A Democratic candidate for a North Carolina state legislative seat is facing backlash after Facebook posts surfaced showing her at the Dachau concentration camp memorial in Germany with a caption suggesting Trump supporters belong there.
Breitbart News first reported Friday morning that the candidate, Shelly Headen, posted photos from a vacation showing her standing in front of what appears to be crematorium ovens at the memorial site, where the Nazi SS burned the bodies of Jews and other prisoners who died or were murdered during the Holocaust. The caption read, “Visiting Dauchau [sic] Concentration Camp in Germany… This is where Trump supporters belong.” In the photos, Headen is smiling.
Headen has been an active supporter of Democrat Roy Cooper’s U.S. Senate campaign and has appeared with him at multiple campaign events.
The controversy surfaced one day after Cooper marked the anniversary of Charlie Kirk’s assassination with a statement on X. “Political violence has absolutely no place in our country. Full stop,” Cooper wrote on September 10. “On the anniversary of Charlie Kirk’s murder, we remember the importance of civil debate and reject the unconscionable violence that has become far too common in our society.”
After Breitbart News asked the Cooper campaign about Headen’s posts, a spokesperson issued a statement distancing the campaign from the remarks. “These remarks are reprehensible — Roy strongly condemns them and all forms of political violence and he believes it’s up to all of us to speak responsibly,” the spokesperson said.
The response comes amid scrutiny of Cooper’s own past rhetoric about Trump. In 2024, while campaigning in North Carolina for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, Cooper called Trump a “threat” and a “dictator” at an event held two days before the assassination attempt against Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. Less than a week after that shooting, Cooper repeated the characterization at another appearance, saying Trump “threatens our democracy, and wants to make history by installing himself as a dictator.”
The Guilford County Democratic Party also issued a statement on Facebook addressing the controversy, though the full contents of that statement were not detailed in available reporting.
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