SALT LAKE CITY — A new political ad is stirring up controversy in the Senate race between incumbent Mike Lee and independent challenger Evan McMullin.
McMullin claims the ad edits his words and changes the meaning of what he said.
FOX 13 News received multiple calls and emails about the ad produced by the Political Action Committee, Club for Growth. The ad called out McMullin for allegedly saying “the Republican base is racist.”
The clip in question originally came from a CNN interview from 2017. During the panel discussion, McMullin said the following:
"Not all Republicans, of course, are racist. I was raised by Republicans who are not at all — and who welcome Americans of all backgrounds and are not at all alike. But there is an element of the Republican base that is racist, and our leaders are afraid to stand up to them, because if they do, if they do so, they'll be criticized, and they'll potentially lose votes, and so they don't do it."
Sen. Mike Lee’s campaign said they are not responsible for the ad and that they are not allowed to coordinate with PACs.
“By the Federal Election Commission or FEC, the regulation is that the two entities cannot coordinate. They can’t get together and say, 'Okay you make this ad and I’ll make this ad,'” said Mary Weaver Bennett at the Michael O. Leavitt Center for Politics and Public Service at Southern Utah University.
She added that this race that is considered to be close, is gaining attention nationwide, and that’s why more money is pouring into to the campaigns.
“PACs step in all the time everywhere, it’s a pretty standard method of operation,” added Bennett. “We didn’t see a lot of it in Utah… but PACs are big businesses and exist to do negative ads.”
Bennett adds that with the marketplace of ideas and free speech in the U.S., it’s important to be informed about the content voters consume.
“If an ad runs against you today and you want to say tomorrow, 'This is not true,' your best course of action would be for the campaign to put up the material that proves it’s not true. The other option is the media often has fact checkers.”
FOX 13 News attempted to reach Club for Growth, but their voice mail box was full and they have yet to respond to a message on their press page.
