A group affiliated with the Republican Governors Association is launching an ad Tuesday targeting Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly (D) for recent remarks she made about a possible recession, Breitbart News has learned.
The Get Families Back to Work PAC is spending roughly $250,000 on the ad, which will air on televisions in the Kansas City, Topeka, and Wichita media markets, as well as statewide through satellite.
The ad opens with a narrator saying, “Gov. Laura Kelly, she’s so out of touch,” and then switches to a scene in which Kelly says, “When you hear people talking about, you know, a recession coming, bring it on.”
Watch:
Kelly’s “bring it on” remark, first reported last week by Fox News, was notable given it deviated drastically from the position of President Joe Biden, who has largely downplayed the possibility of a recession, despite serious indicators the economy is heading in that direction.
Kelly welcomed the challenge of a recession because her administration, she said, had “managed the budget so well” that Kansas was therefore in “really good shape” to be able to handle a dramatic economic downturn.
Get Families Back to Work Executive Director Dave Rexrode charged that Kelly’s recession remark illustrated the Kansas Democrat had no regard for the livelihoods of the average Kansas worker or small business owner.
“Kansas families are already struggling with skyrocketing inflation and record-high prices on everything from gas to food, but even that isn’t enough suffering for Democrat Laura Kelly,” Rexrode said in a statement. “When Kelly says bring on a recession, she’s telling Kansas workers and small businesses their livelihoods don’t matter.”
The ad narrator says of Kelly’s comment:
Really? Since Joe Biden and Laura Kelly took control, gas prices have doubled, inflation has gone through the roof, and you’re paying more for everything. And Laura Kelly’s recession could cost people their jobs.
…
Biden and Kelly have failed us. Tell Gov. Kelly, we can’t afford her recession.
Kelly is in a highly vulnerable position running for reelection this year in a solid red state that former President Donald Trump won by nearly 15 points in 2020. Both Cook Political Report and Sabato’s Crystal Ball rate the race a “toss-up.”
Republicans nationally have targeted the race as winnable and have a promising candidate in the frontrunning GOP nominee, three-term Attorney General Derek Schmidt (R), who has been endorsed by Trump.
Kansas’s gubernatorial primary race is scheduled for August 2.
Write to Ashley Oliver at aoliver@breitbart.com. Follow her on Twitter at @asholiver.