The Arizona Republican Party is launching billboards to further spread debunked allegations of immigrants eating pets.
The Chick-fil-A style ads feature cats, rather than cows, scrawling the words “EAT LESS KITTENS, Vote Republican!” across the billboard.
The billboards amplify baseless claims out of Ohio made by far-right activists, local republicans and neo-Nazis who have accused Haitian migrants living in the city of Springfield of abducting pets and eating them.
Those claims, which local police have refuted, have also been amplified by Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance. On X, the Ohio senator highlighted the false reports of pet abduction “by people who shouldn’t be in this country,” and tied it to illegal crossings at the border — an issue for which Vance says Vice President Kamala Harris is to blame.
AZGOP Chairwoman Gina Swoboda echoed Vance’s accusations against Harris in a statement announcing the billboards, which she said were scheduled to launch ahead of former President Donald Trump’s campaign trip to Tucson on Thursday.
In a Tuesday morning tweet, party officials said digital billboards are now running in 12 locations throughout the Phoenix metro.
🚨THE ARE LIVE!🚨
— Republican Party of Arizona (@AZGOP) September 10, 2024
Catch our newest billboard across 12 locations in the Phoenix metro area! https://t.co/bCv6TsBJr3 pic.twitter.com/xkRlfE9AJf
“Our newest billboard highlights just how horrific things have become under the failed policies of ‘Border Czar’ Kamala Harris,” Swoboda said. “President Trump is committed to securing our borders and ensuring that what we’ve seen elsewhere does not become the norm in our country.”
Swoboda described the ad as “a humorous, but sobering reminder of the stakes involved in the fight for secure borders and safe communities.”
Police in Springfield, Ohio, have described such claims as a sad attempt “to spread hate or spread fear.”
And a White House spokesman on Tuesday criticized Republican officials for spreading a conspiracy theory “based on lies” and “an element of racism.”
A spokesperson for the Arizona Republican Party declined a request for comment about why officials chose to amplify those false allegations in an advertising campaign.
In a statement, Arizona Democratic Party Chairwoman Yolanda Bejarano described the "weird AI-looking billboard" as "xenophobic and entirely unserious," and said come November, voters will reject the state Republican Party's "racist stunts."
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