ATLANTA — In his latest campaign ad, Democratic Senate candidate Matt Lieberman clutches a semi-automatic rifle as he grills a young man interested in dating his daughter.
If that sounds familiar, that's because it's a callback to one of the most notorious ads in recent Georgia political history - Gov. Brian Kemp's "gun ad" from the 2018 gubernatorial race.
Lieberman - the son of former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman - parodies the ad in his latest campaign spot, published to YouTube on Wednesday. At the end, he acknowledges the gun is a toy, and that in fact he doesn't actually own a gun.
The original 2018 spot briefly drew national coverage after an outcry at the image of Kemp polishing a shotgun as he grilled a young man named Jake on his campaign platforms (the Kemp campaign brushed off critics at the time, telling them to "get over it.").
Lieberman, in his parody, asks "Jack" about various issues - "Do you think the government should control what happens to a woman's body?" for instance.
"Well sir I think a woman should control her own body," the young man answers.
Lieberman also asks Jack about voter suppression - "Do you think every vote should count, or is a little voter suppression okay every now and then?" - and the what he thinks of the Second Amendment ("Uh, it comes after the First Amendment?" Jack responds).
It ends with Lieberman explaining the semi-automatic rifle in his lap.
"And Jack, last question - what do you think of a military-style weapon like this? Should a civilian like me be able buy one in the store?"
"Hell no."
"Hell no?"
"I'm sorry, heck no."
"No, you were right the first time. Hell no. And by the way, this is a toy, I don't own a gun."
It ends on the same note Kemp's did, Lieberman telling Jack, "we're gonna get along just fine."
Lieberman is among a handful of candidates to have entered the 2020 Democratic primary for Senate, alongside Sarah Riggs Amico, the 2018 Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, former Congressional candidate Jon Ossoff and former mayor of Columbus Teresa Tomlinson.
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