Virginia GOP candidate demands opponent stop using ‘fake family’ photo in ads

WASHINGTON. Virginia Republican congressional candidate Derrick Anderson ordered his Democratic opponent, Eugene Windman, to stop running a campaign ad that accused Anderson of trying to to marry someone else’s wife and three daughters to his family.

Anderson, who is single and has no children, made national headlines in September The New York Times noticed that his campaign used footage of him posing with his wife and children, which could easily be mistaken for a family photo shoot, except it was a friend’s family.

One video, showing Anderson with a woman and girls, was posted on Anderson’s YouTube channel and posted on a website paid for by the National Republican Congressional Committee. In another video, shot by his campaign for possible publicity and posted on the NRCC website, Anderson sits at a dinner table with the same woman and girls.
On Thursday, Anderson released a new ad about an abortion, which includes footage of him sitting at a dinner table with a woman and her daughters. They appear at the 20 second mark.

His campaign told HuffPost in September that in this shot, Anderson simply appears in a “regular campaign video with female supporters and their children.”

But in the final days of this election cycle, Windman and Democratic groups are launching a flurry of campaign ads accusing Anderson, who reportedly lives with his dog and is engaged, in an effort to give voters the impression that he is a family man. And Anderson’s campaign responded with a cease-and-desist letter, saying Monday that Vindman and local television stations had no right to air images of the family seen in Anderson’s video.

HuffPost obtained a copy of the letter, which identified them as Ashley Cremisio and her three daughters.

“This letter is to serve as written notice to your station that Windman for Congress has not obtained permission from Mrs. Cremisio to use her image or permission from Mr. or Mrs. Cremisio on behalf of her three minor daughters to use their images in their advertising,” the letter reads. .

“Furthermore, Mr. and Mrs. Cremisio would never have authorized Windman for Congress to do so, given the fabricated and false narrative surrounding the image,” the statement said. “In light of this unauthorized use, we are asking your station to immediately remove this ad from your airwaves to prevent further harm and suffering to Mrs. Cremisio and her daughters.”

Here is a copy of the letter signed by the campaign adviser:

Ads featuring Anderson through his “fake family” range from serious to comical.

Vindman advertising called “What’s Real” flashes an image of Anderson with that family, as the ominous narrative says the Republican nominee has been “caught lying again, pretending to be a family.”

And in one funny ad — paid for by the Democratic Political Action Committee, the House Majority PAC — an Anderson lookalike comes home from work to hang out with cardboard cutouts of the family.

“Ready sweetie?” Anderson’s doppelgänger says, throwing a frisbee-like toy into one of the girls’ cleavage and watching the disc fall to the ground. This ad, titled “Fake,” warns that the Republican candidate is trying to mislead people about many things, including his extreme anti-abortion views.

Windman made a defense of abortion rights the central issue of his campaign. Anderson, on the other hand, is noted Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide and says it supports women’s access to reproductive health up to individual states solve.

The problem with Anderson’s campaign termination letter is the image of him with a woman and children are still publicly available on the National Republican Congressional Committee’s so-called red box website, where campaigns post materials available for super PACs to pick up and use in ads.

In other words, Anderson argues that Windman and Democratic political groups cannot use these images in political advertising at the same time that the NRCC makes them available for use in advertising.

Anderson’s campaign said in a statement Thursday that Windman is unfairly using the woman and children to “lie” to voters about who they are.

“Windman has been using a mother and her minor daughters in our district to lie to voters for weeks, and he’s arguing legal technicalities with the far left media? This is very revealing and very brutal,” the statement reads. “He’s making bogus attacks to avoid talking about lies about his military past, shady businesses and support for open borders, higher spending and far-left party policies.”

The campaign also emphasized that Anderson never claimed the woman and children were his family, and that their images were never used in any pro-Anderson ads (aside from Anderson’s latest abortion ad using this shot of he’s pictured with this woman and her daughters , and he’s previously shared a video with the family on his YouTube channel).

Anderson’s campaign did not respond to questions about why Windman did not have permission to use images of the family in his political ads when the NRCC still makes them available for use in political ads.

Windman’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment on the termination letter.

In addition to his advertising, Windman talked about Anderson’s “fake family” during the election campaign. At a recent rally in Dumfries, Virginia, he reportedly brought up his “real wife” and “real children” to laughs in the crowd.

Windman’s name may sound familiar. His twin brother, retired Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, made international headlines in 2019 when he testified against then-President Donald Trumpan impeachment inquiry into his shady dealings with Ukraine. Both Windmans were whistleblowers during those hearings, and Trump ultimately fired them both from government positions.

Anderson joined Trump in endorsing him on Wednesday.

“Derrick is ‘America First,’ and he’s running against a weak and pathetic Democrat named Eugene ‘Eugene’ Windman, who along with (California Democrat) Adam ‘Shifty’ Schiff and others lied to push impeachment fraud in Ukraine. , the continuation of the biggest and most dangerous political WITCH HUNT in the history of our country!” Trump wrote in social networks.

“Derrick Anderson has my complete and total support – HE WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN!” he said.

Anderson and Windman are running to represent Virginia’s 7th District. Both are new to politics, both are lawyers and both have military backgrounds: Anderson is a former Green Beret with five tours of duty, and Windman is a former Army colonel with 25 years of service.

They are vying for the seat being vacated by Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger, who is running for governor. It’s a tight race: The Cook Political Report ranks this place as “Democrat Toss Up”. Windman has a 2-point lead in the latest poll in that district, according to survey aggregator FiveThirtyEight.