Arizona senate hopeful Richard Carmona told a debate moderator Thursday that he was “prettier” than Candy Crowley, the CNN reporter who moderated Tuesday’s presidential debate.
Caught in the middle of a particularly testy portion of the debate between Carmona and his Republican opponent, Rep. Jeff Flake, moderator Brahm Resnik joked, “now I know how Candy Crowley felt.”
“You’re prettier than she is,” said Carmona, laughing.
“Not sure how to take that,” Resnik responded.
Buzzfeed first posted the video.
Flake has attacked Carmona for having “problems with women,” and is currently running an ad featuring Carmona’s former boss, Cristina Beato, who accuses him of pounding on her door in the middle of the night, and says that he “has issues with anger, with ethics, and with women.”
The Carmona campaign has repeatedly denied the claims, but a comment like this one does not help to combat the line of attack that he does not deal well with women.
Carmona apologized for the comment.
“I tried to tell a joke to lighten the mood in a debate. I shouldn’t have, and I’m sorry,” he told Politico in a statement.