Rep. Lou Barletta charged Tuesday that Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., personally targeted his family by running an ad that suggested Barletta would cut off healthcare for kids with cancer.
On Fox News, Barletta said he had just told Casey that one of his twin grandsons has been diagnosed with cancer. He said Casey’s decision to then run an ad about kids with cancer is a “new low.”
“I thought what I saw with Brett Kavanaugh was an all-time low,” Barletta said on Fox News. “I didn’t realize that Sen. Casey would stoop to this level, to hurt a family.”
“We don’t know if Jordan’s going to be OK, and to see this commercial is evil,” he added. “That’s the only way I can describe it, it’s evil.”
Barletta is trying to win Casey’s Senate seat, and has closed the gap against Casey in recent polls. Casey’s ad didn’t mention Casey’s grandson directly, but features a mother of twins with cancer who worries Barletta would cut off funds for children in these conditions.
But Barletta said the ad gets his position wrong, and said he supports protection for people with pre-existing conditions.
“That ad is a lie to begin with,” he said.
But he said the deeper offense is Casey’s decision to hit Barletta so close to home.
“Obviously he doesn’t know what it’s like to have a loved one diagnosed with cancer, let alone an 18-month old baby,” Barletta said. “Bob Casey is everything that’s wrong with politics in Washington.”
He added that it might show Casey is nervous about keeping his seat.
“To bring this and bring my family and bring an issue that’s so close to my family to try to win an election just tells you how desperate he is,” Barletta said. “You wouldn’t do this unless you felt that you had to, to hurt a family for political purposes. It’s just wrong.”
