Blackburn highlights fight against human trafficking in her latest ad
In her first policy-based TV ad of the year, U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn is using a new 30-second spot to highlight her efforts to fight human trafficking.
In the ad, which is set to start airing this week, the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate notes her work to work to shut down Backpage.com — a now shuttered website contained classifieds that allowed sex traffickers to proliferate.
“Billions of dollars trafficking human beings, even our children,” Blackburn says in the ad. “It’s sick, it’s immoral and it’s why I fought to shut them down.”
Last fall, Blackburn co-sponsored legislation that would give federal and state officials greater power to take legal action against websites like Backpage.com that host sex trafficking ads.
The measure was signed into law in April, just days after Backpage.com executives were indicted by the federal officials.
Blackburn’s ad is the latest in her race against former Gov. Phil Bredesen — the Democratic Party’s nominee — to hit Tennessee airwaves.
Bredesen launched his own ads earlier this year while Blackburn waited until this month to launch her own.
This week, Bredesen debuted a new ad that shows him in upstate New York, where he grew up, while making his case for turning Washington, D.C. “upside-down.”
Last week, two national political action committees launched their own ads touting the candidates’ qualifications.
Reach Joel Ebert at jebert@tennessean.com or 615-772-1681 and on Twitter @joelebert29.