WASHINGTON — In 2022, Jay Jones sent text messages to a former colleague about a senior state Republican in Virginia getting “two bullets to the head.”
When the texts were shared by his colleague a month before the Virginia general election, Jones, the Democratic candidate for attorney general, was slammed for the violent rhetoric. Winsome Earle-Sears, the Republican candidate for governor, called for Jones to withdraw from the race.
Despite the scandal, Jones won, defeating incumbent Jason Miyares with 52.9% of the vote.
Some voters were concerned about Jones’ comments. Others said the texts did not affect their vote.
For Imani Moore, a 25-year-old Dumfries resident who identifies as a non-binary lesbian, Jones’ comments did not matter.
“I can see how it would change someone’s mind,” Moore said. “But for me, I don’t really care.”
Kaira Sullivan, 25 and Moore’s wife, is a transgender woman who works in the military.
“I definitely think the comments probably went a bit too far, but compared to Republican comments in the past, it’s nothing,” Sullivan said.
Scandals involving digital footprints such as Jones’ are not isolated. In October alone, several political scandals were revealed because of digital footprints.
When Jones’ texts went public, hateful messages from a group chat featuring Young Republican leaders were leaked as well. Later that month, footage of Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner dancing shirtless revealed a chest tattoo resembling a Nazi skull and crossbones. Platner has since apologized and covered up the tattoo. Shortly after, Paul Ingrassia withdrew from consideration to lead the U.S. Office of Special Counsel after racist and anti-Semitic texts surfaced where Ingrassia claimed to have a “Nazi streak.”
‘Digital footprints didn’t really exist before’
As candidates running get younger, digital footprints are becoming a focal point for opposition research and attacks.
Jen Psaki, who served as White House press secretary for President Joe Biden and as communications director for President Barack Obama, said digital footprints are unique to our time.
“This is new, because digital footprints didn’t really exist before, what, 20 years ago, 15 years ago, 10 years ago,” Psaki said. “I guess it’s something — if you’re working on a campaign or thinking you may ever run for office — then you got to be mindful of that.”
Lis Smith was the senior advisor for Pete Buttigieg's 2020 presidential campaign and the director of rapid response for Obama's 2012 campaign.
“The average age of voters continues to go down. There are a lot more people who have digital footprints, who have a long Twitter, Instagram, Reddit history,” Smith said. “And so I think we’re adapting with that.”
Smith said voters recognizing their own shortcomings is why public tolerance is evolving.
“That’s why a lot of people understand like, ‘Man, there’s a time in my past where I posted something dumb online,” Smith said. “‘I don’t want to be judged for the rest of my life by the worst thing I send in a text or the worst thing I said online.’”
Chris Hinman is the chief executive officer at TheBestReputation, an online reputation and crisis management firm that recently focused on political figures and people who might run for office.
“I think this is the first generation of candidates where they’ve grown up with an online persona,” Hinman said. “Whether it’s like chat rooms or things that they’ve again posted on Facebook or Twitter back in the day, to any mistakes or gaffes they may have made along the way.”
‘The devolution of standards in politics’
Political scandals are not new. What is changing is voter tolerance and the ability to forgive past transgressions.
Daron Shaw is a professor of political science at the University of Texas, Austin, and an advisory board member for the Pew Elections Performance Index. He said the public’s willingness to forgive candidates’ pasts dates back to the 1990s.
“If you're going to take a look at the — I guess you say the devolution of standards in politics — Bill Clinton is an obvious focal point,” Shaw said. “You had a candidate who was accused of things that would have been disqualifying even 10 years prior.”
In the past, harsher penalties were imposed for less severe actions. Michael Dukakis, the 1988 Democratic presidential candidate, was photographed in a tank for a campaign photo. The photo backfired, drawing criticism for appearing awkward, and paving the way for George H.W. Bush to secure the presidency. Howard Dean, a 2004 Democratic presidential candidate, became the first viral political meme for his “Dean Scream.”
Shaw says polarization plays a role in how voters view candidates and politicians in office.
“Because polarization is so intense these days, people on your side will simply convince themselves that it's not relevant and it's better than having somebody from the other side,” Shaw said. “And I'll be darned, in purely crass political terms, I think that's right.”
Psaki said the broad scope of digital footprints results in “a lot of information competing at the same time.”
“But I think what we’ve learned from all of this is that scandals may not matter as much as they did years ago, ” Psaki said.
Tim Miller served as a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee and the communications director for Jeb Bush’s 2016 presidential campaign.
Miller said President Donald Trump changed the political landscape, particularly regarding opposition research, the practice of collecting information on a political opponent to discredit them.
“I'm not saying that oppo doesn't matter anymore, but I'm just thinking that most Trump era things are very different,” Miller said. “When I was doing oppo research in the 2010s, one video of somebody saying something mean about farmers could hurt their Iowa Senate race. I just, I don't think we're in that place anymore.”
‘Just be open, don’t be defensive’
Hinman said a common misconception is that digital content can be removed entirely. Hinman’s firm prepares for any digital footprint scandals in advance.
“That content often can’t be removed; it is going to be found,” Hinman said. “Rather than working to remove it, we work to rectify or correct it if we can.”
For Psaki, transparency is key in response.
“If you’re advising a candidate who has things come out, you want to get it all out, as much of it out at the same time,” Psaki said. “And then the candidate has to speak to it — this was true even before digital footprints were a thing.”
When something does come out, Smith said accountability is what connects with voters.
“We need to have a little bit more openness and permissive attitude to this stuff, because the next crop of candidates is coming up, all their entire adulthood will be spent online,” Smith said. “Just be open, don’t be defensive.”
In the case of Platner, Miller and Smith said it is possible that Platner will come back from these incidents.
“I think the way Graham Platner has handled it has been smart,” Smith said. “Politicians don’t need to be these perfect people who, from the second they came out of the womb, were thinking about running for office, and never posting anything online.”
According to the latest polling, Platner currently has a 20-point lead over Governor Janet Mills in Maine's U.S. Senate Democratic primary race.
“Look, I think people can overcome their digital footprint a lot more easily than in the past,” Miller said. “You've seen a backlash effect to the Platner oppo in a big way, you know, with a lot of people who are like, ‘You know, this kind of makes me like him more... in a way that he's being honest about his past.”
Psaki pointed to this year’s Virginia attorney general race as a harbinger.
“Jay Jones is now going to be the attorney general in Virginia,” Psaki said. “His texts were terrible, but people voted for him for other reasons, right?”
For other young candidates like Platner or Jack Schlossberg, a social media personality of Kennedy lineage running for Congress, these upcoming elections will be a litmus test of where the line is for voters today.
“Partisans will find a way to justify voting in a partisan manner,” Shaw said.
Katareena Roska is a reporter with Medill News Service.
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