Losing a child is every parent’s worst nightmare. A Republican super PAC turned that nightmare into a multi-million dollar attack ad, one that twists the facts and exploits a father’s pain for political gain. 

With 26 million views and counting, the Senate Leadership Fund has spent a lot of money making sure that this ad has spread far and wide. It depicts a grieving father, Ronald Hayes, sharing the story of his son’s murder. The ad then falsely suggests that Roy Cooper bears responsibility for Hayes’ son being killed. 

The lies are upsetting, but unfortunately, that’s not even the worst part of the story– it’s that Hayes, a grieving father looking to honor his son’s legacy, was tricked into doing the ad. 

When he sat for the interview captured in the commercial, he was under the impression that he was supporting the work of a nonpartisan group creating an anti-gun violence ad. 

“I wanted to keep my son’s name alive and relevant,” Hayes said in one interview. “If I could do something to change gun violence and have my son’s name associated with it? Yes, bring it on,” he explained to another reporter. 

Hayes wanted to honor his son’s legacy by ensuring that other families don’t go through the same pain that his family has experienced. But that’s not what happened. The Senate Leadership Fund exploited his story, carefully cutting and manipulating the conversation so that it could serve as the centerpiece in an expensive attack ad against Roy Cooper. 

“That’s not what I said, but the way they changed it up, edited it, it makes it look like … Mr. Hayes lied,” Hayes said. 

“Once I saw the commercial, I called [the ad makers] back and I asked them again, and they stated again that they are independent,” Hayes explained. “I told them that I felt that this was deceiving, it was conniving and it was sneaky how they used me and my family to get out their word.”

The Senate Leadership Fund stands by the ad, the message, and the tactics. They know the impact that this has had on Hayes and his family, and they have decided to continue pushing out the ad for the foreseeable future. 

This is just one in a series of false attacks on Cooper’s public safety record– but this one stands apart. To deceive a grieving parent, exploit that grief for political gain, and then to press on despite the additional pain it’s causing– it’s a new low. 

Advocates, like those from North Carolinians Against Gun Violence (NCGV), are calling for the ad to be pulled from the airwaves.

“Our organization works with survivors of gun violence throughout the state, and we have witnessed how hard and traumatic it is for them to tell their stories,” said Becky Ceartas. “It requires an immense amount of trust and faith that the person you are sharing this deeply personal experience with will treat it with dignity and respect.” 

Hayes wasn’t shown that respect.  

Republican leaders are getting increasingly desperate. They know they have nothing to run on outside of skyrocketing prices, an endless war, devastating cuts, and billionaire tax breaks. So they’re resorting to deceitful messages and exploitative practices.   

There are real consequences to the policies we write and the budgets we cut, just as there are real people impacted by the stories we tell and how we tell them. A complete disregard for the human cost– it’s the common thread between this policy agenda and these campaign tactics.  

Ronald Hayes deserved better. Like many of us, he’s tired of being taken advantage of by leaders who couldn’t care less. It’s one reason why he’s planning on voting for Roy Cooper in November.