CD1 Republican primary takes nasty turn with Haiti comments
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Screenshot: @JosephChaplik/X
The Republican primary for the pivotal 1st Congressional District took an ugly turn last week.
The big picture: The two candidates — former state Rep. Joseph Chaplik and former NFL kicker and political newbie Jay Feely — sparred on X in what Feely claims was a direct and racist dig at his close family friends, who are Haitian.
"I've made life better for every citizen in CD1… Jay Feely has only missed field goals to the left…..And imported Haitians," Chaplik wrote on May 7.
Background: Feely spent years doing nonprofit relief work in Haiti after a devastating 2010 earthquake there.
- He told Axios that he's helped two young Haitian men — a translator he worked with and his brother — come to the U.S. and has tried to assist 10 of their relatives in relocating as well.
- Feely considers the two men he assisted to be members of his family, he said.
What he's saying: "Their kids are like our grandkids," Feely said.
Feely responded on Wednesday, accusing Chaplik of denigrating his family.
- He said the men came here legally, got education and jobs, and "represent the American dream."
Chaplik countered that his comment was not about Feely's family but his "history of bringing large numbers of Haitian migrants to NGOs in an attempt to get amnesty here," and a congressional proposal to extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian migrants, which President Trump opposes and Chaplik accused Feely of supporting.
- Feely told us he doesn't.
In a statement his campaign provided to Axios, Chaplik said his tweet referenced "the fact that Jay Feely personally claims to have worked with NGOs to bring Haitian migrants into this country for amnesty."
- Feely emphasized to us that in a video clip Chaplik posted, he was talking about trying to get asylum for members of one family, not "trying to bring random people in."