Friday evening, Alabama’s third district Democratic congressional nominee Mallory Hagan took to Twitter to complain about what was part of an apparent effort to draw attention to her flailing campaign.
Hagan, in a story published earlier that day, made an extraordinary claim to the Associated Press’ Kim Chandler that “more than 55,000 voters in the 3rd Congressional District have been disqualified or labeled inactive since February 2017.”
She used a two-year-old quote to bolster her claim cited by Refinery 29, a website that also produces insightful documentaries entitled, “From eyeshadow to lipstick, learn how your favorite products are made,” in which Merrill said exercising the privilege of voting required “some initiative.”
“If you’re too sorry or lazy to get up off of your rear and to go register to vote… and then to go vote, then you don’t deserve that privilege. As long as I’m SOS of AL, you’re going to have to show some initiative…”@JohnHMerrill https://t.co/2oLPmBflZO
— Mallory Hagan (@HaganforHouse) October 19, 2018
Merrill responded to Hagan’s attack, noting over 1 million voters had been registered during his Alabama Secretary of State tenure. Then from there, the exchange escalated with Merrill suggesting that Hagan “get off Twitter” to campaign and better her long-shot bid against her incumbent opponent Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Saks).
We have registered more voters than any other time in the history of the state with 1,109,095 registered voters since I became Secretary of State. We now have 3,442,170 registered voters. An all time high in state history. 93% of our eligible citizens are registered to vote
— John Merrill (@JohnHMerrill) October 20, 2018
Liberals don’t care about helping people, they just care about promoting out of touch agendas…
— John Merrill (@JohnHMerrill) October 20, 2018
Wait— wanting ALL voters to have an understanding of their basic voting rights and have access to vote is an “out of touch agenda?”
Good to know.
— Mallory Hagan (@HaganforHouse) October 20, 2018
This is a real person who has a real child, not a bot, who has personally witnessed our office helping people. We haven’t seen any evidence of your initiatives to help anyone result in a positive change for any family in Alabama……crickets
— John Merrill (@JohnHMerrill) October 20, 2018
What are you even talking about, John? No one said you weren’t. You’re the one who got defensive. We should be working together, but instead you’re throwing insults about a “liberal agenda.”
We announced our efforts on Thursday and have had an influx of calls.
— Mallory Hagan (@HaganforHouse) October 20, 2018
And as for my helping people in Alabama— let’s talk about my work for the children of Alabama with the likes of @PCAAmerica @SafeHorizon @CMNHospitals, etc.
If you haven’t seen my advocacy work, it’s because you’re choosing not to. Get over yourself.
— Mallory Hagan (@HaganforHouse) October 20, 2018
You need to decide if you are running for Congress or for Secretary of State. I think it’s very obvious at this point that you’re not sure.
— John Merrill (@JohnHMerrill) October 20, 2018
It’s hard to run for Congress if people can’t vote, John. Besides, @MilamForAL is the best candidate for the job.
How about hopping off twitter and setting up a reminder for Alabama residents to register by Monday. ??
— Mallory Hagan (@HaganforHouse) October 20, 2018
You need to get off Twitter and get out campaigning because you are way behind. The people in the third congressional district in Alabama are not liberal like the people in New York are. You’re going to find that out on November 6.
— John Merrill (@JohnHMerrill) October 20, 2018
Actually, perhaps they ARE more liberal than you like and that’s why you’re out here purging votes ??♀️
Can’t win fair and square? Gerrymander and purge!
Good news is, John, I can both campaign AND tweet— that’s why we need more young folks in office. ??
— Mallory Hagan (@HaganforHouse) October 20, 2018
Have you even been to every county in your district yet? I’ve been to every county in the state 7 times and 6 years in a row! I think is pretty well-documented that I have a very strong social media presence. Check with your liberals who have sued me.
— John Merrill (@JohnHMerrill) October 20, 2018
@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and is the editor of Breitbart TV.
