The voicemail message spread on Friday, a day before the special election to fill the seat of Wright’s husband — the late Texas Rep. Ron Wright, who died in February after contracting Covid-19.
The campaign promptly reached out to the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Tarrant County Sheriff’s office, according to a source close to the campaign.
“This is illegal, immoral, and wrong,” Wright said in a statement. “There’s not a sewer too deep that some politicians won’t plumb. Imagine it: someone is attacking my late husband, the love of my life, a man who gave me such joy in life.”
“I will not let darkness rule,” she added. “I live by the light of Christ and his truth will sustain me – as it sustained me when I lost my husband.”
The robocall obtained by CNN claims that Wright took out a $1 million life insurance policy on her husband’s life six months before his death, and then purposefully contracted Covid-19 to kill her husband, who was immunocompromised due to his lung cancer diagnosis. The robocall’s narrator also said that the FBI is investigating the matter.
There are 23 candidates for the special election, including 11 Republicans, 10 Democrats, one Libertarian and one independent. If no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote on May 1, as expected, the race will advance to a runoff between the two candidates who receive the most votes.
“Susan’s opponents are desperate and resorting to disgusting gutter politics because they know she’s the frontrunner,” Wright political consultant Matt Langston said.