Congressman Bradley Byrne (AL-01) on Monday released the second television ad of his Republican 2020 U.S. Senate campaign.
The 30-second video takes on former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, as well as Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and the rest of the so-called “Socialist Squad.”
The ad features Byrne noting how so many heroic members of the U.S. Armed Forces, like his brother Dale, have sacrificed to protect the values that have made the nation great.
Dale Byrne served in the Alabama National Guard, where he was a member of the Airborne Rangers and 20th Special Forces Group. He was deployed to many areas across the globe, including the Middle East after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. According to the Byrne campaign, Dale passed away in 2013 following an illness contracted in relation to his military service and deployments.
Like Byrne’s first TV ad of this cycle, the latest spot was filmed at his family farm in north Baldwin County — around the same campfire that the now-congressman and Dale grew up sitting around.
“When the towers fell, I knew my brother would be going to war,” Byrne says in the ad. “Dale was a true patriot. I can’t bring him back. I miss him every day.”
“It hurts me to hear Ilhan Omar cheapening 9/11. Entitled athletes dishonoring our flag. The Squad attacking America. Dale fought for that right, but I will not let them tear our country apart. That’s why I’m running for Senate,” he continues.
Watch:
Byrne’s respective lines about Omar and Kaepernick in the ad are certainly timely.
In an exclusive statement to Yellowhammer News on Friday, he questioned of the Democratic congresswoman, “Which side [is she] on?” This came in regards to wondering why Omar complained about the U.S. military killing Qasem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization.
Byrne also bashed Kaepernick on Saturday after the former professional athlete suggested that the American military is actually the one responsible for “terrorist attacks,” not radical Islamic extremists.
“There is nothing new about American terrorist attacks against Black and Brown people for the expansion of American imperialism,” Kaepernick tweeted.
America has always sanctioned and besieged Black and Brown bodies both at home and abroad. America militarism is the weapon wielded by American imperialism, to enforce its policing and plundering of the non white world.
— Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) January 4, 2020
In response to Kaepernick, Byrne tweeted, “Anyone who doesn’t understand which side is terrorist and which side is fighting the terrorists is either delusional or, worse, anti-America. Which do you think this jerk is? And this is who you want as the face of your brand, [Nike]?”
“Unlike so many of our servicemen, like my brother Dale who paid a price for his patriotism, this guy dishonors the sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of our warriors,” he added.
Byrne’s new ad is expected to broadcast on various network television, cable, radio and digital platforms across Alabama.
He is running in the crowded March 3 GOP primary, which includes former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, former Auburn University head football coach Tommy Tuberville, former Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore and State Rep. Arnold Mooney (R-Indian Springs). The winner of the Republican primary will face U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) in November.
Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
