A House Republican nominee’s website has removed a sentence that said President Trump is unpopular and read like a recommendation from an artificial intelligence chatbot.
Eric Pratt is the Republican nominee for Minnesota’s 2nd Congressional District. His campaign website had displayed a blurb with two sentences, one of which has been deleted.
His “Pratt Playbook” section used to read: “The President is not popular, so all messaging should be focused on local politics and needs,” according to an Oct. 13 screengrab of the website on the Wayback Machine.
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That sentence has since been removed. Now, the sole sentence that’s left reads: “Residents want everyday purchases to be affordable, bad actors to be held accountable, and for their reps to lead with common sense.”
“While Eric is focused on representing the residents of the Second Congressional District, the [Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party] wants to make this race about anything but the issues that actually matter here: making life more affordable, holding people accountable, and keeping our communities safe,” the campaign said in a statement to The Washington Times that touted his accomplishments. “Instead, they focus on an internal staff note that was inadvertently included on a website update.”
Mr. Pratt’s campaign was previously burned by a former staffer who resigned over White nationalist social media posts.
Austin Brown resigned as field director for Mr. Pratt in September after Democrat Matt Little’s campaign publicized social media posts attributed to Mr. Brown that included racist, antisemitic and Islamophobic rhetoric and statements identifying himself as a White Christian nationalist.
“The central theme of my campaign has been stability over chaos,” Mr. Pratt said in a statement at the time. “Throughout my career, I have prided myself on the ability to lead with compassion, accountability and focus. I have always been clear that antisemitism, racism, and discrimination of any kind have no place in our politics or our communities.”
Mr. Pratt is not alone in website setbacks.
Ralph Alvarado, a Trump-endorsed House GOP nominee in Kentucky, previously scrubbed multiple mentions of the president from his campaign website, according to archived versions of the site.
The former state senator’s homepage deleted a promise to be the president’s ally and fighter in Congress. That message has been replaced with a quote vowing bipartisanship to work toward affordable healthcare.
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