Donald Trump's attack on Democratic candidate backfires: 'Don't talk to me about showing up'

'While I was treating patients at a clinic...Trump was golfing'

Democratic gubernatorial candidate and Virginia Lieutenant Governor Ralph Northam waves during a campaign event at 19 October 2017 in Richmond, Virginia. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

President Donald Trump has been publicly called out on Twitter by the candidate in the Virginia governor race that he said does not “show up” for work.

Mr Trump tweeted an endorsement of Republican candidate Ed Gillespie who is running against Democrat Ralph Northam in the Commonwealth race.

The President wrote that Mr Gillespie would make “a great Governor” and that opponent Mr Northam “doesn’t even show up to meetings/work”.

The current Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, Mr Northam was quick to respond via the President’s seemingly preferred method of communication.

“I served 8 years in the Army, took care of sick kids...Don’t talk to me about showing up,” the physician and Army veteran politician tweeted back.

His response has more than 55,000 retweets compared to Mr Trump’s tweet that has a little over 10,000.

Mr Northam’s subsequent tweet was also a response to Mr Trump’s criticism.

A video of the Lieutenant Governor treating patients at a rural area medical (RAM) clinic accompanied the tweet that read: “While I was treating patients at the RAM clinic, Donald Trump was golfing in Sterling.”

Mr Trump owns a golf club in Sterling, Virginia.

“You tell me who doesn’t show up for Virginians,” Mr Northam tweeted.

Both candidates have also been embroiled in a controversy over several Civil War statues throughout the state.

On 12 August, several white nationalists, white supremacists, the Ku Klux Klan, and neo-Nazi protesters clashed with counter-protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia resulting in three deaths and at least 35 injured.

The conflict was over the statue of Confederate General Robert E Lee, whose side lost the war against the union and in which over 600,000 Americans died.

Counter-protesters were there to say the city made the right decision to remove the statue as it was a reminder of a national traitor and hundreds of years of brutal slavery and racism.

Mr Gillespie has argued for keeping the statues intact as a reminder of state history. Mr Northam has argued the opposite and recently sent out mailers to voters connecting his opponent to violence in Charlottesville.

The President also waded into the issue by tweeting just before insulting Mr Northam that Mr Gillespie “might even save our great statues/heritage!”

Mr Trump came under fire for his comments immediately following the deadly rally that “both sides” were responsible and that there were some “very fine people” on the side protesting to keep the statues.

Current Governor Terry McAuliffe is not eligible to run again due to term limits.

According to the latest Monmouth University poll, the pair are neck and neck in the race with Mr Gillespie just one point ahead.

However a poll conducted by Hampton University, located in southeastern Virginia, showed Mr Gillespie up by nearly eight points. Vice President Mike Pence has also hit the campaign trail in support of Mr Gillespie.

The election is set to take place on 7 November.