In fiercely competitive Democratic Senate race, social media influencers increasingly drive the conversation

Nevertheless, each candidate’s internet champions began increasingly associating their opposition to the campaigns themselves, prompting allegations that Talarico’s team was condoning or not earnestly trying to shut down racist or misogynistic commentary by his supporters, and that Crockett’s team was feeding misleading or negative content about Talarico to friendly creators and boosting the output.

Talarico spokesperson JT Ennis said, “Any claims that the team has engaged in racist online smears or that James is racist are completely without basis and deeply irresponsible.”