Asked about the ad at an event in the morning, Warren declined to address it directly, but by evening, her campaign had shot back a response.
Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren responded to a TV ad attacking her use of her Native American ancestry with her own ad that directly addresses the controversy.
Monday morning, the campaign of Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown released a TV ad attacking Warren on the question of whether she used of her Native American heritage to benefit her career.
Asked about the ad at an event Monday morning, Warren declined to address it directly. But by the evening, the Warren campaign had shot back a response. In an ad featuring Warren talking directly to the camera, Warren offers a similar explanation to one she gave in Thursday’s night’s debate.
Warren says in the ad that as a kid, she never asked her parents for documentation of her heritage. “What kid would?” she asks. She says her parents eloped because father’s family didn’t like that her mother was part Cherokee and part Delaware. “Let me be clear,” Warren says. “I never asked for and never got any benefit because of my heritage. The people who hired me have all said they didn’t even know about it.” The ad concludes with Warren saying, “Scott Brown can continue attacking my family, but I’m going to continue fighting for yours.”
Warren listed her herself as a minority in law directories, and Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania both listed her as Native American in diversity statistics. Warren has not provided documentation of her heritage, but has said it is part of her family lore. Individuals involved in her hiring have said her heritage was not a factor.
Warren announced the ad in an email to supporters, which also criticized Brown’s voting record.
The controversy proved damaging to Warren in May and June. At that time, stories about the controversy dragged on for weeks as Warren failed to address the issue head-on.
Brown has repeatedly called on Warren to have Harvard release her personnel files.
Asked about the issue in a radio interview Monday morning, Warren said the only box she checked was in a law directory. Brown campaign manager Jim Barnett pointed to a statement Warren made to the Boston Globe, saying that she told Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania about her heritage after she was hired. “Elizabeth Warren is not being straight with the people of Massachusetts,” Barnett said.