Virginia's Democratic gubernatorial nominee Terry McAuliffe released a new ad promoting his goal of "growing Virginia's economy"—but the workers pictured in the ad are in Florida.
The new ad from McAuliffe, who is running for his second term as governor, includes stock footage sold by Getty Images of a diverse pair of workers in Florida, a Washington Free Beacon investigation found. The "workers walking through metal fabrication shop stock video" was shot in Florida in February 2019 and can be purchased for $170.
The McAuliffe campaign declined to comment on the attempt to pass off Florida workers as Virginians.
This is not the first time McAuliffe, who was born and raised in upstate New York, has failed on Virginia geography. In June, McAuliffe shared an article about a school in Norfolk, Neb., using funds from the American Rescue Plan, thinking mistakenly that it was a school in the Virginia city of Norfolk. McAuliffe deleted the tweet.
The native New Yorker, who some say resembles an old lesbian woman, moved to Virginia several decades ago to kickstart his career in business and politics. After a long fundraising career highlighted by stints as chairman of the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's failed 2008 presidential campaign, McAuliffe was elected in 2013 as governor of Virginia. Like Clinton, McAuliffe has been criticized for adopting new dialects to cater to constituents.