The 2007 murder of an Oakland journalist has become a sound bite in the presidential election, featured in a national ad blitz by Donald Trump and supporters that seeks to paint Kamala Harris as soft on crime.
Harris is expected to win California easily, so most Bay Area voters probably won’t see the pair of ads. They claim that Harris was too lenient as district attorney in San Francisco and failed 17 years ago to prevent the killing of Oakland Post editor Chauncey Bailey.
However, a relative of Bailey’s and those familiar with the case say there’s no link between his assassination and Harris’ record as a prosecutor.
“She had nothing to do with it,” Lorelei Waqia, Bailey’s sister, who lives in Atlanta and has seen the ad, said in an interview with the Bay Area News Group.
Reached by email, a Trump campaign spokesperson did not respond to the criticism, but pointed to contemporary news accounts the campaign ad used as source material. The Harris campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Bailey, an East Bay native and former Oakland Tribune reporter, was murdered in downtown Oakland as he walked to work at the Post where he was investigating a once-venerable Oakland bakery that had descended into crime and corruption.
The ads feature a mugshot of Bailey’s killer, Devaughndre Broussard, and a reenactment of his death in a hail of gunfire in downtown Oakland. They claim that Broussard should have been incarcerated at the time of Bailey’s murder for a prior assault, but Harris, as San Francisco district attorney, cut him a sweetheart deal that allowed his release.
The ads are part of Republican former President Trump’s strategy to undermine Democratic Vice President Harris’ credentials on crime with voters in the Midwest and the South, said Dan Schnur, a University of Southern California politics professor and former Republican campaign spokesperson. He said the issue of crime is one of Trump’s key strengths as a candidate.
“This isn’t the type of ad that’s going to decide the campaign,” Schnur said. “But it’s part of a broader messaging strategy, and if Trump does win, ads like this will have played a major role.”
The first ad, by the pro-Trump super PAC Make America Great Again Inc., landed last week on the social media platform X. The PAC has spent $275.6 million to promote Trump this election cycle. As of Oct. 9, MAGA Inc. had reserved almost $67 million in future ad buys, according to AdImpact, which analyzes political ads.
In the 30-second ad, a photo of Harris is shown alongside a photo of Broussard.
“As San Francisco DA, Kamala Harris let killers go free,” a voice says.
Another 30-second ad paid for by Trump’s campaign is more explicit. The former president posted it Monday on X.
It begins with a photo of person covered in a white sheet at a crime scene and transitions to an actor’s portrayal of Broussard firing a gun and running away.
“This is a journalist named Chauncey Bailey,” a husky voice says. “We can’t show you …read more
Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment
