The International Association of Fire Fighters labor union has a new ad in the West Virginia Senate race, hitting back at the now-infamous ad from the National Republican Senatorial Committee that was produced outside the state, using a casting call for “hicky” looking actors. And this new ad features blue-collar guys boasting that they’re real firefighters, and they’re actually from West Virginia!
One firefighter declares: “I’m a Huntington firefighter. And like Joe Manchin, West Virginia is my home.”
Another: “I’m a Dunbar firefighter. Joe Manchin doesn’t hire Philadelphia actors to play hicks in his ads.”
And another: “I’m a Charleston firefighter, and I heard Florida John Raese got a tax break on his Palm Beach mansion.”
As a point of clarification, it wasn’t Raese who put up the ad featuring “hicky” actors to show West Virginia voters that he was on their side. It was the national Republicans, who have said that the casting call was produced through a subcontractor without their approval.
The TPM Poll Average currently gives Raese a lead of 47.9%-45.1%.
