A heated race for North Carolina’s 6th district seat in the U.S. House of Representatives has drawn the attention of federal investigators – after they received a complaint that incumbent Rep. Mark Walker recently filed against a Twitter user he believes to have posed harm to the safety of him and his family. As it turns out, one of the threats Rep. Walker alluded to in his grievance involved his counterpart’s use of bomb emojis in his messages.
“After a number of threatening messages, including bombing references, mentions of Walker and his family, and attempts to locate the school his daughter attends, our staff sent the message contents to the Capitol Police,” The Herald Sun quotes a spokesperson for Rep. Walker’s campaign as stating – in regards to the numerous taunts that Raleigh native Andrew Cabaccang has allegedly addressed towards him.
What has stoked particular interest in the Cabaccang is the fact that he is not some mere random tweeter, but an ardent political opponent whom Democratic challenger Ryan Watts has championed as “a very loyal follower!” whose support he does “appreciate.” According to what Rep. Walker inferred in a post that he published to Facebook out of frustration with the heckling he claims to have endured, Cabaccang’s vitriol is a product of him working in cahoots with Watt to try and defame him on social media.
“Mr. Watts has shared or liked the wingman’s salacious attacks more than 75 occasions. How classless!” Rep. Walker wrote after alleging that Cabaccang has been hammering him with a year-long smear campaign that has up until this point been responsible for rumors spreading about his sexuality and commitment to his family.
https://www.facebook.com/Walker4NC/posts/1892620490826524?__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARAJklkoFzSZchQRlp151_7O7mpZfMq-9SBMRf5x4AZi0lDfKulYpOTezF6Ht-k_s8dXO5idiQdzv0RD4RHxHER7NLV4tOwXmfV3iyxC3B1LriVEDlAAOY7Jn5uqaPCYmuNJTzizMmFCQe02DRNSFNuVqK_hc38G853usypYMPHQFOIpTO1NLA&__tn__=-R
The slights that Rep. Walker says Cabaccang has made against his character are one thing, but implications that the well being of him or his family was in jeopardy are another. Aside from the suspect’s alleged bomb threat, it was the peculiar way in which Cabaccang one day inquired into the location of his daughter’s school that gave Rep. Walker pause. In response, Rep. Walker informed law enforcement and by September 19 authorities had paid a visit to Cabaccang at his current residence in Montana.
Have you twittered for your candidate ( @watts4congress ) so hard that his petty AF opponent ( @walker4nc @repmarkwalker @jackminorjr ) called the @FBI on you for a ?emoji in a failed attempt to intimidate you? Had your ?? searched? #Snowflake #Bully #AbuseOfPower #Loser https://t.co/UMLwLuSjb6
— ???? DREW. ?? #GoZags ? (@Drew_Yall) October 2, 2018
Cabaccang has since shared the experience with his online community and vowed to go even harder in his efforts to discredit Rep. Walker’s candidacy now that an investigation has cleared him of posing any credible threat.
“Have you twittered for your candidate ( @watts4congress ) so hard that his petty AF opponent ( @walker4nc @repmarkwalker @jackminorjr ) called the @FBI on you for a [bomb] emoji in a failed attempt to intimidate you? Had your [home and computer] searched?” Cabaccang would ask readers in a tweet that he capped off with the hashtags: “#Snowflake,” “#Bully,” “#AbuseOfPower,” and “#Loser.”
