“Debbie Spend It Now” is back. But former Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) says it’s not his fault.
The Super Bowl TV commercial Hoekstra (R-MI) ran against Sen. Debbie Stabbenow (D) to much controversy re-aired in Flint, Mich., Tuesday morning. Hoekstra wiped the ad and all mentions of it from his campaign after outraged reactions poured in.
The Hokestra campaign told the Grand Rapids News the ad was back on the air due to an error at Flint TV station WNEM.
The reemergence of the spot highlights an embarrassing moment for Hoekstra’s campaign.
Hoekstra spent a lot of money creating and airing the spot during the Michigan broadcast of the Super Bowl in February. The ad, which featured an actress portraying a Chinese woman speaking in broken English, outraged Democrats, an Asian-American Republican elected official in Michigan and eventually led to an apology from the actress.
The Hokestra campaign never apologized for the ad, but it removed the ad from the web and erased all mention of it from campaign websites within days of its airing.
Here’s the spot, which the campaign confirmed to MLive.com aired at least twice Tuesday:
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A Hoekstra campaign spokesperson said this positive ad highlighting Hoekstra’s record was supposed to air:
