Earlier this week, former Rep. Pete Hoekstra, running for the GOP Senate nomination in Michigan, attacked Democratic incumbent Debbie Stabenow in an ad that was roundly criticized as offensive and racist for its portrayal of a Chinese woman speaking in broken English. Stabenow pushed back but steered clear of calling the ad racist. Now, however, a Republican is making the claims that Democrats did not.
Clark Durant, who is running against Hoekstra in the Michigan primary, has released his own ad calling Hoekstra’s ad “demeaning.” His ad goes on to allege it is also “hypocritical” because Hoekstra had voted for big spending bills just like Democrat Debbie Stabenow. A source tells TPM that Durant made a statewide cable buy for the ad.
Durant may be seeing why emphasizing the offensiveness of the ad could work in his favor. As TPM previously reported, one Asian-American elected official has already donated to his campaign in the wake of the ad.
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Pema Levy
Pema Levy is a News Writer at TPM covering the 2012 election. Before coming to TPM, Pema was an assistant editor at The American Prospect where she wrote about politics and the economy.
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