A Republican congressman is distancing himself from Donald Trump, saying that he’ll “stand up” to the GOP nominee in a new campaign ad.
In a 30-second TV spot released Thursday, Rep. Mike Coffman (R-CO) makes it clear he doesn’t “care for him much” and doesn’t trust Trump.
“I’m a Marine – for me, country comes first,” he says in the ad. “My duty is always to you. So if Donald Trump is the president, I’ll stand up to him. Plain and simple.”
It’s uncommon for a member of Congress to release an ad attacking their party’s nominee, but Coffman is competing in a competitive district. One of his advisers, Josh Penry, also told Politico that Coffman is genuinely critical of Trump and feels cutting this ad was the right decision.
“Mike has been persistently critical of Trump,” Penry told Politico. “(Taking on Trump) was the right thing to do – it’s on people’s mind.”
In another uncommon move for the GOP, the ad was also released in Spanish. The ad will begin running in Denver on Friday, according to AP. The initial ad buy is $50,000 including digital ads, according to Cinamon Watson, a campaign spokeswoman.
The ad was briefly made private on the campaign’s Youtube page and then was made public again with the comments disabled.
Watch the ad below:
