West Texas voters are divided after Lubbock County’s Young Republicans encouraged voters this weekend to “vote hard R” in November. The Lubbock County Democratic Party quickly condemned the post, which was only up for about six hours Saturday. But social media comments show not everyone thinks the post was as egregious as it’s been made to seem.
The Lubbock Young Republicans made the Facebook post Saturday while blockwalking in Lubbock.
“There are only ever 2 choices. And ours is always the better one. Vote hard R this November,” read the caption, which was accompanied by a photograph of the blockwalking team.
According to a statement from the Lubbock Young Republicans, “Hard R” was meant as a shorthand for “strong Republican voter.”
However, a condemnation Sunday on Facebook from the Lubbock Democratic Party called it a “clear and deliberate reference to a deeply harmful racial slur targeting the Black community.” The condemnation also said the post was only removed because of significant public outcry and widespread online backlash.
A screenshot of the Young Republicans’ post from the Democratic Party showed 33 Facebook interactions after it had been up for five hours. The majority of those interactions were “likes.”
Lubbock Young Republicans say racism was not the group’s intent.
“It was not a racial reference. When we saw the phrase was being interpreted differently, we removed the post,” the Young Republicans’ statement read. A representative from the organization was unable to speak further on Monday.
The comments on the Democratic Party’s post show quite a few West Texans are inclined to agree with the Young Republicans.
“How is ‘Vote hard with the R’ racist? I don’t understand. R = Republican. Serious question… what are you referring to here?” commenter Mark Mansfield said.
“Yall ever stop and wonder if something is going to sound stupid as hell or do yall just go for it?” Jarod Lee asked, while Missy Turner took the opportunity to repeat the Young Republicans, leaving just “VOTE HARD RED!!!!!”
Others said it was the Democrats instead who were racist. But a few took the opportunity to attempt to educate other commenters.
“The phrase ‘a hard r’ is a known dog whistle for racists among [a] younger generation,” Lesa Haney posted. “Since this was posted by a Young Political group, the connection to this racist phrase was connected by younger people in their community and they were called out on it.”
This is at least the second time Lubbock Republicans have come under fire in the past week. A video circulating on Facebook appears to show Lubbock County Commissioner Jason Corley leaving an empty bottle of Fireball whiskey in a resident’s planter while door knocking, according to Kiss.FM.