The aftermath can be harsh, too. Democrat Rebecca Hyland’s campaign manager launches race and gender based assault on winning Republicans.

It started with a post-election declaration on Twitter by Whitney Mooney. She was the campaign manager for Democrat Rebecca Hyland, who lost her bid to oust incumbent Republican state Representative Craig Fishbein in the 90th House District (Middlefield and part of Wallingford).

Mooney deleted the tweet, but not before Fishbein (a white Republican man) expressed his dismay at the vulgar race and gender based assault. Mooney responded that she did not mention Fishbein when she posted her complaint, though he’d beaten her candidate the night before by a 10-point margin.

Fishbein retweeted a racist meme in 2020. An uproar ensued. Fishbein apologized and as a member of the Wallingford Town Council, voted to censure himself. Two years later, the Wallingford Republican is more sensitive about racially charged social media post than he was when his nearly took him out of office. His sensibilities have changed but his response to Mooney’s ugly tweet suggest Fishbein may want to learn a little about mixing one’s hashtags.

Published November 11, 2022.