LOUISVILLE, Ky. — In a new campaign advertisement against his GOP candidate, Democratic Senate candidate Charles Booker is shining a light on his ancestors’ history by wearing a noose around his neck.
In the video, released on Wednesday titled “Pain of our Past,” the first Black Kentuckian to win the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, got graphic with the new online ad which begins with a warning.
“The pain of our past persists to this day. In Kentucky, like many states throughout the south lynching was a tool of terror. It was used to kill hopes for freedom. It was used to kill my ancestors,” reads a voiceover from Booker.
The newly released ad is already provoking strong responses.
Dr. Ricky L. Jones, Professor and Chair of Pan African Studies Department at the University of Louisville, tells Spectrum News 1,"If there’s anywhere that noose is needed, the symbolism of that noose is needed, it’s Kentucky."
He says the video is compelling and attention grabbing.
“It has gained national traction. People will say ‘Woah. What is this?’ and ‘Woah. What’s going on in Kentucky where a Black politician would feel compelled to release this?’ So, I say good on him,” said Dr. Jones.
The one minute and 12 second video focuses heavily on lynching in the south while Booker is seen wearing a noose around his neck while taking aim at his election opponent.
In the ad, Booker says Sen. Rand Paul blocked the Anti-Lynching Act from becoming federal law in 2020. However, the ad does not mention that Paul co-sponsored a new version of the legislation, which passed into law earlier this year.
Paul’s campaign manager is responding to the ad with a statement that reads:
“Dr. Paul worked diligently to strengthen the language of this legislation and is a cosponsor of the bill that now ensures that federal law will define lynching as the absolutely heinous crime that it is. Any attempt to state otherwise is a desperate misrepresentation of the facts.”
Dr. Jones called the video a bold and a unique strategy, although not one without risks.
“It’s something that the Democratic party of this state and even the national Democratic party will shy away from. They engage in a brand of milk toast Republican like politics that aren’t very engaging, not very convincing, and that’s why they’re constantly missing political layups,” explains Dr. Jones.
Making a second bid for the Senate this year, Booker is hoping to unseat Paul, though a January poll found Paul led Booker by 16 points.
“What Booker is showing me that if he goes down, he’s going down swinging and I like that,” said Dr. Jones.
Booker and Paul will face off in the November general election where the state hasn’t elected a Democrat to the senate since 1992.