Editor's note: This story has been updated from its original version.

U.S. Rep. Brian Mast's re-election campaign pulled a TV ad Wednesday immediately after TCPalm discovered the man it features was convicted of domestic battery in 2013, and is an actor who lives in Miami, not the congressional district.

John Cosomano was sentenced to three years' probation, which was terminated about a year after his conviction on two felonies in Miami-Dade County: domestic battery by strangulation and aggravated battery causing great bodily harm.

In the ad titled "Shameful," Cosomano claims to be a retired New York City firefighter and Mast's campaign told TCPalm he retired a year before the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center. According to the NYC Fire Department Pension Fund, he retired in 1999.

"Congressman Mast absolutely will not use this ad moving forward," campaign spokesman Brad Stewart said immediately after TCPalm asked about Cosomano. "Had we known, we absolutely would not have featured him in the ad."

Cosomano, whose IMDB page claims he appeared on episodes of "Burn Notice" and "Sex and the City," was not paid to appear in the ad, Stewart said.

Baer's column

Some national and online media outlets have reported on the ad, in which Cosomano bashes Mast's Democratic opponent for a column she wrote in Harvard University's student newspaper shortly after 9/11.

More:TCPalm's complete election coverage

In the column, Baer calls America's response to 9/11 a "moment of hypocrisy."

"At the same time that America calls on the world to ardently preserve our sacred values, it must live up to a shameful history of having so rarely stood up for those values itself," she wrote. "Yes, the attacks on America were an attack on the world, but so are any attacks motivated by venom and hate, regardless of location, regardless of their scale."

Cosomano took issue with her stance, saying he lost friends in the terrorist attacks.

Baer's campaign said it's unfair for the Mast to cherry-pick quotes from the column, especially since she went on to work as a foreign policy adviser in the State Department.

"Lauren Baer devoted her life to public service and the promotion of American values abroad, and the insinuation that she is somehow un-American is a tired move from the Republican playbook," Baer's campaign manager, Rebecca Lipson, said. "Congressman Mast should be ashamed he has stooped so low as to selectively quote from an article Lauren wrote in college in order to grossly misrepresent her values and point of view. Lauren has always respected Congressman Mast’s patriotism, and we expect he would equally respect hers."

District 18

The District 18 race, covering Martin, St. Lucie and northern Palm Beach counties, is one of several closely watched swing districts throughout the country.

More: Brian Mast, Lauren Baer get national attention

Nonpartisan political analysts — including Cook Political Report, Sabato's Crystal Ball and Inside Elections — predict Mast will win the race, but faces a tough opponent.

Baer hopes to overcome in a year where political analysts expect a "blue wave" of anti-Trump sentiment and strong national support for female candidates.

More:Mast, Baer debate red tide, blue-green algae blooms

Baer's campaign released an internal poll Wednesday that shows she's closed the gap within the past two weeks, with Mast leading by three points instead of the previous six.

Internal polls tend to be favorable for the candidate paying for them, but similar results were reported in a poll released late last month by Protect Our Care, a progressive health care group. Baer's made health care her primary campaign focus.

More: TCPalmcast's Oct. 3 episode

Mast's campaign said its own internal polling doesn't match those results, but declined to release its own findings to TCPalm Wednesday.