Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., went very literal in his latest campaign advertisement by shooting a copy of an anti-Obamacare lawsuit with a shotgun.
It is the latest effort by Manchin to slam his opponent, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, for joining in the lawsuit. Manchin’s ad makes the cause that the lawsuit will gut the law’s protections for pre-existing conditions.
“He is just dead wrong,” Manchin said before shooting a copy of the lawsuit in the ad.
Patrick Morrisey’s lawsuit would take away health care from people with pre-existing conditions. That’s just dead wrong, and that ain’t gonna happen. pic.twitter.com/QFTSZGnmdK
— Joe Manchin (@JoeManchinWV) September 10, 2018
The ad references an ad from earlier in Manchin’s career that depicted him shooting a cap and trade bill considered back in 2009 that would have capped greenhouse gases.
Manchin has turned to healthcare as a prominent issue in his re-election campaign in West Virginia, a state President Trump won by more than 30 percentage points in 2016.
The lawsuit has given Manchin an opening to target Morrisey on the issue. The lawsuit is premised on the claim that since the individual mandate’s financial penalty will be zeroed out in 2019, the rest of the law cannot stand on its own and should be struck down.
But a collection of 17 states defending Obamacare argue that if Congress wanted to get rid of the entire law, they would have done so when they zeroed out the mandate penalty in the tax law last year. The states stepped in to defend the law after the Justice Department declined to do so.
A federal judge is expected to rule soon on a preliminary injunction motion to halt federal enforcement of Obamacare while the lawsuit made its way through the courts. If the judge rules in favor of the lawsuit’s plaintiffs then insurers would no longer be required to offer plans that protect people with pre-existing conditions.
The latest poll in the race released late last month shows Manchin up by 8 points over Morrisey.
Morrisey’s campaign said in a statement that Manchin has a “D” rating from the National Rifle Association and voted against Obamacare repeal in the Senate.
