready.
The Facebook post on his personal page has since been deleted, however.
4. Cano Spent Over 2 Decades Working in the Hotel Industry
According to an article by The Daily Kos, Cano worked for over two decades in the hotel industry and described himself as being an “aspiring business owner” from Charlotte.
One of Cano’s campaign vows is to fight for the Hispanic communities in the region, and he said he’s consistently fought for LGBTQ equality in Charlotte. The Daily Kos article said he also had a hand in helping elect Charlotte’s Democratic Mayor Jennifer Roberts.
“He constantly shows support for Progressive values, whether it’s standing with postal workers to protect their union, fighting for the LGBT community, or working to replace DINOs with Progressive Democrats on Charlotte’s City Council,” the article said.
One of the points he’s running on — and his campaign slogan — is “bringing neighbors together.” He told The Daily Kos that the motto describes his desire to bring people together that have been “frustrated with the divisiveness in politics.”
“That is not just good politics, that is good business. This animosity towards each other has started to impact our business, our government where we have magistrates and others who are paid by taxpayers who refuse to do their jobs. We need to stop this before it gets to that point,” he said.
5. Cano Bought a Hillary Clinton Domain Name But Ended up Supporting Bernie Sanders
Cano ran for the House seat during the 2016 election and lost to Pittenger by a wide margin (58.2 percent to 41.8 percent). Pittinger scraped by during the primary election, by just 134 votes after a recount was held.
But in May, it was announced that Cano wanted a re-match with Pittenger for the House seat in 2018, and he was joined by McCready.
When it was widely rumored that Hillary Clinton would run for president in 2016, Cano purchased the rights to Hillary2016.org. He told The Daily Kos he did so to “prevent someone from the GOP or other groups in opposition to Hillary from grabbing” that web domain.
Cano initially planned to use the website to cast support for Clinton in the race, but ended up supporting Senator Bernie Sanders in the Democratic presidential primary.
