A candidate seeking the GOP nomination to take on Democrat Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL) set off a firestorm at a local event when she said she stood a better chance of pulling off an upset because she is black.
According to the Sun-Sentinel, 49-year-old Carla Spalding was speaking at an Americans For Trump-Broward event, when she took a shot at her primary opponents, saying she could swing more voters to the GOP side.
Spalding, who was born in Jamaica, is facing Joe Kauffman, who is white, and Carlos Reyes who is Hispanic.
According to Spalding, primary voters need to pick a candidate who “can get through the general election, and I’m the only one that can get through the general.”
She then added that she believes her race could pull over some voters from presumptive Democratic nominee Wasserman Schultz.
“They are not going to vote for an old white man in the certain communities. That’s a fact,” Spalding told the audience, eliciting gasps.
Responding to the outrage, she stated, "It doesn’t matter. I don’t care what you say.”
Joe Budd, president of Palm Beach County’s Trump Club, was present at the Broward group’s meeting and fired back calling the candidate a racist.
Budd said Spalding’s remark was “absolutely out of line. It’s a discriminatory racist comment. When I heard her say that, I was just shocked.”
“I think the voters will decide, but if she’s going to blow up like that in the primary, she’s going to blow up in the general [election campaign] as well,” Budd added.
Another attendee was also unhappy with the comment.
“I thought it was reverse racism. I thought it was horrible for her to say that” Republican Hilda Ramirez-Gainza said. “In my opinion, she’s buried her campaign by saying that.”
You can watch a video of the speech below via Twitter:
