Cal Cunningham Holds Disastrous Press Conference, Ensures Affair Scandals Will Not Go Away

Cal Cunningham Holds Disastrous Press Conference, Ensures Affair Scandals Will Not Go Away

Scandal-plagued Democrat Senate nominee Cal Cunningham held what his campaign described as a Zoom press conference earlier today to discuss his Republican opponent Sen. Thom Tillis’s supposed “failures” on the Wuhan Coronavirus relief bill.

It didn’t go well.

Instead of first addressing the affair scandals that have consumed his campaign since the start of October, Cunningham spent the first 30-35 minutes talking about North Carolina needing additional Wuhan virus funding and how Tillis had allegedly failed to deliver help for local residents who need it.

He and a campaign staffer (who was not seen on camera) “interviewed” local constituents and community leaders who talked about how they were struggling to make ends meet during the pandemic. At no point did you see anyone on camera other than Cunningham, even when other people were talking, which was very odd and at times awkward. It came off as a hastily arranged and scripted campaign event, obviously designed to distract from the questions he’s been dodging for the last week.

It came off that way because that’s exactly what it was. In fact, once Cunningham was done “interviewing” local supporters, the off-camera staffer quickly announced they were “running out of time” and could only take 10 minutes of questions from the media.

Not a single reporter asked about Coronavirus relief funding. The all got straight to the point, with the first two (predictably) openly apologizing and lamenting about the fact they even had to ask the question:

First reporter who asks Cal Cunningham a question about affairs scandal actually *apologized* for asking it before he asked. Unbelievable. I think it was Gary Robertson from the AP. #ncpol #ncsen

— Sister Toldjah ? (@sistertoldjah) October 9, 2020

Brian Murphy from McClatchy says in so many words he laments having to ask Cal Cunningham question about affairs scandal. Is there ANYONE from the #NCPOL media who will not act apologetic about having to do their jobs on this call?? #NCSEN

— Sister Toldjah ? (@sistertoldjah) October 9, 2020

But after that, reporters who actually were interested in getting answers from Cunningham went after him like pit bulls while Cunningham kept giving scripted answers about how he had “taken responsibility for the hurt that I’ve caused in my personal life”:

Joe Bruno from WSOC shows how it’s done: “With all due respect, you did not answer Brian Murphy’s question. Are there more women?” Cal Cunningham does not answer the question, continues to say this is a distraction from pandemic issues. #ncpol #ncsen

— Sister Toldjah ? (@sistertoldjah) October 9, 2020

Laura Leslie from WRAL asks the question again and Cal doesn’t answer again! He keeps repeating his short apology and then talks about Thom Tillis

— Joe Bruno (@JoeBrunoWSOC9) October 9, 2020

Now @Sharrison_WFAE asks a fourth time. “I’ve said what I’m going to say about it. I’ve answered the question” related to his extramarital relations. Dodged question four times #ncpol

— Nick Ochsner (@NickOchsnerWBTV) October 9, 2020

Watch below as questions are asked about if there are other women out there, and how Cunningham dodges:

Watch the recap of Cal Cunningham dodging multiple questions about additional affairs during his presser:

"I'm not hearing you say there aren't other women"

"He did not answer the direct questions about whether or not there are other women"

What else is @CalforNC hiding? pic.twitter.com/bDXkSDMg5S

— Chris Martin (@chrisjdmartin) October 9, 2020

You could really tell close to the end of it that the reporters felt agitated and used as props for his campaign. Travis Fain from Ralegh-based-WRAL summed up the call:

Asked 4 times whether there are more affairs yet unrevealed, #ncpol Senate candidate Cal Cunningham declined to say. There was probably a version of this presser that started to put this affair(s) in the rearview. The Cunningham campaign did not attempt that version. #NCsen

— Travis Fain (@TravisFain) October 9, 2020

The national media, who outside of the AP have been largely silent on this story, are finally paying closer attention to this race, too:

I've updated this post with North Carolina Democratic Senate candidate Cal Cunningham's disastrous news conference today, where he couldn't deny there might be even more affair allegations with other women. https://t.co/tHq3fdmkFm

— Amber Phillips (@byamberphillips) October 9, 2020

I’ve followed the North Carolina political press corps and their reporting for a good decade or so, and I can tell you that it takes a lot for a Democrat to get on their bad side. He did that today, which was not a smart move on his campaign’s part going into the home stretch of the race.

In any event, the following questions remain unanswered:

To date, Cal Cunningham has failed to address the following questions:

1) If he will, like Guzman Todd, confirm the affair. So far, he has not said anything about it beyond acknowledging the sexting. #ncpol #ncsen

— Sister Toldjah ? (@sistertoldjah) October 9, 2020

2) Will Democrat Senate nominee Cal Cunningham confirm or deny the second affair allegation, the one where he allegedly has been seeing another woman since 2012? #ncpol #ncsen

— Sister Toldjah ? (@sistertoldjah) October 9, 2020

3) At any point was/were Cal Cunningham’s affair(s?) conducted on military premises and/or on military time? #ncpol #ncsen

— Sister Toldjah ? (@sistertoldjah) October 9, 2020

I think the fact that he hasn’t denied any of the allegations against him to date speaks volumes as to what the answer is to the yes or no questions being asked of him. Much like the Biden-Harris campaign’s refusal to answer whether or not they’d pack the Supreme Court, it’s what Cunningham is not telling us that is most revealing about the real Cal Cunningham.

— Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter. —

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