WASHINGTON (AP) – In a remarkable slap at their own presidential nominee, Republicans are running a TV ad in Chicago that touts a GOP congressman’s independence by showing him saying Donald Trump “has disqualified himself.”
The spot is aimed at helping Illinois Rep. Robert Dold, considered one of Congress’ most endangered Republican incumbents in the Nov. 8 elections. His district in Chicago’s northern suburbs is heavily Democratic, having backed President Barack Obama with 58 percent of its vote in 2012 and 63 percent in 2008.
The ad is by the National Republican Congressional Committee, the House GOP campaign organization that is spending tens of millions of dollars to back the party’s candidates around the country. An NRCC official declined to comment on the spot.
While Trump’s presidential campaign has faltered in recent weeks, the ad marks the first time the committee has used a message openly criticizing the party’s own presidential candidate.
“Dold is an independent voice who stood up to Donald Trump months ago,” the narrator says.