North Carolina Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper was caught on a hot mic Monday telling former Vice President Joe Biden that although Democratic Senate candidate Cal Cunningham’s sexual scandals were “frustrating,” they would get him “across the line.”
“I think we’re going to all get across the line,” Cooper told Biden. “I think Cal is going to get across the line too. I know that’s frustrating, but, we’ll get him. We’ll get him across,” he said referring to the North Carolina Senate seat.
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Cunningham, 47, is locked in a toss-up Senate race with Republican incumbent Thom Tillis holding on to a narrow three-point lead in RealClearPolitics’ latest aggregate of polls, despite revelations of a new sex scandal plaguing the North Carolina Democrat’s campaign.
Earlier this month, the National File published explicit text messages between Cunningham and a married California woman named Arlene Guzman that were confirmed by the Associated Press.
Guzman told the AP that the affair included a sexual encounter in Raleigh this summer after one in Los Angeles in March.
While Cunningham has apologized for the affair, he has denied Guzman’s account while keeping his focus on health care.
“I’ve taken responsibility for the hurt I’ve caused in my personal life. I’ve apologized for it. I’ve said what I’m going to say about it,” Cunningham said during an Oct. 7 press event following the new allegations, according to the News & Observer.
Cunningham has been married for 20 years and has two children.
“Cal Cunningham’s sex scandal is dragging down Democrats statewide and it’s no wonder that Roy Cooper called Cunningham’s misconduct ‘frustrating’ and that Biden wasn’t campaigning with him,” North Carolina Republican Party Press Secretary Tim Wigginton said in a statement following the hot mic conversation. “Members of Cunningham’s own party are distancing themselves from him because they know his affair has exposed his campaign as one big lie. Cunningham is a dishonorable hypocrite who will put himself before the people of North Carolina time and again.”
