An unmarried and childless Republican candidate in Virginia is under fire for allegedly using his longtime friend's wife and their three daughters to bolster his family image in a recent video.
Derrick Anderson, the anti-abortion Republican candidate for Virginia's 7th Congressional District, used his friend's wife and three daughters to present a family-man image that may not reflect his personal life, according to a report by The New York Times.
In reality, Anderson is newly engaged and lives alone with his dogs.
However, the video footage, posted on Anderson's YouTube page and a website paid for by the National Republican Campaign Committee, shows the GOP candidate posing with the woman and her three daughters and later sitting around a dining room table with them.
Anderson's spokesperson told the Times there's no pretense to the footage as it shows Anderson posing "with female supporters and their kids."
"Derrick's opponent and every other candidate in America are in similar pictures and video with supporters of all kinds," the spokesperson wrote.
The HuffPost reported another spokesperson for Anderson called it a "normal campaign video."
"The false, politically-motivated reporting on Derrick – who is happily engaged and very proud of/vocal about his family – appearing in a normal campaign video with female supporters and their kids is both hilarious and sad," the spokesperson said in an email.
Many social media users branded Anderson "weird" and "creepy" for the ruse.
Childless GOP Candidate Derrick Anderson Borrows Family for Weird Photo Shoot
— 🌊 Lawrence R. Gelber 🌊 (@GelberLaw) September 30, 2024
And you wonder why people say the GOP / MAGA is weird.#VoteBlue https://t.co/akd5kzuF47
WTH? So, Republican Derrick Anderson, who's running for Congress, isn't married but used his friend's wife and kids in an ad, pretending they were his own family to win voters? Just when I thought I'd seen it all.
— Mama F.I.N.E (@55andwhat) September 30, 2024
Derrick Anderson is willing to mislead voters about having a family. What else is he lying about? 👀
— NanaSue 🪷 🟧💙🇺🇸🌊🦅 (@NanaSueSpeaks) September 29, 2024
The truth is that #MAGACultMorons/@GOP are continuing their smears on childfree cat women and childfree dog men, which is NONE OF THEIR BUSINESS! #VoteThemAllOutGOP https://t.co/7LSpx5rdzE
Others swarmed to the comment section of his tweet celebrating the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade to mock the footage.
SCOTUS finally got it right, and overturned a 50 year decision of federalizing abortions. As Justice Alito stated, the lack of a constitutional reference to abortion requires Roe and Casey to be overturned. https://t.co/cOT8lhDX7a
— Derrick Anderson (@DerrickforVA) June 24, 2022
Childless Dog Man had to borrow a friend's family for his advertising to fit into JD Vance's narrative...
— Paul the other one... (@paulcshipley) September 28, 2024
Don't like abortion? Consider...not having one. Also consider not exploiting children not related to you.
— Melon Husk (@HuskMelon63415) September 29, 2024
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