Texas Republican Susan Wright, who is running for Congress to fill her late husband Rep. Ron Wright’s (R-TX) vacant seat, notified local and federal law enforcement Friday about an anonymous robocall circulating that falsely accuses Wright of killing her husband.
The Wright campaign alerted the Department of Justice, the FBI, the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office, and the Arlington Police Department of the robocall, Wright general consultant Matt Langston told Breitbart News.
The robocall, which comes the day before the Sixth Congressional District’s May 1 special election, starts off abruptly by saying “Susan Wright murdered her husband” and then goes on to allege she took out a $1 million life insurance policy six months before his death.
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Ron Wright died in February a little over two weeks after being hospitalized with coronavirus and had also been battling lung cancer since 2018.
The call, which comes in from a blocked number, alleges Wright “tearfully confided in a nurse that she had purposefully contracted the coronavirus from a friend” after she “confirmed she had the antibodies necessary to overcome the virus” while “knowing full well” her husband was immunocompromised.
Wright said in a statement about the call, “This is illegal, immoral, and wrong. There’s not a sewer too deep that some politicians won’t plumb. Imagine it: someone is attacking my late husband, the love of my life, a man who gave me such joy in life.”
“I will not let darkness rule. I live by the light of Christ and his truth will sustain me – as it sustained me when I lost my husband,” she stated.
The campaign was first notified about the call by a local supporter Friday morning and then received several more reports of people receiving the call throughout the day, according to Langston.
“We all know that weak candidates default to character assassination when they know they’re going to lose a race, but today’s attack on Susan is truly disgusting,” he said in a statement about the anonymous calls, describing them as “criminal smears.”
A crowded field of more than 20 candidates are vying for the congressional seat on Saturday, and several analysts have assessed that the high number will likely result in a runoff election in the coming months.
The runoff election would be between the two candidates who receive the most votes if no candidate receives more than 50 percent on Saturday. The Cook Political Report partisan voter index rates the district six points favorable to Republicans.
Wright, a frontrunner on the Republican side, received a last-minute endorsement this week from former President Donald Trump, who said she “will be a terrific Congresswoman” and that “she will be strong on the Border, Crime, Pro-Life, our brave military and Vets, and will ALWAYS protect your Second Amendment.”
State Rep. Jake Ellzey, another frontrunning Republican candidate, condemned the robocall attack against Wright as “one of the most vile, cowardly acts I’ve ever witnessed in politics.”
The Texas Republican Party issued a statement denouncing it as “abhorrent” and “slanderous.”
“The TXGOP will never tolerate behavior like this and stands diametrically opposed to the spread of slanderous fake news,” the statement read. “All parties responsible for this action must be found and face the consequences of these actions.”
Write to Ashley Oliver at aoliver@breitbart.com.
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