Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH) is in damage control mode after a family that lost their three children in a truck crash condemned an attack ad against his Democratic opponent, Sherrod Brown.
The ad, cut by the National Republican Senatorial Committee, blamed the deaths of Lynnea, Luke, and Logan Soposki on Brown's support for a path to citizenship, because of the immigration status of the driver involved in the crash. Brown, said the ad, "opened our borders to dangerous illegals" when he served in the Senate previously, and "the consequences were deadly."
But the Soposki family has demanded the ad be taken down, saying that "what we all want is to be able to grieve in peace and privacy, and for our family to not be used in such a classless way by a politician, especially without being consulted."
Pressed by Spectrum News' Harry Leigh, Husted threw the NRSC under the bus, emphasizing the ad wasn't done by his campaign and calling on them to remove it — while still subtly standing by the ad's point.
"So, you have to understand that wasn't our ad," said Husted. "That was an ad that some third-party group was running; we weren't involved with it. But of course, if the family who was victimized by an illegal alien who killed a family member, I don't want them to have to suffer any more, so I hope they take it down, which I understand they did."
Contrary to Husted's claim, noted Leigh, "The ad was paid for by the NRSC and authorized by Husted for Senate," and "as of 3:30 p.m. it has not been removed from the NRSC's YouTube page."