Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson is looking to appeal to different types of voters, and his new effort will be aimed at black voters.
His campaign is rolling out a new radio ad dubbed “Freedom” that will run in Miami, Atlanta, Birmingham, Jackson, Memphis, Little Rock, Houston and Detroit, beginning on Friday, campaign spokesman Doug Watts confirmed to the Washington Examiner.
In the 60-second ad, its total buy is $150,000, artist Aspiring Mogul raps over clips of Carson speaking, while music urges listeners to “vote, vote.”
“I’m very hopeful that I’m not the only one who’s willing to pick up the baton of freedom, because freedom is not free and we must fight for it every day,” Carson says in the ad. “Every one of us must fight for it because we’re fighting for our children and the next generation.”
Meanwhile, Aspiring Mogul raps: “Vote and support Ben Carson for our next president and be awesome. If we want to get America back on track, we got to vote for Ben Carson matter of fact.”
In April, Carson appeared on New York’s WBLS where he said hip-hop music is destroying black communities. He has also shied away from race issues as they become more pertinent in the 2016 cycle.
“We need to re-establish faith in our communities and the values and principles that got us through slavery, that got us through Jim Crow, and segregation and all kinds of horrible things that were heaped upon us,” Carson said, continuing, “Why were we able to get through those? Because of our faith, because of our family, because of our values, and as we allow the hip-hop community to destroy those things for us, and as we grasp onto what’s politically correct and not what is correct, we continue to deteriorate.”
These comments were made before he officially launched his 2016 presidential campaign.
Carson has seen himself move into the top of the race for the Republican ticket in recent national polls. In an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released this week, Carson moved into the lead with 29 percent, compared to Donald Trump’s 23 percent.
