Michael Guest campaign airs first negative campaign ad after shocking primary results
Jun. 10—JACKSON — Only three days after Republican U.S. Rep. Michael Guest was forced into a runoff election, his campaign is already releasing a campaign advertisement hammering his opponent over his voting record and short residence in Mississippi.
Guest's campaign produced an ad questioning if voters truly know Michael Cassidy, his GOP opponent who has momentarily captured the attention of central Mississippians by touting his support of former President Donald Trump.
"He just came to Mississippi from Maryland and only registered to vote here last year," the advertisement said. "As a Navy reserve pilot, Cassidy was grounded and put under an investigation. Mississippi doesn't need a carpetbagger."
Matt Braynard, an advisor to the Cassidy campaign, told the Daily Journal in a statement that Guest's latest add makes it clear that the incumbent congressman also supports the academic framework known as Critical Race Theory being forced onto members of the military.
"In addition to supporting Planned Parenthood and the Democrats' (January 6) Commission, Mr. Guest now makes it clear that he also supports CRT being forced on our military," Braynard said. "As documented in the Breitbart article the ad cites, it was Michael Cassidy's criticism of those programs that got him grounded. We're not surprised that once again Mr. Guest sides with Democrats and leftists over the values of his own constituents."
Guest's advertisement does not mention CRT.
Cassidy's campaign website says that he was born in Annapolis, Maryland, and grew up in Arlington, Virginia. He has lived in Mississippi for six years, according to Braynard, and he worked at the Naval Air Station in Meridian.
Voting records do seem to indicate that Cassidy has only participated in one Mississippi election. Records show that the only state election in which he's taken part was a special election for a state Senate race last November.
Cassidy's employment status is unclear. Conservative news outlet Breitbart published an article quoting Cassidy saying the Navy forbade him to fly a military aircraft over accusations that he used the naval station as a backdrop for campaign photos.
Cassidy told the outlet the photos were actually taken in a civilian airfield and not on a military base.
Cassidy, a newcomer with little statewide name identity, shocked political observers on Tuesday after forcing Guest, an incumbent official with a long history in the state, into a runoff election.
Neither Guest nor Cassidy secured a majority of the votes cast during the first primary election, so they will compete in a runoff election on June 28.
