NC Dem Senate Candidate Cal Cunningham Caught in Sexting Scandal With Woman Who Is Not His Wife

NC Dem Senate Candidate Cal Cunningham Caught in Sexting Scandal With Woman Who Is Not His Wife

North Carolinians were hit with a double whammy on Friday on the political front with two major developments in the U.S. Senate race.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R) announced he had tested positive for the Wuhan Coronavirus just a day after we learned President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump were diagnosed with it. Tillis said in a statement that he had no symptoms and would be quarantining for 10 days per doctor’s orders.

The other big news in the race was the admission of Tillis’s Democratic opponent Cal Cunningham to exchanging “sexts” with a California woman who was not his wife:

Cunningham sent several text messages to a woman in which the two discussed kissing and hypothetically spending the night together, according to screenshots of the messages that were posted online Thursday. The messages were originally posted by the right-wing website NationalFile.com and confirmed by the News & Observer of Raleigh, N.C., late Friday.

“Would make my day to roll over and kiss you right now,” Cunningham wrote in one of the messages. Dates were not included in the screenshots. The woman sent a separate text message asking when she could see him, writing, “I want to kiss you,” and later, “I want a night with you,” according to the screenshots.

His campaign confirmed Friday that the texts were authentic.

National File went into more detail about the sexts than other media outlets did, noting how the two appeared to be planning to get together assuming he could ditch his family and staffers:

Cunningham refers to Guzman Todd in the text messages below as “historically sexy,” imagines kissing her, says he has been dreaming “of our time together,” and the two plan for Cunningham to make up an excuse for his family and ditch a staffer so the two can meet and, in Guzman Todd’s words, “kiss a lot.” Guzman Todd says she wants “a night with you” and Cunningham agrees that he wants that too. Guzman Todd says that “the only thing I want on my to do list is you” and Cunningham says that “Sounds so hot and so fun!”

California strategist Arlene Guzman Todd is the woman with whom Cunningham was sexting. According to National File, she’s married to Army veteran Jeremy Todd, an active-duty servicemember who served in combat roles in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Here’s a screengrab of all the texts:

When I first saw “starch your white shirt and be ready to kiss a lot” I thought this had to be fake.

But it’s real. #NCpol #NCsen https://t.co/X44nuYgMUr pic.twitter.com/YniNCbvgSa

— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) October 3, 2020

Cunningham, also an Army veteran who served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, issued a statement Friday night apologizing for his actions and noting he was staying in the Senate race:

Statement from Cal Cunningham on sexual text messages between him and a woman other than his wife, as first reported by National File. https://t.co/4S8OzSRhsu pic.twitter.com/TRHvE81TVJ

— David Hodges (@hodgesreporting) October 3, 2020

The former state senator also has two teenage children.

Just a few days ago, Cunningham and his wife Elizabeth did an interview with a local news station in which the reporter noted his wife said that the man Cunningham was on the campaign trail was who he really was. Clearly, this did not age well:

Cal Cunningham and his wife sat down with Spectrum News recently. It aired earlier this week, just before news of his sexting broke.

“Elizabeth says as voters evaluate their decision this fall, the man her husband presents himself to be in public is who he is in real life.” pic.twitter.com/O4OARFGgbZ

— Joanna Rodriguez (@joannamrod) October 3, 2020

In light of the news of Cunningham’s digital affair with another woman, the question is once again being raised as to the wisdom of early voting:

https://twitter.com/mjrusher/status/1312351643887980544

DEVELOPMENTS IN THE NC-SEN RACE IN THE LAST FEW HOURS:

Thom Tillis: gets COVID-19.
His challenger Cal Cunningham: caught sexting with a woman very much not his wife.

Tell me again about why early voting is anything except a pox upon the republic that parties cynically exploit.

— Jeff B., who on earth is this guy?? (@EsotericCD) October 3, 2020

Cracks were also made about the nature of the sexting:

*reads Cal Cunningham’s “and you are historically sexy”* pic.twitter.com/19R7d8DcKH

— Jesse Hunt (@JJHunt10) October 3, 2020

But more importantly: Cal Cunningham sexts like a fucking dork. https://t.co/J9r54dcvt4

— Sara Pequeño (@sara__pequeno) October 3, 2020

Cal Cunningham tests positive for creepiness.

— David Harsanyi (@davidharsanyi) October 3, 2020

Others pointed out the similarities between Cunningham’s fall from grace to that of disgraced former Democratic Sen. John Edwards, who cheated on his wife Elizabeth as she battled cancer:

When it comes to the NC Democrats, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, apparently #ncpol #NCSen pic.twitter.com/HJlMFiZ3d0

— Will DiBugno (@BlueCollarGOPer) October 3, 2020

https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/1312342788760100864

Someone graduated from the John Edwards School of North Carolina Politics https://t.co/s8H51UgT5z

— Bill Scher (@billscher) October 3, 2020

Oh cool, Cal Cunningham is actually John Edwards.

North Carolina, y’all got a problem with these cute boys with hungry eyes and unfaithful actions. Get it together.

— Sally (@sallamode) October 3, 2020

Cunningham currently leads Tillis in the polls, but between his wacky Wuhan virus vaccine conspiracy theories and now this, that could change in the coming weeks.

In his race with then-Sen. Kay Hagan in 2014, Tillis was also behind in the polls but had a late surge in the campaign and went on to win the race.

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

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