BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Two Senate Democrats tried to film a campaign ad together, but their attempt at improv only led to sparring over historical figures — and convinced viewers both had skipped their acting classes.
Pennsylvania’s Bob Casey and Ohio’s Sherrod Brown joined forces for their best effort at a campaign ad, which was posted Thursday to Casey’s official Twitter campaign account.
“Are we on tape? I want to tell this story real quick,” Brown says before the video cuts to a black screen with a humorous disclaimer.
“We tried to get Senator Casey and Senator Brown to film a video together. This is what we got,” the text reads.
As action ensues, Casey makes funny faces into the camera and poses in a boxing stance as Brown looks on.
Casey then mentions Robert Fulton, inventor of the steamboat and Pennsylvania native. Not to be outdone, Brown responds with his favorite influential Ohioans.
“We only have Thomas Edison, the Wright brothers,” Brown says as Casey chuckles. “Nobody even [knows] Robert Fulton. Who the hell is that?”
Brown concedes Pennsylvania may have been home to founding father Ben Franklin, but Ohio “had Ulysses S. Grant” and forgotten presidents like William Henry Harrison, Rutherford B. Hayes and James Garfield.
“You guys only had James Buchanan, right?” Brown taunted Casey of Pennsylvania presidents.
Curiously, Brown did not mention President Biden likes to tout his Keystone State roots — Biden was born in Scranton and moved to Delaware a decade later.
Casey did not bother to correct his counterpart — perhaps because Biden’s favorability rating is well underwater in both Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Online reactions to the video were mixed, with many confused by the unserious nature of the senators’ message.
“What the hell is this?” wrote one user.
“2 Senators about to lose their seats,” wrote another, seemingly poking fun at polls showing Casey and Brown locked in increasingly tight races against GOP opponents Dave McCormick and Bernie Moreno, respectively.
A third user suggested Casey and Brown court another Rust Belt Democrat, Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) to improve their Twitter game.
“You guys really need some help from @SenFettermanPA’s campaign team,” the user wrote. “This will turn away voters, not convince undecideds to vote for you.”
