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Arkansas Congressional Candidate Joyce Elliott Launches First TV Ad In Race

A screenshot of Sen. Joyce Elliott's first campaign ad released Tuesday.
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Arkansas state Sen. Joyce Elliott (D-Little Rock), the Democratic nominee for the state's Second Congressional District, released her first TV ad of the campaign cycle in her bid to unseat incumbent U.S. Rep. French Hill (R-Little Rock).

Her campaign said the ad, “Hands,” is part of a six-figure buy and will also be backed up with digital advertising. The 60-second spot is narrated by Elliott and describes her upbringing, motivation for becoming a teacher, and criticizes Hill’s vote for the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Hill has not launched a broadcast TV campaign ad yet, but his campaign responded to Elliott's ad Tuesday calling it "patently false."

The ad begins with references to Elliott’s mother and grandmother and how their manual labor plus the integration of public schools led her to become a teacher.

“Poor kids from Arkansas grow up watching their elders work,” Elliott says in the ad. The spot discusses Elliott’s legislative work “fighting for better healthcare” and “lower taxes for working people.” Elliott criticizes Hill’s vote for the 2017 tax cut saying, “It added trillions of dollars of debt and gave a huge tax break to wealthy Americans.” She argues in the ad that the cut would be paid for by cutting Medicare and Social Security funding, citing a Dec. 27, 2017 article from The Hill.

“I am proud to share my life story and show how it motivated my decades-long quest to fight for working people. Making healthcare more affordable, lowering taxes for working people—these are the kinds of common-sense measures I will prioritize in Congress,” Elliott said in a press release announcing the ad. “That will be a welcome change from our current Congressman, who time and time again has voted to cut Medicare and Social Security to benefit fellow millionaires and special interest groups.”

Hill's Campaign Chairwoman Judith Goodson released a statement critical of the ad:

In her first introduction to voters in this race, Joyce Elliott has already violated the public trust. As voters have come to expect, she will say and do anything to get elected, and that self-serving ambition is on full display in her new, patently false television ad released today. The truth is Congressman Hill has always worked to protect Arkansas families. He voted to end the burdensome Obama-era tax increases that Joyce Elliott supported. Congressman Hill also voted to cut taxes for Arkansas families and small businesses through the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, including utility costs—a detail his opponent conveniently leaves out of her ad. Blatantly misrepresenting the facts is now a theme of the Elliott campaign, but Arkansas voters know better. They’ve seen this before. After all, if Joyce Elliott acts this way in Arkansas, just imagine what she’ll do in Washington.

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3rd. You can watch the Elliott's TV ad in the video below.

Roby Brock is the Editor-in-Chief and Host of Talk Business & Politics.
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