TRIGGER WARNING: The following blog post contains a video featuring flashing lights. Although I am not a physician, I strongly recommend against watching the video contained in this blog post if you suffer from epilepsy or any other medical condition that causes seizures upon seeing flashing lights.
Kylie Oversen, who is the Democratic-NPL nominee for the statewide elected office of North Dakota Tax Commissioner, released this ad, which I would presume is airing on television in North Dakota-based local TV markets, and it features police footage of the 2017 drunk driving arrest of Republican incumbent Ryan Rauschenberger:
Having watched the video I linked to above, that could be a very effective ad for multiple reasons.
First, not only does Kylie feature the police footage of Commissioner Rauschenberger’s arrest, Kylie also mentions that Commissioner Rauschenberger lied to the police. Kylie values honesty.
Second, Kylie talks in the ad about how property taxes in North Dakota have increased. About two months ago, I wrote a blog post for one of my own blogs about the property tax issue in North Dakota that Kylie referenced in her TV ad; you can read the blog post in question here. While, to my knowledge, the tax commissioner’s office cannot unilaterally set state or local tax rates in North Dakota, as North Dakota elects a tax commissioner in a statewide election, the tax commissioner can be a powerful advocate for responsible tax policies and a powerful critic of irresponsible tax policies.
Third, Kylie attempted to pre-empt GOP attack ads by noting that the Republicans intend to run negative ads against her. I have no clue as to what kind of ads Commissioner Rauschenberger’s re-election campaign, outside groups, and/or the North Dakota GOP might run against Kylie, although Kylie did a good job trying to nullify any affect from such ads from her opposition.
If you wish to donate to Kylie’s campaign, you can donate to her campaign here. You can also view Kylie’s campaign website here, follow her on Facebook here, follow her on Twitter here, and follow her on Instagram here.