Gov. Kim Reynolds race-baits in campaign’s new TV ad

Nothing happens in a campaign commercial by accident. Strategists plan every word and image, with the candidate’s approval. Directors may film many takes to get the perfect cadence for every line.

So Iowans should understand: The racist tropes in Gov. Kim Reynolds’ latest TV ad are deliberate.

Disparaging one Black woman with footage of another

The spot opens with Reynolds watching a Black woman say on television, “And defunding the police has to happen.” The viewer has to look closely to see that’s U.S. Rep. Cori Bush speaking. I doubt even 1 percent of Iowans would recognize the first-term Democrat from St. Louis, Missouri.

Reynolds’ Democratic challenger Deidre DeJear isn’t for defunding the police. On the contrary: she praised a bill the U.S. House just passed, which will increase federal funds for Iowa police departments. But DeJear is a Black woman, and since she hasn’t started running her own television commercials yet, it’s a fair bet hundreds of thousands of Iowa voters don’t know what she looks like.

The opening scene is designed to trick viewers into thinking DeJear wants to cut law enforcement funding. Even those who notice that’s not Reynolds’ opponent may unconsciously connect “Black woman” with “defunding the police.” Research on implicit bias has shown how images can reinforce racial stereotypes.

‘Open borders’ and ‘welfare’ add to stereotypes

As Reynolds says “Attacks on police,” the viewer sees footage of a Chicago police car being set on fire during protests in the summer of 2020.

“Open borders” coincides with this image:

“Paying people not to work,” Reynolds adds, as the spot shows a sign in capital letters: “FROM WORK TO WELFARE.”

Neither DeJear nor any other Democrat advocates moving people from work to welfare. So why is this visual on screen for several seconds? Because invoking “welfare” is one of the oldest tricks in the Republican race-baiting book. The purpose is to make white viewers think government assistance is going to people who don’t look like them and don’t want to work.

‘Here we still have common sense’

The viewer sees the governor happily striding out of a store featuring an “OPEN” sign. “Here we still have common sense,” she says, walking down the main street, wearing a gold cross necklace. “We kept businesses open and kids in school. We cut taxes and support our police. Because in Iowa, America still works.”

Reality check: more than 10,000 Iowans have died of COVID-19 in the past two and a half years—not counting those who died of other causes because they couldn’t receive timely care in overcrowded hospitals. Our state’s per-capita death rate was substantially higher than that of Wisconsin, Minnesota, or Nebraska. Had we matched their pandemic response, thousands more Iowans would be alive today.

Reynolds used a large state budget surplus to justify more permanent tax cuts skewed toward the wealthiest Iowans. But an enormous influx of federal funds related to the pandemic was a major factor in that surplus. The latest round of Republican tax cuts will decimate Iowa’s ability to provide adequate public services, once the new tax rates are fully phased in and federal support from the American Rescue Plan runs out.

One other point worth noting — the governor’s first television commercial of this campaign had a similar tag line: “Here in Iowa, America still works.” The script of that ad alluded to dysfunction in Washington, but the visuals were all upbeat scenes of rural Iowa and happy white people in small towns. (Reynolds did not appear on screen.)

Taken together, Reynolds’ ads — airing in heavy rotation statewide — center the idea that white-dominated spaces are authentically Iowan, while larger, diverse cities produce discord and chaos.

Democrats denounce ‘lying,’ ‘fear-mongering’

DeJear hasn’t commented publicly on this commercial, but her campaign manager Lavanna Martinez provided a statement to Bleeding Heartland:

DeJear’s running mate, Eric Van Lancker, tweeted soon after the ad’s release, “No Iowan watching this believes the Governor cares about bringing folks together, she shows you her true colors of divisiveness.”

Other Democrats offered a harsher assessment. In a written statement, Iowa Democratic Party Chair Ross Wilburn described the governor’s spot as “a cheap, racist and dangerous stunt using harmful stereotypes to score political points.”

Iowa House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst saw the ad as a perfect example of why “Iowans are tired and exhausted with politics today.”

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