Ryan Fazio under fire for ad featuring Democrats supporting him. Two people in it are Republicans
The Republican gubernatorial candidate's newest ad features a banner saying, "I'm a Democrat and I'm voting for Ryan Fazio." But two voters featured in the ad are prominent Republicans.
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The Republican running for governor has a new ad featuring Democrats who support him.
But Democrats are raising red flags. Two voters in the video are actually Republicans.
Gov. Ned Lamont’s campaign says the ad is intentionally misleading, while Ryan Fazio calls it “a very silly controversy.”
“I’M A DEMOCRAT”
Fazio’s newest campaign ad appears to strike a bipartisan tone.
The top features a prominent banner saying, “I’m a Democrat and I’m voting for Ryan Fazio.” Under the banner, four voters voice support for Fazio.
But only two of them are Democrats; the others are Republicans.
Jim Connor, a former Stratford Town Council member who was a delegate to the state GOP convention, and Darrell Harris, the head of the Easton Republican Town Committee who is running for the state House of Representatives.
“The ad is all about Democrats voting for Fazio, and then you have two Republican insiders, Republican candidates, in the ad,” said state Rep. Matt Blumenthal (D-Stamford).
"VERY SILLY CONTROVERSY"
Fazio insisted that he isn’t trying to deceive anyone.
“The two Democrats say they’re Democrats and the Republicans don't say that they’re Democrats,” he said. “We had two Democrats who are very kind to support us. They say they’re Democrats in the ad. And two Republicans who don’t say they're Democrats in the ad. So it’s very clear and it's a very silly controversy, I think.”
Democrats dismissed Fazio’s explanation.
“I think that defense is hilarious,” Blumenthal said. “And it’s the kind of defense that only a lawyer – and a bad lawyer – could love.”
Fazio noted that Lamont has run misleading ads, including one featuring a News 12 story about the governor’s electric rate proposals with a negative headline edited out.
“They fraudulently edited news headlines, and I didn’t see a lot of news stories on that topic,” Fazio said.
WHAT DO VOTERS THINK?
We showed Fazio’s ad to several voters. They thought all the voters in the video were Democrats who support the GOP candidate.
“If they don’t pay attention to the fact that this guy is a Republican, I don't know, I think they’re just going to think everybody is a Democrat,” said Charles Buchanan, of Bridgeport.
Jack Lewis, of New Canaan, believed the ad is intentionally deceptive.
“I imagine there’s at least a little bit of deception going on with a lot of those ads, but it is still pretty surprising they would straight up lie like that,” he said.
