Accusations of racist texts, legal threats and an unaired campaign ad are fueling controversy in a Chesterfield County House race.
It all started in April, when Tavorise Marks, a former Democratic House candidate, accused the current Democratic nominee in HD-75, Lindsey Dougherty, of making racist statements about him. Marks and Dougherty ran against each other in 2019 for the Democratic nomination, and Dougherty won. Dougherty eventually lost to Del. Carrie Coyner in the general election and is now running against her six years later.
In a Facebook post on April 22, Marks wrote that he was notified during the 2019 primary that Dougherty and her campaign volunteer, Katie Sponsler, made racist statements in a text message group chat.
“In April of 2019, I received a text message from a member (a white woman) of the Liberal Women of Chesterfield County (LWCC),” Marks wrote. “The message was a screenshot of an LWCC group text that included Lindsey Dougherty and Katie Sponsler. The sender said in the text to me ‘I thought you should see this. It is wrong and I do not condone it.’ The screenshot showed messages from Lindsey Dougherty and Katie Sponsler (her campaign manager) stating racist, disparaging remarks about me directly and Black men in general. Comments from Dougherty included: ‘Large Black men like him make white women uncomfortable, he wont get our votes’, with Sponsler writing ‘They (Black men) are prone to rape and domestic violence. As a survivor, I’m triggered whenever I’m around Tavorise.’”
Dougherty denies that she has ever said anything racist about Marks.
Marks continued his April post, saying he informed the chair of the Chesterfield County Democratic Committee at the time, Sara Gaborik, and she apologized to him and said that the remarks were disgusting and did not reflect the values of the party.
“She then asks me not to release them and to ‘just let it go,’ and that it could ‘hurt the Party.’ As the immediate past Vice Chair of the Party at the time, I swallowed it and remained silent,” Marks wrote.
Gaborik would not confirm or deny Marks’ statement to Virginia Scope on Wednesday. She said she will not be making any statements and that there is a lawsuit pending.
Marks has not produced the screenshots of the exchange. He told Virginia Scope that they are on an old phone from a different carrier, and Apple cannot help him retrieve the old pictures without a receipt for the old phone or the old phone itself.
One Chesterfield Democrat, who asked to remain anonymous for this story, told Virginia Scope that they first heard of these accusations from Marks back in 2019, and that his story has not changed since.
Without Marks providing the screenshots of the exchange, Virginia Scope decided against running a story in April. But a cease-and-desist letter sent from the Elias Law Group to Marks and Coyner this week propelled this story forward.
“As counsel to Dougherty for Delegate, we demand that Friends of Carrie Coyner (the ‘Campaign’) and Tavorise Marks immediately cease-and-desist disseminating any communications, including advertisements, claiming that Lindsey Dougherty said or wrote to Mr. Marks that ‘Large Black men like [Marks] make white women uncomfortable, he wont get our votes’ or told Ms. Dougherty’s daughter that Mr. Marks ‘is a mean nasty Black man.’ These accusations are categorically false. Ms. Dougherty never made these alleged remarks,” the cease-and-desist letter states.
Marks, in a new Facebook post, announced that he received the letter from Dougherty’s lawyers.
“I AM SAYING THIS WITH MY FULL FUCKING CHEST – LINDSEY DOUGHERTY IS A RACIST!!!” he wrote. “THE STATEMENTS SHE AND KATIE SPONSLER MADE IN THAT TEXT THREAD ARE TRUE AND OCCURED! ALL OF MY STATEMENTS HAVE BEEN TRUE AND OCCURRED!!! THERE ARE ADDITIONAL WITNESSES TO THESE STATEMENTS!!! SO TAKE YOUR CEASE AND DESIST AND GO STRAIGHT TO HELL!!!”
The letter from her lawyers mentions a campaign advertisement in which Marks participates. The ad they cite has Marks in B-roll in the background of a Coyner ad.
However, Marks shared a post from Black Virginia News on his Facebook page. That post included a new video that has not yet aired on TV or digital platforms.
The ad has Marks talking to the camera and telling the story that he first posted on Facebook in April.
The Coyner campaign sponsored the ad, but they have not run it on TV or digital platforms.
“To date this ad has not yet aired, citation number 5 in their brief cites an unrelated ad on taxes, which Lindsey Dougherty thinks is too low and should be hiked on Virginians,” said Mike Young, a spokesperson for Coyner’s campaign.
Marks, on Tuesday, pointed to 2019 and how Democrats quickly called for Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, a Black man, to resign over sexual assault allegations, while putting the support of their best lawyers behind Doughtery, a white woman, now, after facing accusations of racism.
“Myself and many other Black Democrats are truly baffled at how the Democratic Party condemned Justin Fairfax… but the minute you expose a white woman CANDIDATE as a racist – the party sends its top law firm in to defend her,” Marks said to Virginia Scope Tuesday.
Marks also shared screenshots with Virginia Scope of a conversation that Dougherty’s 2019 campaign volunteer, Katie Sponsler, had with another person in which she was discussing him.
Sponsler declined to provide a comment for this story.
Dougherty, in a statement to Virginia Scope, said the accusations against her are “categorically false.”
“This is nothing more than a smear campaign to distract from Carrie Coyner’s record of siding with extremists and failing Virginia families,” Dougherty said. “Racism is a serious issue that must be confronted with honesty — not fabricated for political gain. Anyone who would knowingly invent and amplify false charges of racism for political gain is not fit for public office. Virginians deserve leaders who tell the truth and put families first — and in November, voters will make that choice clear.”
As for the accusations being leveled by Marks against Dougherty, Coyner’s spokesperson said they are “serious and credible claims about Lindsey Dougherty’s character.”
This district is a top target for Democrats. Coyner won by six points in 2023, but Democrats are hopeful after 2024 Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris won the district by six points.
Early voting begins Sept. 19 for the Nov. 4 election.