A Republican mayoral candidate’s choice of campaign colors has upset Virginia Democrats over their likeness to Vice President Kamala Harris.
Xiao Yin “Tang” Byrom, the mayoral candidate for Manassas and a longtime business owner in the city, is facing claims that she is copying Harris’s sorority colors.
The saga began on Sunday, when Byrom, a tailor and bridal consultant and owner of Tang’s Alterations, took to social media to share a photo of herself gearing up for voter outreach.
The GOP mayoral hopeful sported her trademark pink and green campaign colors as she posted to Facebook, “Knock, knock, rain or shine here we come. Team Tang is ready to serve YOU!! Making more new friends… Can’t wait to see you next week and introduce you to the rest of the team.”
Manassas Democrats immediately knocked Byrom for using colors associated with Harris’s Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.
“We are wondering over here: did you purposely choose AKA colors? To be honest, it feels disrespectful and disingenuous,” the Manassas and Manassas Park Cities Democratic Committee posted in a comment to Byrom’s post.
“I find your colors to be downright disrespectful! These colors represent our Vice President’s sorority, AKA. You are not Aka, nor do you represent our Vice President, who is now the Democratic nominee for president,” Helen Zurita, who ran as a Democrat in 2021 to be on the Manassas City Council, added.
The city’s top Republicans jumped to Byrom’s defense.
“Can’t believe we even have to jump in and comment but better than Tang having to waste time on this,” the Manassas Republican Party responded. “Google Lilly Pulitzer. As the owner of one of the DMV’s top alterations and clothing shops, Tang has been making brides elegant, stylish and trendy right here in Manassas for 25 years and now she’s done the same to her campaign. How about we stop criticizing designers on their design inspirations and talk about issues voters care about?”
Ian Lovejoy, one of the state’s Republican delegates and a former Manassas City Council member, quipped, “They ‘choose the obscure colors of the vice president’s sorority to trick the HUGE portion of the voting public who base their vote on obscure sorority colors’ gambit.”
Harris graduated from Howard University in Washington, D.C., in 1986. Alpha Kappa Alpha is a historically black sorority.
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Byrom is challenging incumbent Michelle Davis-Younger, the Democratic Party nominee to become the next mayor of Manassas.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Byrom’s campaign for comment.
