- April 17, 2024
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Palm Coast Mayor Milissa Holland's campaign for re-election has edited one of its television ads in response to complaints that the ad is racist.
"I think what great leaders do is when they hear an issue that is sensitive and one that is a concern, we listen and we move forward, and that's what we have done in this campaign."
— MILISSA HOLLAND, Palm Coast mayor
The ad criticizes Holland's challenger, Alan Lowe. Photos of Lowe flash on the screen as a narrator criticizes his background and fitness for office.
The image of Lowe that appears on screen when the ad mentions that Lowe had once been charged with theft shows Lowe standing next to a black man, with both men holding beers.
"I have a thick skin and can handle her cheap unfounded political smear, but what I won’t tolerate is her racist attack on an innocent man of color from the Island of Dominica," Lowe said in a press release sent to local media.
The Lowe campaign's news release included a video showing the photograph in question.
The man in the photo, Lowe said, was a Hurricane Maria survivor whom Lowe met while providing humanitarian relief in Dominica.
"I have a thick skin and can handle her cheap unfounded political smear, but what I won’t tolerate is her racist attack on an innocent man of color from the Island of Dominica."
— ALAN LOWE, candidate for Palm Coast mayor
"His name is Phillip and he is not a criminal," Lowe wrote. "... Phillip’s home had been destroyed and his family was desperate for relief. I am proud to have had the privilege of being a part of that humanitarian effort. When Phillip and I posed for that photo together in 2017, never in a million years would I have imagined his picture would be used in a cheap TV commercial by an appallingly dishonest politician for racist purposes."
Holland said that the use of that photo was not intended to suggest that Phillip was a criminal or to associate the black community with criminality.
"I didn’t put together the ad, my consultants did, and there were very few pictures on Mr. Lowe's [Facebook] page," she said. "And that was one that they had utilized, and it certainly had no association with what his camp is alleging."
Holland's campaign had paid $22,700 to McLaughlin Media for TV ads, according to her campaign finance reports.
"It would never have been the intent, coming from myself or anyone that is working hard on my campaign," she said. "We’ve been very clear from the beginning that this would be a campaign of ideas, a campaign of prioritizing our community’s needs, and certainly this photo that was taken from his Facebook page had no relation to anything other than demonstrating the fact that Alan Lowe has a past that he needs to certainly clarify."
Holland said that the ad had been presented to several focus groups before it aired. Nobody had flagged that moment in the ad as a problem.
"It went through several channels and was approved every single step of the way," she said. "And I certainly reached out to my friends in the African American community, who did not voice concerns about the ad. So after hearing about a concern from one individual and the sensitivity facing our community and our country, we made a very quick adjustment to remove that one photo, and the ad still remains up. ... I think what great leaders do is when they hear an issue that is sensitive and one that is a concern, we listen and we move forward, and that's what we have done in this campaign."
Lowe wasn't impressed with Holland's decision to edit the ad but continue to air it, minus the photograph.
"Too little, too late," he stated in the news release. "Today, I am demanding that Holland cease running this racist TV ad and remove it from the airwaves."
Holland says her record speaks for itself.
"I have a very strong record with the African American community," she said. "I have attended multiple events at the African American Cultural Society over the years, have attended events and have met with the NAACP and a variety of organizations in the community. My record reflects that."
