The Democratic candidate for governor of Virginia removed his black running mate from some campaign fliers after unions objected to environmental positions held by the No. 2 man on the November ballot, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported Tuesday.
The fliers include gubernatorial candidate Ralph Northam and Attorney General Mark Herring, who is running for re-election in a race seen as an early referendum on President Donald Trump. But the fliers distributed in heavily Democratic Northern Virginia deleted all mention of Justin Fairfax, candidate for Lt. Gov., including his photo.
Northam's "willingness to erase his own running mate from campaign fliers, at the behest of union leaders, reveals the incredible incoherence of Virginia's Democratic party," the National Review said.
Fairfax, a former assistant U.S. attorney in Virginia, opposes natural-gas pipelines that are strongly supported by the Laborers' International Union of North America.
The union requested Northam remove Fairfax from the fliers because he "wasn't supporting us on the issues," Brian Petruska, general counsel for the union's Mid-Atlantic Organizing Coalition, told the Richmond newspaper.
Fairfax opposes the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline and the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, which are planned to cross Virginia.
A spokesman for Northam, who supports the pipeline, said the fliers were distributed to union members to pass out and represents "roughly .5 percent" of more than three million pieces of campaign literature printed.
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