A Democrat campaigning for Sen. Ed Markey’s (D-MA) former House seat aired his first campaign ad in which he came out as a liberal Democrat to his tea party-identified father.
The ad, which began airing on Comedy Central, CNN, and MSNBC on Wednesday, features state Rep. Carl Sciortino Jr., who is openly gay, discussing the conversation he had with his father where he first came out as a liberal Democrat.
The cheerful switches between clips of Sciortino and his father talking directly into the camera.
“My name’s Carl Sciortino and I’ll never forget that conversation I had with my dad,” he said. It goes on like this:
Sciortino’s father: “That’s me.”
Sciortino: “Where I had to come out and tell him…”
Sciortino’s father: “Wait for this…”
Sciortino: “That I was a…Massachusetts liberal.”
Sciortino’s father: “And he’s proud of it!”
Sciortino: “Dad’s in the tea party.”
Sciortino’s father: “Damn right!”
The two then lightheartedly bicker on Sciortino’s stances on banking, abortion, and gun rights — specifically Sciortino Jr.’s interest in pushing an assault weapons ban if elected to Congress. Sciortino’s father is against his son’s positions, but, as he said in the ad, he loves his son and is clearly supportive of him.
Watch the video:
It’s a clever way for Sciortino Jr. to highlight himself in a large field. Sciortino Jr. is running against a number of other candidate’s for the special election for Markey’s seat. Sciortino Jr. is running for the nomination against Democrats state Sens. Will Brownsberger, Katherine Clark, Karen Spilka, and Middlesex Sheriff Peter Koutoujian. So far, Sciortino Jr. and Clark are the only two candidates airing ads.
Clark, who earned an early endorsement from Emily’s List, ran ads that highlighted her positions on abortion and fair pay for women.
According to Roll Call Sciortino’s ad buy is for about $100,000.
The primary election for the seat will take place on Oct. 15 and the general election is Dec. 10. Sciortino’s campaign said they plan to air the ads throughout the primary.
Also on Wednesday, Sciortino was endorsed by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. The endorsement is the first of the committee’s endorsements of the 2014 cycle. The endorsement highlighted Sciortino’s support for Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s Glass-Steagall bill as well as his advocacy for increasing social security benefits and fighting the Citizens United ruling. Last week Sciortino was endorsed by Reps. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ) and Keith Ellison (D-MN), the chairmen of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
