Schaefer celebrates as pro-Hawley ad removed from airwaves

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Kurt Schaefer’s campaign is celebrating Wednesday morning after it says a pro-Josh Hawley radio ad has been pulled by multiple stations for being false.

The ad, paid for by the Faith and Freedom Coalition, focused on Schaefer’s record on pro-life issues.

“This is just another example of the lies and distortions of my record being spread around the state by Washington, D.C. groups and East Coast money,” Schaefer said. “To this point, nearly $3 million have been spent to promote Josh Hawley by these groups who will not disclose their donors or their agendas, and Missourians are seeing through their attempts to buy an Attorney General they can control.”

The Faith and Freedom Coalition is based in Washington.

“It is very rare to see an ad pulled from the airwaves during a political contest. For this to happen, the ad has to completely disregard the truth,” said Scott Dieckhaus, Shaefer’s campaign manager. “In this race, there have been allegations of dishonesty back and forth between the campaigns, but only this pro-Josh Hawley ad has been taken down due to the egregious lie it attempted to spread.”

Both Schaefer and Hawley have been endorsed by Missouri Right to Life.

The spat represents the latest battle in a nasty campaign for the Republican nomination. In a poll released last weekend, the two were in a statistical tie, with Hawley’s two point lead within the poll’s margin of error.