Kristy Gnibus, a teacher from Erie, launched her first 30 second TV ad in the race against Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Butler) on Wednesday. Her opening spot, “All You Need To Know” begins by attacking Kelly for his support of the GOP tax reform bill and his background owning car dealerships.
“So Congressman Mike Kelly is a millionaire car dealer, who fights for tax breaks,” Gnibus says to camera, while holding a picture of Kelly. “For car dealers.”
“Which tells you all you need to know,” Gnibus continues.
The second half of the ad pivots to her telling the audience her background as a single Mom, teacher, and cancer survivor who understands the working class struggle.
“I’ve juggled two jobs, and struggled to make ends meet,” Gnibus said. “I’m running for Congress because working people deserve someone who understands them – who is them.”
She ends the ad by saying that working class people deserve better than Kelly.
Kelly’s campaign fired back by saying Gnibus’s message won’t resonate with the voters of the district and touted Kelly’s support of President Donald Trump’s agenda.
“Nobody is buying what this ad is selling. Between this and her internal push poll, we see a desperate, out of touch candidate that is virtue signaling to coastal elites to raise money,” said campaign manager Melanie Brewer. “The reality is, Representative Kelly helped author the bill that put over $2000 more per year into the pockets of western Pennsylvanians, which combined with President Trump’s America First trade policies built the nation’s best economy in half a century.”
Brewer continued to promote Kelly’s background owning car dealerships by saying that he’s the only candidate in the race who “has created jobs” and continued to boast about the GOP congressman’s support for funding law enforcement and defunding Planned Parenthood.
The poll that Brewer referenced in her response is a Public Policy Polling survey from June conducted on behalf of the Gnibus campaign that showed Kelly leading by 8 points, 48-to-40.
Ron DiNicola, who challenged Kelly in 2018, often used Kelly’s support of the GOP tax reform bill and owning car dealerships in attack ads last cycle. Kelly bested DiNicola in the 2018 election by just over 4 points in the Trump friendly district.
Inside Elections, Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball, and the Cook Political Report all have the race rated as Solid Republican.
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6 Responses
Once the working middle class gets it through their heads that no one is going to take their guns and that a medical procedure chosen by a woman is her’s to make in private Maybe then they will realize the wealthiest 2% in this country and the billion dollar corporations haven’t been paying their fair share. All while communities and the middle class pay the cost for corporate tax breaks, infrastructure improvements and the cost to educate the work force. All the small business millionaires like Kelly elected to Congress are just whoring for the billionaire class.
After political research, this is her best ad? According to Gnibus, small business owners are all greedy so vote for me. I’m glad she beat cancer but that and teaching home economics are not strong prerequisites for representing constituents in the federal government. As the article states, DiNicole tried a similar approach, and he had name recognition, an amazingly organized campaign, and the millions of $ to take Kelly down in the midterms and couldn’t pull it off. Gnibus has none of those things going for her. Kelly will win by 10+ points.
Being a car salesman is a better prerequisite for being a political servant?
Good ad in and of itself, but the problem is Ron Dinicola tried that exact same messaging two years ago and it didn’t work.
If DiNicola can’t win PA16, no Dem can. Its too Republican outside of Erie County. Its unfortunate.
Good Ad that is well produced and hits the mark. Kristy Gnibus could breakthrough is Biden has a big night in PA.