Facebook Bans Tom McCullagh, GOP Senate Candidate From Shorewood

SHOREWOOD, IL — Shorewood Republican conservative Tom McCullagh is hoping to defeat Joliet Democrat Meg Loughran Cappel in next week's 49th District Illinois State Senate race, but McCullagh said he can no longer utilize Facebook to share his campaign message to voters.

“We are running a clean campaign focusing on digital engagement," McCullagh said in a news release. "It’s proven effective and competitive against my opponent’s multi-million dollar onslaught. I absolutely never violated the policies Facebook claims I did, and I believe this censorship should be considered as a form of election interference.”

With barely one week to go before the Nov. 3 election, McCullagh said his personal profile on Facebook "was arbitrarily terminated without warning or previous suspensions. No explanations were given initially. Facebook stated the page was banned 'without possibility of being reversed,'" McCullagh stated in his news release.

According to the Shorewood Republican, McCullagh’s banned profile was linked to the campaign’s advertising account and campaign page. Therefore, the "disabling of his account has devastatingly disrupted the campaign’s online presence. In an era where digital advertising has become increasingly important for reaching voters, this ban puts the McCullagh campaign at a distinct disadvantage heading into the final campaign stretch," he announced.

McCullagh said Facebook claims he violated their policies, but when pressed to provide evidence of the violation cited they were unable to do so for “privacy” reasons.

"McCullagh’s ban comes at a time when other prominent conservatives have been frequent targets of Big Tech," his campaign announcement states. "Earlier this week, Twitter and Facebook admitted they limited the sharing of a New York Post article which details the Biden family’s corruption. Government officials ranking as high as White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany have faced punishment from the silicon valley for violating their constantly growing list of community guidelines."

McCullagh and Cappel, who is a Joliet Township High School District 204 school board member, are competing to fill the vacancy created because Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant is not running for re-election. Cappel has been an elementary teacher in Joliet's District 86.

Bertino-Tarrant, the Shorewood area Democrat, is running for Will County Executive against Republican Nick Ficarello, a Manhattan area resident and retired Will County Sheriff's investigator.