2026-10-22T10:00:17.510Z / 美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）
当罗宾·博奥诺多诺看到电视广告时，她几乎无法呼吸。广告描述了1994年她5岁女儿妮可·范诺蒂被谋杀的案件。这个谋杀故事被共和党超级政治行动委员会未经她知情就改编成政治攻击广告，目的是击败密歇根州民主党联邦参议院候选人阿卜杜勒·埃尔赛义德。
“我当时恐慌症发作了，”博奥诺多诺说，她在女儿遇害后离开了密歇根州。“你们为什么要利用别人孩子的死亡来谋取政治利益？”
参议院领导基金为这些广告至少花费了370万美元，广告内容讲述了杰森·西蒙兹如何强奸并杀害妮可。博奥诺多诺表示，参议院领导基金从未联系过她。
这些于9月开始播出的广告，是参议院领导基金——共和党最具影响力的参议院超级政治行动委员会——资助的众多广告中的一部分，这些广告将真实谋杀案改编成攻击密歇根州和北卡罗来纳州民主党参议院候选人的内容。美国有线电视新闻网通过广告追踪服务AdImpact进行的审查发现，参议院领导基金在提及受害者或行凶者的广告上的支出至少达到1700万美元。
至少有三起案件中，家属表示参议院领导基金从未告知他们，他们亲人的死亡会被用于政治广告。接受美国有线电视新闻网采访的家属将这些广告描述为令人不安、令人心碎且痛苦不堪。
这场广告宣传反映了共和党一项常见策略：提及暴力犯罪，将民主党描绘成对公共安全软弱的政党。但流媒体、数字和社交平台的普及，让受害者家属更难避开这类信息，也引发了伦理问题：政治团体以及部分共和党竞选团队在播出涉及某个家庭创伤的广告前，是否应该先征得其同意。
“这些广告可以通过如此多不同的媒介传播，以社交媒体出现之前不可能有的方式出现，”北卡罗来纳大学政治传播学教授丹尼尔·克赖斯说，他补充道，在广告播出前通知家属是做人的基本道义。
“你应该给那些人、那个家庭提个醒，”克赖斯说道。
与参议院多数党领袖约翰·图恩有关联的参议院领导基金，自2025年初以来已在政治广告上花费超过3.25亿美元，以捍卫共和党在参议院的多数席位。该基金为我们此次审查的密歇根州和北卡罗来纳州的广告提供了资金。据AdImpact数据，整个政治领域的广告支出有望在本届选举周期突破116亿美元，这将成为史上花费最高的选举周期。
参议院领导基金未回应有关其广告投放行为的提问，但提供了一份声明。“每一起因暴力犯罪失去的生命都是无法容忍的悲剧，当这种悲剧完全可以避免，且是自由派政策失败的直接后果时，情况会更糟，”该基金通讯主任克里斯·古斯塔夫森说道。
在密歇根州，参议院领导基金承诺投入4500万美元——创下该州纪录——支持前众议员迈克·罗杰斯对抗埃尔赛义德，随后在8月又追加了600万美元。
参议院领导基金还花费约200万美元在密歇根州投放广告，讲述1999年杰西卡·莱德福德被强奸谋杀的案件。她的未婚夫罗伯特·霍姆里奇表示，参议院领导基金从未联系过他，有一段时间他每天都能在YouTube上好几次看到这些广告。
“这每天都在困扰我，”仍住在密歇根州的霍姆里奇说。“他们正在利用我个人的悲剧来操纵选举。”
密歇根州的广告针对的是埃尔赛义德2018年提出的一项提案，该提案旨在为“低风险”少年犯减刑。美国最高法院2012年裁定，对青少年判处强制性终身无假释监禁违宪，要求包括密歇根州在内的各州对这类囚犯重新量刑。
杀害妮可时年仅16岁的西蒙兹，于8月被裁定仍需终身监禁不得假释。马克·奥斯本在即将年满18岁前不久杀害了莱德福德，经重新量刑后，他预计将于2039年获得假释资格。
“阿卜杜勒坚信，我们绝对需要为执法部门提供资金，以保护社区免受暴力犯罪侵害，”埃尔赛义德的竞选发言人科尔·沃兹尼亚克说。“迈克·罗杰斯及其盟友将继续就阿卜杜勒的履历编造荒谬谎言，以转移人们对罗杰斯投票反对为执法部门提供资金的记录的关注。”
针对美国有线电视新闻网就此次报道发表评论的请求，罗杰斯的竞选团队发表声明，批评埃尔赛义德与超级政治行动委员会的关联。
在北卡罗来纳州，参议院领导基金至少花费了400万美元投放广告，展示了吉米·斯皮特二世的画面，并声称他“谋杀了一名无辜男子”。该男子是小埃德蒙·摩尔。他的母亲帕梅拉·摩尔表示，参议院领导基金从未联系过她。
“这真的令人心碎。令人心碎，也让人麻木。你们怎么能利用一位母亲和父亲的儿子的死来为自己博取可信度？”摩尔说道。
这些广告指责民主党联邦参议院候选人罗伊·库珀放走了斯皮特。作为州长，库珀的政府在2021年解决了一起关于监狱拥挤的疫情期间诉讼，导致约3500名囚犯获释。但斯皮特在该和解协议达成前就已经出狱了。
“独立事实核查机构已经称这些攻击言论虚假且具有误导性——迈克尔·沃特利及其盟友走投无路，他们利用骇人罪行来助推自己的竞选，这是可耻的，”库珀的竞选发言人在一份声明中说道。
沃特利的竞选团队未回应置评请求。
今年民主党推出的提及具体受害者和罪行的广告寥寥无几。一个显著的例外是：得克萨斯州联邦参议院候选人詹姆斯·塔拉里科的竞选团队至少花费了500万美元投放广告，批评其对手、得克萨斯州总检察长肯·帕克斯顿的检察官就一起针对韦科一名被指控性侵儿童的律师提出的认罪协议。该协议已成为这场可能决定美国参议院控制权的竞选的争议焦点。
在这则广告播出前，一名自称是受害者家属发言人的女子在脸书上发帖称：“来自受害者家属的声明：我们未向塔拉里科提供任何声明。我们没有和他交谈过。我们厌倦了在这场选举中被利用。我们厌倦了帕克斯顿和塔拉里科两人散布的谎言，厌倦了这种分裂，真的受够了。”美国有线电视新闻网无法核实该帖子的真实性。
“两党议员都已谴责肯·帕克斯顿的这项腐败认罪协议。审理此案的法官也谴责了这项认罪协议。韦科居民抗议了这项认罪协议。得克萨斯州民众要求伸张正义，确保这种事不会再发生在其他家庭身上，”塔拉里科的发言人JT·恩尼斯在一份声明中说道。
卫斯理大学媒体项目联合主任特拉维斯·里多特表示，共和党之所以依赖犯罪议题，是因为选民更信任共和党在该问题上的立场。在共和党面临持续的通胀、高能源成本以及不受欢迎的共和党总统的当下，这类言论也为共和党提供了一个可行的宣传方向。
这类“对犯罪软弱”的攻击广告几十年来一直是共和党竞选的惯用手段，从理查德·尼克松的“法律与秩序”竞选活动，到1988年针对迈克尔·杜卡基斯的威利·霍顿广告。上个月，唐纳德·特朗普总统在北卡罗来纳州为沃特利竞选时提及了霍顿，声称库珀未能保障该州的安全。
那则攻击广告 featuring 了霍顿——一名因谋杀入狱的黑人男子，在马萨诸塞州监狱休假期间未归后，被判定犯有强奸和袭击罪。尽管该广告被广泛批评为种族主义，但事实证明它很有效：杜卡基斯当时在民调中领先，但广告播出后，乔治·H·W·布什反超了他，并最终以压倒性优势获胜。
在那次演讲中，特朗普还提及了2025年23岁的伊里娜·扎鲁茨卡在夏洛特通勤列车上被谋杀的案件。视频记录了德卡洛斯·布朗二世刺伤扎鲁茨卡的瞬间——这段视频被沃特利的竞选团队未经扎鲁茨卡家人同意就用于广告中。
“我们已经明确表示：我们不希望她的死亡被政治化。这是一个公共安全问题，”该家属的律师劳伦·牛顿说。“没有人征求过我们的意见。”
CNN的凯西·托兰和黛安·加拉格尔对本文亦有贡献。
Republicans are spending millions on ads that recount heinous crimes. Victims’ families say they didn’t agree to it
2026-10-22T10:00:17.510Z / CNN
When Robin Buonodono saw the TV spot, she felt like she couldn’t breathe. The ad described the 1994 murder of her 5-year-old daughter, Nicole VanNoty. The story of the killing had been repurposed as a political attack ad without her knowledge by a Republican super PAC seeking to defeat Michigan’s Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed.
“I had a panic attack,” said Buonodono, who left Michigan after her daughter’s killing. “Why are you using someone’s child’s death for political gain?”
The Senate Leadership Fund spent at least $3.7 million on ads that recounted how Jason Symonds raped and killed Nicole. Buonodono said SLF never contacted her.
The ads, which began running in September, were among many funded by SLF, the Republican Party’s most powerful Senate super PAC, that turned real killings into attacks on Democratic Senate candidates in Michigan and North Carolina. A CNN review of ads using the tracking service AdImpact found SLF spent at least $17 million on spots naming victims or perpetrators.
In at least three cases, relatives said SLF never told them their loved ones’ deaths would be used. Family members who spoke to CNN described the spots as haunting, heartbreaking and distressing.
The ad campaign reflects a familiar Republican strategy: invoking violent crime to cast Democrats as soft on public safety. But the reach of streaming, digital and social platforms has made such messages harder for victims’ families to avoid and raises ethical questions about whether political groups – and some Republican campaigns – should seek consent before broadcasting a family’s trauma.
“These ads can circulate in so many different mediums and be present in ways they weren’t before social media,” said Daniel Kreiss, a professor of political communications at the University of North Carolina, who added that notifying a family before an advertisement airs is a matter of human decency.
“You owe it to those people, that family, to give them a heads up,” Kreiss said.
SLF, which is affiliated with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, has spent more than $325 million on political ads since the beginning of 2025 to defend the GOP’s Senate majority. It funded the ads examined here in Michigan and North Carolina. Across the political landscape, ad spending is on pace to top $11.6 billion this cycle, which would make this the most expensive election cycle in history, according to AdImpact.
The Senate Leadership Fund did not respond to questions about its advertising practices but provided a statement. “Every life lost to violent crime is an intolerable tragedy, made even worse when it is entirely preventable and the direct consequence of failed liberal policies,” communications director Chris Gustafson said.
In Michigan, SLF pledged $45 million — a state record — to support former Rep. Mike Rogers against El-Sayed, then added another $6 million in August.
SLF also spent roughly $2 million on Michigan ads recounting the 1999 rape and murder of Jessica Ledford. Her fiancé, Robert Homrich, said SLF never contacted him and that for awhile he saw the spots several times a day on YouTube.
“It’s haunting me every day,” Homrich, who still lives in Michigan, said. “They’re using my own personal tragedy to spin an election.”
The Michigan ads target El-Sayed’s 2018 proposal to commute life sentences for “low risk” people convicted as juveniles. The Supreme Court had ruled in 2012 mandatory life-without-parole sentences for juveniles unconstitutional, requiring states including Michigan to resentence such inmates.
Symonds, who was 16 when he killed Nicole, was ordered in August to remain in prison for life without parole. Marc Osborne, who killed Ledford shortly before his 18th birthday, is expected to become eligible for parole in 2039 after resentencing.
“Abdul believes we absolutely need to fund law enforcement to protect communities from violent crime,” said El-Sayed’s campaign spokesperson Cole Wozniak. “Mike Rogers and his allies will continue to tell absurd lies about Abdul’s record to distract from Rogers’ record of voting against funding for law enforcement.”
In response to CNN’s request for comment on this story, the Rogers campaign responded with a statement criticizing El-Sayed’s connections to super PACs.
In North Carolina, SLF spent at least $4 million on ads that showed Jimmie Speight Jr. and said he “murdered an innocent man.” That man was Edmond Moore Jr. His mother, Pamela Moore, said SLF never contacted her.
“It’s heartbreaking, really. It’s heartbreaking and numb. How could you use a mother and a father’s son’s death to give yourself some credibility?” Moore said.
The ads blamed Democratic Senate candidate Roy Cooper for letting Speight out of prison. As governor, Cooper’s administration settled a pandemic-era lawsuit over prison crowding in 2021, leading to the release of roughly 3,500 inmates. But Speight had already been released from prison when the settlement was reached.
“Independent fact-checkers have called these attacks false and misleading – Michael Whatley and his allies are desperate and it’s shameful they are using heinous crimes to boost his campaign,” a Cooper campaign spokesperson said in a statement.
Whatley’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment.
Democrats have put out few advertisements this year that describe specific victims and crimes. One notable exception: Texas Senate candidate James Talarico’s campaign spent at least $5 million on an ad that criticizes his opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, for a plea deal his prosecutors offered a Waco attorney charged with sexually abusing a child. The deal has become a flashpoint in the race that could determine control of the US Senate.
Before this advertisement ran, a woman who said she was a spokesperson for the victim’s family posted on Facebook: “Note from the victims’ family: We have not given any statement to Talarico. We have not spoke to him. We are tired of being used in this election. We are tired of lies being told by both Paxton & Talarico, tired of the divide and just tired.” CNN has not been able to verify the post.
“Elected officials on both sides of the aisle have called out Ken Paxton for this corrupt plea deal. The judge presiding over the case has called out this plea deal. Residents of Waco have protested this plea deal. Texans are demanding justice to ensure this never happens to another family,” Talarico spokesperson JT Ennis said in a statement.
Republicans are leaning on crime because voters tend to trust the party more on the issue, said Travis Ridout, co-director of the Wesleyan Media Project. The talking points also give the GOP a potential message at a time when they’re dealing with persistent inflation, high energy costs and an unpopular Republican president.
These types of soft-on-crime attacks have been a Republican staple for decades, from Richard Nixon’s “law and order” campaign to the 1988 Willie Horton ad against Michael Dukakis. Last month, President Donald Trump invoked Horton while campaigning for Whatley in North Carolina, arguing that Cooper had failed to keep the state safe.
That attack ad featured Horton, a black man imprisoned for murder who was convicted of rape and assault after he failed to return from a Massachusetts prison furlough. While widely criticized as racist, it proved effective: Dukakis was leading in the polls, but after the ad aired, George H.W. Bush overtook him and went on to a landslide victory.
In that speech, Trump also cited the 2025 murder of 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska on a commuter train in Charlotte. Video captured the moment that Decarlos Brown Jr. stabbed Zarutska – footage that was used in an ad funded by Whatley’s campaign without Zarutska’s family’s consent.
“We’ve been very clear: We do not want her death to be political. It’s a public safety issue,” said the family’s attorney Lauren Newton. “No one asked us.”
CNN’s Casey Tolan and Dianne Gallagher contributed to this report.
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