Colonial Heights House candidates clash over audio of Democrat calling cops 'murderers'

COLONIAL HEIGHTS — Democratic House candidate Katie Sponsler says a recording of her referring to police officers as murderers has been "intentionally misinterpreted" by her Republican challenger, but she stands by the comments she is heard making.

In a phone interview Friday, Sponsler said the person doing the recording was one of Mike Cherry's campaign trackers and she knew the conversation was being recorded. She said she expected that the Cherry campaign would try to use that recording against her by taking it out of context.

The recording was made public Friday morning by the online news outlet Virginia Scope. In it, Sponsler, a National Park Service ranger with police training, was responding to a question during a July 22 campaign appearance at Harry G. Daniel Park in Chesterfield County about the conduct of some police officers.

"Look these are my buddies. Like honestly I mean, some of them are," Sponsler is heard saying. "There’s definitely some who are murderers. And I would call them out in a minute.”

Virginia Scope journalist Brandon Jarvis tweeted the recording Friday morning, and the Cherry campaign wasted no time in attacking it.

"Sponsler has been masquerading as a moderate because she knows her far-left views are too extreme," Cherry said in a statement released by the campaign once the recording was tweeted. "It's disturbing to see her attack law enforcement and echo the language used by those who want to defund our police."

Cherry concluded his statement with a remark that has become a common theme among GOP candidates running for state office this year: "I'll stand up for law enforcement and always have their backs."

Friday afternoon, Sponsler said in the phone interview that she did not feel the comments she made were "inflammatory." Even though she is in the field, Sponsler said she knows there are good and bad cops on the streets, but unfortunately it is the bad cops who cause the problems for the industry.

She noted people like former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, who was convicted of murder in the 2020 death of George Floyd. In a now-famous video recording, Chauvin is seen subduing Floyd by holding his knee across Floyd's neck. That case prompted numerous protests over racial justice inequity.

Sponsler also said there are reports of police officers killing their own companions, as well as other abuses of their power.

"Those who do not take the responsibility seriously need to be called out, and I will always do that," Sponsler said. 

Sponsler claimed that the person doing the recording was a tracker for the Cherry campaign, but neither she nor her staff asked him to leave the event. Trackers are often sent by a campaign to the opponent's rallies and appearances to gather information often used in political advertisements.

A spokeswoman for Cherry disputed Sponsler's claim about the person's connection.

"The person who shared this recording is not a paid employee of the campaign," Lauren Fulcher said in a text to The Progress-Index. "The person in question is a concerned citizen and volunteer with the campaign."

That volunteer has not been identified.

Cherry, a Christian-school director and member of Colonial Heights City Council, and Sponsler are vying for the seat being vacated by former House Speaker and unsuccessful GOP gubernatorial candidate Kirk Cox. Cox, who has held the seat for three decades, has endorsed Cherry for the office.

The 66th House District includes all of the city of Colonial Heights and portions of southern and central Chesterfield County. It was redistricted ln 2019 to pull in more of the soon-to-be-former Jefferson Davis Highway corridor, an area that is one of the more Democratic parts of reliably Republican Chesterfield County. However, Cox won re-election over Democratic challenger Sheila Bynum-Coleman mostly on the support of GOP stronghold Colonial Heights, winning over four out of every five city voters.

Veteran journalist Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is the regional daily news coach for the USA TODAY Network Southeast Region's Unified Central group, which includes Virginia, West Virginia and portions of North Carolina. He is based at The Progress-Index in Petersburg, Virginia. Contact Bill at batkinson@progress-index.com, and follow him on Twitter at @BAtkinson_PI.