The relatives of an Ohio family killed in a truck crash have demanded a Republican senator stop using the names and photos of their loved ones in a campaign advertisement promoting stricter immigration policies.
For at least two weeks, the National Republican Senatorial Committee ran an ad in favor of Senator Jon Husted titled “Dangerous for Ohio,” which features the Soposki family, who died earlier this year in a semi-truck crash.
Lynnea, 36, Luke, 37, and one-year-old Logan Soposki were killed after their pickup truck was hit by a semi-truck, which caused a nine-car pileup on I-71. The ad attributes “open border” policies to the deadly crash.
But the Soposki family says they never consented to the family’s names or photos being used in the ad and accused the Republican of capitalizing on their grief for political messaging.
“This is not a statement about immigration policy, and we are not making one for any party or candidate,” the family wrote in a public statement on August 25. “It is a statement about our family. Lynnea and Luke were not political symbols.”
The “Dangerous for Ohio” ad is just 15-seconds long and attributes the Soposki’s deaths to former Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown’s policies.
“Sherrod Brown opened our borders to dangerous illegals,” a voice-over on the ad claims. “Because of him, Ohioans paid the price.”
Halfway through, the ad cuts to a photo of the Soposkis, names Lynnea and Luke, and plays footage from the deadly highway crash in April.
“Our grief is not raw material for a campaign, and their images are not public property to repurpose for anyone’s advantage,” the family of Lynnea, Luke and Logan said in their statement.
The family said they privately asked Husted’s campaign to take down the ad but did not hear back, even a week later. They then decided to post their statement on social media.
When asked for comment, a spokesperson for Husted’s campaign said the ad was a National Republican Senatorial Committee ad, not a Husted for Senate ad, and that they forwarded the family’s request to the committee after receiving it.
Nick Puglia, a spokesperson for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said in a statement: "For 32 years, radical leftist Sherrod Brown backed open border policies that cost Ohioans their lives, without ever apologizing. Our ad campaigns will continue to hold Sherrod Brown accountable.”
A person familiar with the ad traffic told The Independent that the advertisement had already run its full cycle and would be replaced with a new one.
However, the ad is still viewable as “unlisted” on the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s YouTube page. As of August 27, it has more than 5.6 million views.
In addition to the grieving family’s request, some have questioned whether the ad correctly associates the driver of the semi-truck with “dangerous illegals.”
The semi-truck driver, identified as Modou F. Ngom, became a naturalized citizen in 2015, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed to the New York Times. However, Republicans have accused Ngom of fraudulently obtaining his citizenship and commercial driver's license by using a different name.
The Independent has asked a lawyer for Ngom for comment.
Ngom has been charged and pleaded not guilty to felonies associated with the crash, including three counts of aggravated vehicular homicide and four counts of vehicular assault. He is also facing a wrongful death lawsuit.
Ngom has not been charged with immigration-related crimes.
