Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slams ad that aired during Democratic debate


Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slams ad that aired during Democratic debate

“Republicans are running TV ads setting pictures of me on fire to convince people they aren’t racist,” the New York Democrat tweeted. “Life is weird!”

The 30-second spot, which aired during Thursday’s Democratic national debate on ABC, is the first public splash from the New Faces GOP PAC, run by former congressional candidate Elizabeth Heng.

It opens with an image of Ocasio-Cortez, whom Heng calls the “face of socialism and ignorance.” Ocasio-Cortez’s face then burns away to reveal images of skulls.

Heng, a Cambodian American touted as a young, rising Republican star during her unsuccessful bid for a US House seat in California last year, recounts her family’s flight from socialism in Cambodia in the 30-second spot.

“Does Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez know the horror of socialism?” Heng asks.

“Mine is the face of freedom,” Heng says to the camera during the ad’s closing seconds. “My skin is not white. I’m not outrageous, racist nor socialist. I’m a Republican.”

In a news release previewing the ad, the PAC’s organizers say the mission is twofold: Broaden the GOP’s image and “lead the fight against socialism.”

The group, which formally launched in March, reported raising a little more than $170,000 through the end of June, much of it from California-based donors, Federal Election Commission records show.

Ocasio-Cortez is one of the House’s most high-profile freshmen and one-fourth of a quartet of freshmen lawmakers, known as “the Squad,” who have clashed publicly with President Donald Trump.

As he gears up for his reelection campaign, Trump has sought to closely tie Democrats on Capitol Hill and those running for the presidency to socialism and lawmakers such as Ocasio-Cortez.


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