EXCLUSIVE — The Senate GOP’s campaign arm is targeting the immigration voting record of Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA), the Democratic Party’s most vulnerable incumbent this November, who is seeking a second term in battleground Georgia.
A new 30-second digital ad from the National Republican Senatorial Committee, first seen by the Washington Examiner, centers on Ossoff’s opposition to President Donald Trump’s deportation agenda. It comes as the GOP turns its focus in Congress to pass a stand-alone immigration funding bill that can bypass a filibuster.
“Jon Ossoff’s open border policies let murderers and rapists onto Georgia streets,” the ad states. “President Trump and Senate Republicans have passed legislation to end Democrats’ open border policies, but Jon Ossoff voted against border security in favor of protecting illegal aliens from deportation and reopening illegal crossings at the border.”
Ossoff supported the Laken Riley Act, the federal law passed under Trump and named after the 22-year-old Georgia nursing student killed by a Venezuelan illegal immigrant. It requires the detention of illegal immigrants charged or convicted of theft-related offenses until deportation.
Still, the NRSC is connecting Ossoff to her murder for opposing other policies or funding for Trump’s deportation agenda. Congressional Republicans in the coming weeks will work to advance some $70 billion for federal immigration enforcement over the next several years using a party-line process known as budget reconciliation. Democrats vehemently oppose the effort.
“Laken Riley’s murder is the direct result of Jon Ossoff and Kamala Harris’ open-border policies,” NRSC Regional press secretary Nick Puglia said in a statement.
The Ossoff campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
The ad includes artificially generated clips, something the NRSC has increasingly used in its spots criticizing Democrats. In some cases, the campaign arm has created deepfake videos of Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico to portray them narrating their own past quotes from written interviews or social media posts.
SENATE GOP USES JAMES TALARICO’S WORDS AGAINST HIM WITH DEEPFAKE ATTACK AD
In this instance, artificial intelligence is used to portray an Ossoff lookalike standing with supposed illegal immigrants and to produce an image of Ossoff standing in front of the U.S. Capitol flanked by former Vice President Kamala Harris and Schumer. On-screen AI disclosures are not included.
Trump has not made an endorsement in the Georgia Senate race, one of several messy GOP primaries. Contenders include Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA), Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA), and former football coach Derek Dooley.