Jim Bognet, a former Donald Trump administration official and Republican candidate for Pennsylvania’s Eighth Congressional District, launched his first television ad on Wednesday titled, “Make China Pay.”
“The Chinese lied to us. They tried to cover up coronavirus. When I’m your congressman, we’ll make China pay for the lies they told, the jobs they stole, and the lives we’ve lost,” Bognet said in the ad.
The ad serves as part of a five-figure television buy starting April 15 in the Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, and Hazleton, Pennsylvania, media markets. The ad will also air on some digital platforms.
Bognet and Matt Mowers, another former Trump administration official, were two of the first politicians to come out in favor of a travel ban from China.
Bognet also recently announced that he had raised more than $275,000 during the first quarter of 2020, which is the most of any Republican candidate in the six-candidate primary field.
Pennsylvania’s Eighth Congressional District represents one of the roughly 30 congressional districts that Trump won during the 2016 presidential election but that House Democrats flipped during the 2018 midterm elections.
The Pennsylvania district went for Trump by roughly ten percentage points, and with Trump on the ballot in 2020, this could help Republican candidates such as Bognet take back the district and help the GOP regain the House majority. Bognet hopes to unseat freshman Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-PA).
Bognet recently told Breitbart News Saturday host Matthew Boyle that it was “inexcusable” that Cartwright continues to play “politics” with Congress’s coronavirus response packages.
Bognet said, “Cartwright is part of [House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s] leadership. They’ve been playing politics for years, and they will keep playing politics at a time of crisis, and it was embarrassing this pork that they tried to throw in at a time of national emergency.”
“We should be rushing to help people at the front lines: the doctors, the nurses, FEMA, and instead, we are playing political games. It’s unconscionable and inexcusable.”
Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.