US Republican candidate poses with friend’s wife, daughters for campaign ad

As the much-awaited US elections are approaching, candidates from different parties are gearing up to garner as many votes as possible by using unique campaign strategies. One Republican candidate even borrowed his friend’s wife and children to pose for a family photo.

Derrick Anderson, an Army veteran and Republican candidate running for an open seat in Virginia’s Seventh District, posted a video featuring a typical ‘family photo’ of himself with a woman and three girls, The New York Times reports. ‘ Was. However, the woman and three girls in the misleading photo are no relation to Mr Anderson, who is single and lives with his dog, his campaign website says. In another shot, Mr. Anderson can be seen sitting at a dining table with the same woman and girls.

Mr Anderson’s campaign later clarified that the woman and girls in the photo were actually his friend’s wife and daughters. He is engaged and has recently posted videos with his fiancee on social media.

However, the Republican candidate has faced criticism from many social media users for the photos now widely circulated on social media. His democratic opponent for the seat, Eugene Vindman, immediately called him out. “Derrick Anderson invented a fake family to get Virginia 7th voters to like him,” Mr. Vindman said in a post on X.

In another post, Mr. Vindman said, “The MAGA definition of “family values” now includes borrowing a wife and kids for a political ad, thanks to Derrick Anderson. If Derrick cheats on you about his family , So how can we trust him to stand up to his own party on Project 2025?”

However, when contacted by the NYT for comment, a spokesman for Mr Anderson said that “Derrick’s opponent and every other candidate in America have similar photos and videos with all kinds of supporters”. According to the NYT, he also said that the video showed Mr. Anderson with “female friends and supporters.”