I realize this was intended as a dog whistle, but have heard southerners use that phrase before in completely non-racial contexts.
My northeastern jaw hit the floor, but it was explained, and they were just as shocked that I saw the term as offensive (in this context a problematic server was the “tar baby”).

Research shows that the story this phrase is taken from is actually a form of an African folk tale. While Lamborn knew exactly what he was doing, the history language as such is more complicated than folks are giving it credit for.