New McGinty Ad Calls Toomey “Senator Elevator”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCalJ2ZjLH0

Republicans running for office have a major problem this year, and his name is Donald Trump. While Trump is popular, this is his first run for public office — and he’s not on the same page as the GOP in terms of messaging. Naturally, the press is grilling downballot Republicans about his comments.

One such Republican running for office is Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey. He’s distanced himself a bit from Trump. He was a supporter of Marco Rubio, and voted for Ted Cruz in Pennsylvania’s April primary. He even penned an Inquirer op-ed giving Trump some unsolicited advice while saying he would vote for the party’s nominee.

“I hope to get to the point where I can enthusiastically support Donald Trump,” Toomey later said. “I’m not there right now and I hope we don’t get to a point where I decide I just can’t support him.”

He’s not quite there yet. After Trump’s speech on the Orlando massacre was widely panned, Toomey ducked into an elevator when reporters asked questions.

This is a common tactic from politicians, but last week PennLive’s John Micek noted that Toomey has frequently ducked into an elevator to avoid questions on various topics. A small meme has emerged.

Thus comes Katie McGinty, the Democrat running against Toomey for Pennsylvania’s junior senate seat. Today her campaign released a web ad calling Toomey “Senator Elevator” for ducking questions about Trump after Orlando. It uses clips from cable news, as well as jokes from Samantha Bee and Seth Meyers, to poke at Toomey for going into an elevator when asked about Trump.

Toomey has a high rating from the NRA, but he has been running ads touting his support for some gun control measures — namely, expanded background checks. One ad during primary season was narrated by Nancy Grogan, a CeasefirePA board member, and Trish McFarland, a police officer’s wife.

“Pat Toomey is a proven independent leader who made it very clear that he disagrees with Donald Trump in several areas,” Toomey spokesperson Steve Kelly told Philadelphia magazine in response to the ad. “By comparison, Katie McGinty would serve as nothing more than a rubber stamp for Hillary Clinton and dangerous left-wing policies such as sanctuary cities, the Iran nuclear deal, and closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay.”

Follow @dhm on Twitter.