Republican Louisiana state Sen. Elbert Guillory has cut a new ad accusing Democratic North Carolina Sen. Kay Hagan of using black people for votes, then ignoring them until the next election.
The ad, produced by
Our America PAC, echoes an earlier ad Guillory made against incumbent Louisiana
Sen. Mary Landrieu. In that ad, Guillory stands in his hometown of Opelousas, Louisiana, and says Democratic policies have failed the black community.
In the anti-Hagan ad, Guillory, who is black, notes that in 2008, 95 percent of black North Carolina voters cast their ballots for Hagan.
"The Democrats have created the illusion that they are the salvation of the black community. But who among us have they saved?" Guillory asks in the ad.
He said black people are being "used" by "limousine liberals who have become our new overseers," as a photo of Hagan is shown.
"We've only traded one plantation for another," he says. "You are not Kay Hagan's cause, and you are certainly not her charity. You are just a vote. She has stepped off your backs to fame and fortune and left you behind on food stamps, deprived of the American dream."
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Responding to the ad, The Washington Post's Nia-Malika Henderson wrote, "Focusing on food stamps and welfare and slavery imagery is common among black conservatives hoping to peel the African-American community away from their strong loyalties to the Democrats. It's a political strategy that's ultimately counter-productive in actually attracting black voters."
Asked to respond on
Fox News Channel's "The Kelly File" on Wednesday, Guillory said that when Democrats can't attack the veracity of the message, they attempt to smear the messenger or to smear the message.
"What I have said is absolute truth," he said.
"There are people like Hagan who come to our communities every four years or every six years. They come with a beer in one hand and a chicken sandwich in the other," he told host Megyn Kelly. "They kiss us, and then they go away. They don't do anything for us. We don't hear from them till the next election."
But Republicans have not done a good job of communicating with the black community, he said. "Republicans will never be able to communicate with anyone that we ignore."
Democratic policies have suppressed the black community, he said, explaining that he now sees young men standing around all day rather than working as they did when he was younger.
"Those young men who receive a few dollars from the government every month will never be able to buy a home, never be able to have a family, never send their children to college, never buy an automobile because they are stuck in this plantation," he said.
Hagan faces Republican Thom Tillis next Tuesday. Polls show the two neck-and-neck.