This campaign ad by Charles Booker, a Democrat who’s running for U.S. Senate in Kentucky, is as hard-hitting as it’s possible to get. Some may question its appropriateness, but they should remember who he’s running against.
Booker’s claim that his opponent, Sen. Rand Paul, “single-handedly blocked an anti-lynching act from being federal law” is misleading. Paul opposed an earlier version he argued was overly broad, but co-sponsored the federal anti-lynching law that eventually passed.
Flashing the noose outside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, isn’t playing on old history or grievances. That noose is emblematic of the violence and racism of the Trump movement dominating the GOP today. Still, with this ad, Booker treads on quicksand. He has to give all Kentucky voters, not just black voters, something to vote for. He offers “healing.” That’s a reasonable thing to vote for, but I don’t know how this will go over in a state that elected and re-elected Rand Paul.
I’m not endorsing this; I’m still trying to digest it. An op-ed here calls it “appalling.”