Arizona Senate hopeful Richard Carmona will go up with a new ad on Friday defending his temperament and his treatment of women, in response to an ad from Republican Rep. Jeff Flake that cast him in a negative light.
On Thursday, the Flake campaign began running an ad that featured Carmona’s former boss, Cristina Beato, recounting allegations that Carmona had shown up at her house in the middle of the night and banged on her door, and saying that he had “issues with anger” and “with women.”
The Carmona campaign has vehemently denied the allegations, and is pushing back with their own ad featuring Capt. Kathleen Brennan, now retired, who served as the commander of Carmona’s SWAT team.
Shot in the same style as the Flake ad, the spot features Brennan speaking directly to the camera.
“Rich Carmona was part of my SWAT team and he was a joy to work with,” says Brennan, who, the text on the screen points out, worked with Carmona for two decades. “Rich treats everyone with respect — it doesn’t matter if you’re male or female.”
“Rich was about protecting people and saving lives,” Brennan continues, as photos of Carmona conducting what looks like an airborne rescue show on the screen.
“So when I see a career politician like Jeff Flake attacking Rich Carmona, who has spent his life helping others, it’s despicable,” Brennan says. “Congressman Flake should be ashamed.”
The personal attacks began as Carmona appeared to gain momentum in the Republican leaning state.
The spot will begin running statewide on Friday.