Is This Ad Racist And Homophobic?

State Rep. Jeanne Ives, a social and fiscal conservative lawmaker trying to unseat Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner is standing by a campaign ad that has been blasted as racist and homophobic. Defending the ad, State Rep. Ives says the ad illustrates the GOP governor’s “chosen constituents based on the policy choices he made” and primary voters need to know about his record. The ad features actors portraying, among others, a transgender woman, an African-American Chicago Teachers Union member and a woman wearing a pink hat associated with women’s marches. Each of them thanks Gov. Rauner for his policies. The actor playing the the transgender character is wearing a dress that reveals his chest hair and says in a manly voice, “Thank you for signing legislation that lets me use the girl’s bathroom.” Another character in a pink hat extols the Governor for making all Illinois families pay for my abortions. Candidates from both sides found the ad tasteless and disgusting. Advocacy groups got in line to demand Ms Ives remove the red meat notice from the public discourse. Democratic governor candidate J.B. Pritzker said Ives was spreading “poison.” Illinois Republican Party Chairman Tim Schneider said Ives should pull the ad and “Immediately apologize to the Illinoisans who were negatively portrayed in a cowardly attempt to stoke political division. There is no place in the Illinois Republican Party for rhetoric that attacks our fellow Illinoisans based on their race, gender or humanity.” Ives’ campaign dismissed Schneider’s statement, calling the Illinois GOP an arm of Rauner’s campaign because the organization is almost entirely funded by Rauner, a wealthy former private equity investor. Doubling down, campaign spokeswoman Kathleen Murphy said, “Rauner betrayed Illinois conservatives. He and his paid-for mouthpieces don’t like his betrayals being illustrated and his radical left-wing social agenda being exposed. Rauner is the one who owes Illinois families in general and conservatives in particular an apology.” Asked for comment on the ad, Gov. Rauner’s campaign released a general statement saying he’s the only candidate who will reform the state adding later, “the ad shows Ives is “unelectable.”

Advertisement by State Rep. Jeanne Ives who is running for Governor of Illinois.