Happy political ad season to all who just want to watch ‘Jeopardy!’ in peace

Can you point me in the direction of California, please? (iStock / Getty Images Plus)

You know it’s election season when the ridiculous political ads start airing. Not only are they on TV, but they’ve been popping up before videos on YouTube, as well.

Chris Miller, a businessman who is running to become the Republican nominee for West Virginia’s next governor, has released multiple ads in the past few months. And if you’re from around Charleston or Huntington, you’re probably familiar with his goofy car dealership commercials where he’s parodied Joe Exotic and Bob Ross.

All of his campaign ads give the vibe of a caricature of a conservative candidate, and it’s possible that people who aren’t from the area might even think they’re TikTok skits as he deadpan delivers lines telling “gun-grabbers” to “listen up.”

In one ad, Miller sits in what I assume is a men’s locker room.

“As the father of an 11-year-old girl, you’re darn right I don’t want her sharing a locker room with a biological male,” said the adult man who once dressed up like a young female character from a Netflix series for a car commercial. He continues, “If we expect our kids to tell the truth, we can’t let the woke left redefine it. Fairy tales aren’t fact. A boy is not a girl. And a girl’s locker room is for girls.”

So is it OK to dress like the opposite sex because it aligns with your sense of humor, but not when it aligns with your gender identity?

Republican gubernatorial candidate and West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey’s political ad focuses on his loyalty to former President Donald Trump and disdain for President Joe Biden. A voiceover states that Morrisey was the first candidate to support Trump. Remember when candidates used to brag over who endorsed them, not who they endorsed?

“I have a simple rule. When Biden screws West Virginia, I sue Biden,” Morrisey says. “And West Virginia wins.”

So what did Biden do to hurt West Virginia?

According to the ad, it was when the Environmental Protection Agency tried to regulate greenhouse emissions. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the state in West Virginia v. the EPA, ruling that the EPA does not have Congressional authority to limit emissions at existing power plants through generation shifting to cleaner sources.

More greenhouse gas emissions for all, what a win.

Another Republican gubernatorial candidate, Moore Capito, son of U.S. Senator Shelly Moore Capito, has also released a political ad that goes hard on being anti-immigration, referring to people as “illegals,” “terrorists” and “human traffickers.” He says that when he was House Judiciary chairman, West Virginia banned sanctuary cities . The ad keeps showing a white windowless van driving over a U.S. map to West Virginia until it screeches to a halt to avoid hitting Capito, who is standing in the middle of the road.

“California’s that way,” Capito says while pointing to his right.

Is this something we now say to our California-native reporter Caity Coyne multiple times a week? Yes, yes it is.

It’s an odd tactic to focus so much on immigration in a state so far from the southern U.S.  border. Since 2005, West Virginia has had fewer than 5,000 undocumented immigrants, according to the Pew Research Center, and fewer than 1% of workers in the state were unauthorized immigrants in 2021.

I haven’t seen any ads yet for the other gubernatorial candidates — Secretary of State Mac Warner, Huntington Mayor Steve Williams, Kevin “KC Christian, Chase G. Linko-Looper or Mitch Roberts.

As the primary gets closer, it seems things are only going to get more contentious between the Republican candidates. Remember that just because a candidate might make a claim in a commercial shown with a headline from a news source, the candidate could be taking something entirely out of context. Check the claims in the ad yourself  — remember the source and headline if possible, or see if another trusted local outlet wrote about it. Politicians are going to tell you what they think you want to hear — it’s best to do your own research.

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