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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Erum Salam

Video of apparent Greg Abbott canvasser laughing about her job goes viral

Greg Abbott
Greg Abbott speaks during a visit to the border wall near Pharr, Texas, last year. Photograph: Sergio Flores/AFP/Getty Images

A video of a woman apparently working as a door-to-door canvasser supporting Greg Abbott went viral after she burst out laughing when a resident said he would “absolutely not” back the Texas governor.

“Everybody’s got to have a job,” Monique Dawson said, seemingly referring to her own position with the campaign.

Dawson could be heard laughing in the video as she returned to her vehicle.

The video was captured on a Ring home security doorbell camera. After it surfaced online, Dawson, from Dallas, wrote on Twitter: “I just saw the look on his face and it was pure amusement. I couldn’t hold in my laugh to save my life, and they fired me.”

Responding to a request for comment, a spokesperson for Abbott said: “This individual has never been employed by Texans for Greg Abbott or volunteered for the campaign.”

But Dawson also shared a link to a GoFundMe page, titled “Social media cost me my job”.

On the page, she said: “Hi my name is Monique Dawson. I worked as a volunteer for governor Greg Abbott. As a result of this video being posted I was fired from my job. If you can spare a $1 or 2 it will add up and replace what I could have been earning as a campaigner. Bills are due and I have no other source of income outside this job.”

Surpassing her goal of raising $15,000, Dawson also said she had a new job offer on the table and shared an image on social media suggesting she had applied to be a paid canvasser for Abbott’s Democratic challenger, Beto O’Rourke.

  • This article was updated on 6 June 2022 with a statement from Abbott’s spokesperson.

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