Statement from MassGOP Chairman Jim Lyons regarding Rayla Campbell's campaign for Secretary of the Commonwealth May 18, 2022 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Evan Lips, communications director 617-523-5005 ext. 245 WOBURN -- Rayla Campbell, a Republican candidate for secretary of state, earlier this month successfully submitted enough signatures from registered voters to become the first female African American candidate to qualify for statewide office in Massachusetts history. However, her achievement did not stop a Democrat attorney general candidate from falsely boasting that claim for herself yesterday -- and it predictably did not stop the media from parroting the same bogus claim: "That a Democrat candidate would go out and pretend to be the first to achieve something that a Republican candidate already accomplished, combined with the media being all too willing to run with such a false and misleading claim, is sadly unsurprising," Massachusetts Republican Party Chairman Jim Lyons said Wednesday. "Apparently you can only achieve recognition as an African-American woman if you're a Democrat." On May 6 the MassGOP announced that Campbell's campaign had overwhelmingly cleared the state's 5,000-signature threshold requirement for ballot qualification. Lyons pointed out that her campaign announcement made no mention of racial identity. "We're not into identity politics, nor are we about racially labeling our candidates," Lyons said. "The fact that a Democrat did this and that the media helped falsely promote this lie that she was the first to 'shatter barriers' is unfortunate but not uncommon. "The Democrats and their media surrogates love to lecture people about minorities 'shattering barriers' yet for them those accolades only seem to apply if you're on their team." The fictitious claim was first repeated by the news website MassLive.com. The site later tweaked the headline and edited the report but omitted any mention of the fact it was the Democrat attorney general candidate, former Boston City Councilor Andrea Campbell, who misled them. Link to press release Click here to check out our new podcast. Paid for by the Massachusetts Republican Party Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee Massachusetts Republican Party | 400 West Cummings Park, Suite 5650, Woburn, MA 01801 Unsubscribe [email protected] Update Profile | Constant Contact Data Notice Sent by [email protected] powered by Try email marketing for free today!