Republican candidate removes beheading footage from campaign ad
PHOENIX - The Republican candidate running to replace Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Arizona, has removed a video clip from her campaign ad that showed journalist James Foley moments before he was beheaded by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
The ad drew heavy criticism and a spokesman for the candidate, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Wendy Rogers, said Tuesday she decided to remove the footage in order to keep voters focusing on her opponent.
The ad says that Sinema is weak on national security issues.
"Kyrsten Sinema's votes on national security - including her vote to allow terrorists to be transferred to U.S. soil and tried in American courts - are dangerous for national security," the spokesman, James Harris, said in a statement.
The spot, which the campaign released Monday, opened with the footage of a masked member of ISIS holding a knife as Foley kneels. It did not show the moment he was beheaded. Rogers is spending about $124,000 to air the ad in the Phoenix market and on cable.
The new version of the ad uses a more generic shot of masked men in black waving guns walking through the desert as text across the video warns, "terrorist threats are growing."
The Democratic National Congressional Committee said using the Foley footage was "reprehensible."