Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) — in a rare break with his own party’s campaign arm — is calling on the National Republican Senatorial Committee to pull a controversial television ad that attacks his Democratic opponent, former Gov. John Hickenlooper.
The ad criticizes Hickenlooper over a deadly gas explosion in the state in 2017. After the spot began airing last week, Erin Martinez, whose husband and brother died in the explosion, called it “horrifying” and said it disgraced her family members’ legacy. Hickenlooper and Democrats in the state echoed her calls for it to be taken down.
Gardner, who was the NRSC chair in the 2018 election cycle, said in a statement to POLITICO that he spoke to Martinez on Tuesday. He disavowed the committee’s ad and said he wanted Republicans to stop running it.
“I spoke to Erin Martinez today and expressed to her that I would not have personally run the ad, and I hope the ad comes down,” Gardner said in the statement. “If I had the power to take down the ad, I would.”
The NRSC declined to take the ad down. Imagine that.
Please. This is so transparent it made me laugh out loud when I read it. Poor Gardner, the former chair of the NRSC, has no power to stop this terrible ad even though he really, really wants to. He’s such a nice guy. But if the Republicans want to smear his opponent there’s not a lot he can do about it. Oh heck.
If there really is a big blue wave in November, it is likely to take this guy out with the tide. Good riddance.