Dave McCormick released a campaign ad that featured two prominent Republican activists and Moms for Liberty supporters as former Democrats.
A new ad released by Dave McCormick, who is running against US Sen. Bob Casey in next month’s election, features two former Democrats who happened to campaign for Dr. Mehmet Oz and State Sen. Doug Mastriano in the 2022 cycle.
The two former Democrats also have ties to Moms for Liberty, an extremist group responsible for pushing book bans across the country.
“In 2018, I voted for Bob Casey,” Jamie Walker, a Bucks County resident, said in the ad’s opening line.
Walker, a former Democrat, became prominent in right-wing circles during the pandemic for suing the former Department of Health Secretary Allison Beam over masking mandates.
Walker campaigned in favor of Mastriano, according to the Delaware Valley Journal, and during that time, she spoke at a Bucks County Moms for Liberty event and was in their social media groups.
Sheila Armstrong, the former Philadelphia Moms for Liberty chapter leader and Oz staffer, was another former Democrat featured in McCormick’s ad.
“I come from a family of Democrats. I’m voting for Dave McCormick,” Armstrong said in the ad.
Armstrong ran as a Democrat for Philadelphia City Council in 2019, but ultimately ended up working for the Oz campaign in 2022.
The Intercept reported at the time that Armstrong spoke at a roundtable on gun violence hosted by Oz but never disclosed to the media that she was being paid by the campaign.
More recently, Armstrong played a role in organizing McCormick’s botched visit to Max’s Steaks in North Philadelphia.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Armstrong organized the event on the behalf of her non-profit organization, Cooking4Autism, but it quickly turned into a campaign stop when McCormick’s team set up McCormick and Trump signs around the property.
“We didn’t sign up for that at all. Zero,” Mike Sfida, manager at Max’s Steaks, told The Inquirer after the event. “I could throw them all out of here, but I’m going to be nice. Do your thing. When you’re done, leave. You’re not welcome back.”
