GOP attacks in blue Florida district by targeting Dem ally’s Castro praise
Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro may be gone but he is not forgotten in Florida's 27th Congressional District, the Miami-area seat home to a surprisingly-close House election.
Republicans are hammering Democrat Donna Shalala over a planned, but scuttled, fundraiser with California Democratic Congresswoman Barbara Lee. After Castro's 2016 death, Lee called for people to "mourn" his death.
Those comments are the backbone for new ads by the National Republican Congressional Committee and the Congressional Leadership Fund that hit Shalala for the association.
"Tell me who you walk with and I'll tell you who you are," the NRCC's television spot says in Spanish.
"Donna Shalala wanted to align herself with sympathizers of the Castros and [Venezuelan President Nicolás] Maduro. Shalala is aligned with someone who flattered Fidel, who applauded what he did to the Cuban people and who wants to end the sancitons against the terrorist Maduro."
"Donna Shalala thinks she can represent us in Congress, but she obviously doesn't understand us," the ad says to close.
CLF is also out with a radio ad that strikes a similar tone, arguing that she doesn't speak Spanish and isn't right for the community.
During a recent Debate, Shalala said she opposes the Cuban government and accused her opponent, Republican Maria Elvira Salazar, of giving Castro an easy interview during her career as a journalist, according to the Miami Herald.
The whole situation typifies how Republicans have a newfound opening in a district President Trump lost by almost 20 points in 2016 and one prognosticators and partisans effectively wrote off earlier this year as a win for the Democrats.
From the Aug. 28 primary through September, the two campaigns spent just $200,000 on television ads in the district, a sign that few saw the race competitive.
But with polling showing a dramatic tightening, there's been almost $2 million spent on the airwaves in the district in October, with another $3.4 million booked through Election Day, according to Advertising Analytics.