MOBILE, Ala. — It’s not everyday that you see well-known political commentators cut campaign ads for candidates.
But Fred Barnes, the Weekly Standard editor and Fox News commentator, stars in a new ad for Alabama Republican congressional candidate Quin Hillyer.
“Hi. I’m Fred Barnes,” the ad begins. “I watch Alabama closely. My son went to school there and my daughter married an Alabama boy.”
He adds: “More and more top conservative reformers are joining me in supporting Mobile’s Quin Hillyer for Congress. He is a man with integrity and strong conservative principles. He also brings real know how and experience, and has a proven record of reforming Washington.”
Hillyer is a longtime conservative journalist. He is running against a host of Republicans to capture the party’s nomination in Alabama’s first congressional district — a reliably Republican seat — in next week’s special primary election. The race is to succeed Rep. Jo Bonner, a Republican who resigned to take a job as vice chancellor of government relations and economic development at the University of Alabama.
Other Republicans Hillyer is facing include former Alabama gubernatorial candidate Bradley Byrne and former RNC aide Wells Griffith.
Watch the ad here: