The North Carolina Republican Party has drawn criticism for a social media graphic that closely resembles one previously shared by the state's Democratic Party. The graphic, intended to outline reasons to vote Republican in the upcoming midterms, was posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday.
Critics noted that the GOP's post appears to be a modified version of a graphic shared by the North Carolina Democratic Party less than two weeks prior. The Democratic version featured a blue background, a donkey illustration, and encouraged voters to support their healthcare, gas prices, groceries, paychecks, and democracy. The Republican graphic retained the donkey illustration and a similar layout but featured a red background and altered some text. Notably, the word "democracy" in the Democratic graphic was replaced with "republic" in the GOP's version.
The North Carolina Democratic Party provided a video to HuffPost demonstrating the editing layers of the graphic in Photoshop, suggesting direct adaptation.
Anderson Clayton, chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party, commented on X, stating, "and yet still no original thoughts from the NCGOP." In a statement, Clayton further criticized the Republicans, writing, "It’s incredibly telling that even when they’re copying and pasting other people’s work, North Carolina Republicans can’t pretend to support defending our democracy."
Clayton's statement also referenced the state's Republican party's actions on electoral maps and voting access, stating, "From making our electoral maps the most gerrymandered in the country to enacting new barriers to voting, like closing campus voting sites and attacking Sunday early voting hours, nobody would ever believe the NCGOP supports our democracy."
Social media users also teased the GOP for keeping the donkey symbol, a traditional emblem of the Democratic Party, in their graphic, with some calling the party "lazy" and "creatively bankrupt."