The Senate Leadership Fund released a new advertisement on Friday lambasting North Carolina senatorial candidate Deborah Ross (D.) for defending the right to burn the American flag, but not a veteran's right to fly one.
The ad, titled "Disgraceful," features Vietnam veteran Col. Ron Cyrus speaking passionately about the symbolic power of the American flag.
"The flag means everything to me," Cyrus says. "It was always taught to be everything to me. I've seen flags wrapped around coffins as they [soldiers] are being brought home."
A narrator then informs viewers that during her legal career, Ross refused to defend a veteran who had been threatened with a lawsuit for flying the American flag.
But Ross does defend the right to burn the flag, the narrator continues, as an image of a flaming flag crackles on the screen.
"I just believe that is just totally disgraceful," Cyrus says.
The ad concludes with Cyrus condemning Ross on behalf of all veterans in his state.
"She's failed us as veterans," Cyrus says. "Deborah Ross does not represent the values of the veterans of North Carolina."
Ross, a Democrat, is running against incumbent Republican Sen. Richard Burr in North Carolina's Senate race.
The Senate Leadership Fund, the group that sponsored the ad, is an independent Super PAC founded in 2015. The fund's website states its goal is "to protect and expand the Republican Senate Majority when Harry Reid, Elizabeth Warren, and their army of left-wing activists try to take it back in 2016."
Burr is currently leading Ross by 2.8 points in their race, according to the Real Clear Politics average of polls.