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WASHINGTON — The South Texas man on the middle of a brand new advert attacking U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez is a self proclaimed “conspiracy theorist” who has unfold theories on social media about 9/11 and the COVID pandemic and mocked each Michelle Obama and a Republican congressman.
The advert was launched this week by the Nationwide Republican Congressional Committee on behalf of former U.S. Rep. Mayra Flores, who’s attempting to win again the seat for the GOP.
Texas Congressional District 34 stretches from Brownsville to Kingsville alongside the state’s southeastern coast. It is among the few aggressive races within the state and a prime precedence for each main political events to win.
The advert options Brownsville enterprise proprietor Ruben Guerrero ridiculing Gonzalez, a McAllen Democrat, for pushing “sex changes for kids” over caring in regards to the financial system. The advert is a part of an $800,000 advert reservation within the South Texas market to be broadcast in each English and Spanish. Guerrero’s voice was additionally featured in a radio advert by the NRCC.
Gonzalez, a average Democrat, has denied supporting tax-funded gender transition surgical procedures for minors.
Guerrero posted memes on Instagram calling 9/11 “the biggest inside job in history … until COVID,” ridiculing former First Woman Michelle Obama as secretly a person, and mocking U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw’s eyepatch, which he wears after shedding his proper eye serving in Afghanistan.
Crenshaw is a Houston Republican. His workplace didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Flores’ marketing campaign, which was not concerned within the creation of the advert, distanced her from Guerrero’s social media. Flores follows Guerrero’s Instagram.
A very powerful Texas information,
despatched weekday mornings.
“These posts are clearly not reflective of Mayra’s views,” the Flores marketing campaign mentioned in a press release. “That said, it’s a great ad with an important message about Vicente Gonzalez’s extreme record of supporting taxpayer funded sex change surgeries for children.”
Guerrero isn’t the primary conspiracy theorist to be featured in a congressional advert this yr. A Republican working in New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District, one other prime goal for Republicans this yr, has additionally been criticized for spotlighting a 9/11 conspiracy theorist.
To make certain, Guerrero’s social media affect is small. He has about 1,700 followers on Instagram. When contacted by The Texas Tribune, Guerrero stood by his social media posts.
“I’m a conspiracy theorist that’s almost batting .400,” he mentioned in a phone interview earlier than insisting steerage given throughout the COVID-19 pandemic was incorrect.
When requested in regards to the meme mocking Crenshaw’s eye patch, Guerrero mentioned he couldn’t recall his reasoning behind posting the meme, however mentioned that Republicans “are not all equal,” suggesting that Crenshaw is a Republican in identify solely.
“I post a lot, as you can tell,” he mentioned.
Guerrero posted the meme in January of final yr — across the similar time Crenshaw angered many right-wing Republicans for criticizing far-right U.S. Home Republicans who didn’t help Kevin McCarthy’s bid for speaker.
Political campaigns usually recruit on a regular basis voters to supply testimonials in advertisements that get blasted to 1000’s of viewers. Topics of testimonials are usually vetted to make sure their backstories are correct.
Mass media advertisements have diminishing influence on altering opinions, mentioned Daron Shaw, a political science professor on the College of Texas at Austin who beforehand labored on the 2000 George W. Bush marketing campaign. Moreover, the background of an individual giving a testimonial possible gained’t make a lot of a distinction within the efficacy of an advert.
“There’s a question about the overall effect of this sort of advertising on voters’ preferences, and that’s mixed at best,” Shaw mentioned. “The country is so polarized politically and so siloed that the number of voters who are up for grabs in a given election major party competitions, very, very slender.”
The Harlingen media market consists of over 400,000 households with TVs. The decrease Rio Grande Valley has a inhabitants of over 1 million on the U.S. aspect of the border.
Gonzalez criticized the assaults as misrepresenting his stances.
“Not only was their ad full of lies, but their actor is a 9/11 conspiracist who insulted my colleague Dan Crenshaw, a decorated Navy Seal veteran — it’s amateur hour over there,” Gonzalez mentioned in a press release.
LGBTQ+ rights teams have additionally criticized the Republican technique tying Democrats to youth gender transition surgical procedure as fear-mongering. Gender transition surgical procedure is exceedingly uncommon, with most take care of trans youth consisting of adjusting pronouns, adopting new names and hormone blockers to delay puberty. The Texas Legislature banned hormone blockers for minors final session.
Nonetheless, Republicans have leaned into the assaults. The NRCC mentioned it was the highest polling situation to transform voters from Gonzalez to Flores, performing higher than points associated to the border or the financial system.
Disclosure: College of Texas at Austin has been a monetary supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan information group that’s funded partially by donations from members, foundations and company sponsors. Monetary supporters play no position within the Tribune’s journalism. Discover a full listing of them right here.
