Georgia Congresswoman Lucy McBath (D-Ga.) is hitting back at Republican groups she claims have made her and her family the target of their baseless, unrelenting attacks in the media.
McBath, who rose to national prominence in 2012 after her 17–year–old son, Jordan Davis, was shot to death by Michael David Dunn after a dispute over loud music, cemented herself as a gun control activist last year after unseating Republican Rep. Karen Handel in the House of Representatives for Georgia’s 6th District.
In recent weeks, Georgia Rep. Lucy McBath has been forced to defend herself against claims that she’s actually a resident of Tennessee — not Georgia. (Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
She was among the nearly 50 Black women who made a bid for Congress in November and became the first Democrat to represent Georgia’s 6th District since 1993. It seems her success has gotten under the skin of her right-wing adversaries, however, who called themselves “trolling” the first-time representative over questions of whether she actually lives in Georgia
The attacks started earlier this week after conservative blogs began falsely reporting that McBath and her husband were residents of Tennessee — not Cobb County, Georgia. McBath has denied the claims, but that hasn’t stopped Fox News from picking up the story and running with it.
“The state’s Cobb County Tax Commissioner’s Office, which refrained from issuing a decision during the election due to appeals, confirmed last month that McBath did not meet the requirements to call her Cobb County home her primary residence for the three tax years leading up to the election, meaning she was a Tennessee resident when she was elected to Congress,” the conservative news site reported Wednesday.
In that same article, Fox News gushed over the fact that the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) had trolled McBath by sending her a goodie basket filled with Tenneseean goods, including a canister of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey-infused coffee, a bottle of Memphis BBQ sauce, and a University of Tennessee hat to her alleged home in Rockford, Tenn.
“The lawmaker accepted the gift on Friday, (April 5) at 10:45 a.m. and signed for it as ‘LMCBATH,’ ” Fox News reported, displaying a copy of what appears to be the congresswoman’s signature. Except, it wasn’t.
It turns out the joke was on the NRCC, who’d actually sent the gift basket to the home of McBath’s mother-in-law.
“Sadly, the Republicans are pulling my family into false attacks,” McBath wrote on Twitter this week. “This is exactly why I ran for office in the first place, because I am tired of politics as usual — and my constituents deserve better.”
The Georgia Democrat went on debunk Fox’s fake news report in a statement, explaining that her elderly mother-in-law had received an unsolicited package from the NRCC, which backed Handel’s campaign, and was the one who had signed for it.
“Pulling someone’s family into false partisan political attacks are exactly what people hate about Washington,” McBath wrote, adding that she and her family expect more trouble from the folks on the right. “I refuse to let Republicans harass my family.”
National Republican groups are harassing my family. My elderly mother-in-law has already received one unsolicited package, and we expect more.
I refuse to let Republicans harass my family – please stand with me today so we can send a message.
Chip in ⬇️https://t.co/3f9EAlnaux pic.twitter.com/g3XmDtA0UE
— Lucy McBath (@lucymcbath) April 10, 2019
