UPDATED: Gorbea Launches First Negative Ad in Governor’s Race, McKee and Unions Fire Back

UPDATED: Gorbea Launches First Negative Ad in Governor’s Race, McKee and Unions Fire Back

Nellie Gorbea, who is trailing in public and private polls, is the first of the Democrats running for governor to air a negative ad.

The ad, paid for by Friends of Nellie Gorbea, broke on Thursday and attacks Governor Dan McKee, the front runner in the race, for his role in the so-called ILO issue.

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The Gorbea ad features a claim from right-wing publication The National Review.

Today's headlines in the National Review include: "Biden’s Student-Debt Bonfire Is a Classist Message to the Uncredentialed: Screw ’Em," "US Failures in Ukraine," and "Pelosi Said President Lacks Authority to ‘Forgive’ Student Debt."

The National Journal piece in Gorbea's ad was a column by Mike Stenhouse of the Center for Freedom & Prosperity, a right-wing, anti-union think tank. 

McKee’s campaign fired back at Gorbea.

“Nellie Gorbea’s decision to spread right wing propaganda in a Democratic primary shows how desperate her campaign is. The MAGA National Review publication, which Nellie uses in her ad, has defended ‘the big lie’ and spread conspiracies about voter fraud. If her intention is to run a campaign that represents Rhode Island values, that ad must be taken down. It’s not surprising that the only people running negative ads now in this race are Republican Ashley Kalus and Nellie Gorbea,” said the McKee campaign.

Gorbea's campaign has not responded to questions about the ad at the time of publication.

 

Unions Blast Gorbea

Hours after the Gorbea ad broke, two of the states' most influential unions who have endorsed McKee are criticizing Gorbea's ad.

National Education Association of RI tweeted, "Its disappointing @NellieGorbea feels so desperate that she has stooped to using a right-wing attack dog to go negative in the final weeks of this race. As educators, we teach our students about misinformation and it's deeply troubling to see a candidate 1/2
for Governor propagating a conspiracy theory website. This Republican tactic is underhanded — she should take down the ad and campaign on what she thinks her experience is to lead Rhode Island. /end.

And the United Nurses & Allied Professionals (UNAP) tweeted, "For more than two years, the health care workers we represent fought daily to keep RIers alive through the worst of the COVID pandemic. A key part of this was ensuring that as many Rhode Islanders as possible were vaccinated. We are appalled that @NellieGorbea would source a right-wing anti-vaxxer in her negative ad attacking Governor McKee and we call on her to take the ad down immediately."

UPDATED: 11:48 AM