GOP House candidate behind viral Baltimore campaign ad calls on party to 'stop writing off the cities'
'Baltimore's been run by the Democratic Party for 53 years. What is the result of their decades of leadership?'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Republicans have to stop "writing off cities that we think we can't win and really get in there and roll our sleeves up," GOP congressional candidate Kimberly Klacik told "The Ingraham Angle" Tuesday.
Klacik, who is hoping to win a seat left vacant by the death of Rep. Elijah Cummings, criticized Democrats over squalid conditions in Baltimore in a now-viral political ad that featured her walking through neighborhoods lined with blighted buildings while highlighting the city's troubling poverty and crime rate.
BALTIMORE REPUBLICAN RELEASES VIRAL CAMPAIGN AD SHOWING RUINOUS STATE OF THE CITY
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I've been noticing a lot of people have been commenting, and said, 'You know what, she is not lying about what's going on here,'" Klacik told host Laura Ingraham, adding that she hopes the video, which has been viewed over five million times, will inspire residents to ask, "if we vote Republican, could things change?"
"I really just want to get in office and show people that you [can] have a better quality of life. It is possible, especially if you vote Republican," she said.
Klacik's ad refers to a frequent Republican talking point about the state of cities that have long been controlled by Democrats and the failed efforts to improve the lives of residents, especially minorities.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Baltimore's been run by the Democratic Party for 53 years. What is the result of their decades of leadership?" Klacik asks in the video.
"From what I can see, the Democratic Party loves to leverage the urban struggles and annually ask for more federal funds, but then they don't remedy the problems and say, 'This is what we're going to do,'" Klacik told Ingraham. "No one follows up on it."
The district has voted Democrat since 1953, but Klacik believes residents are beginning to look for "other options."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}YOUNG DEMOCRATS OF MARYLAND PRESIDENT, 34, FOUND DEAD IN WASHINGTON, DC
"Going through the city, I’ve been in West Baltimore just talking to the people about what the issues are," she said. "I ask them, 'Why haven't you ever voted for a Republican or something different?' A lot of people will say, 'you're the first Republican I've ever met.'"
"We have to stop writing off the cities that we think we can't win and really get in there and roll our sleeves up, and let them know their options."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Klacik said she plans to "bring opportunities" back to the West Baltimore area utilizing the "second largest port in the country" located in Baltimore City.
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"We saw with the COVID pandemic, we relied on other countries for PPE," she said. "Why not bring that billion-dollar medical industry back to America, and right back through the Baltimore port?"
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}President Trump expressed support for Klacik on Twitter Tuesday night, writing "Kimberly will work with the Trump Administration and we will bring Baltimore back, and fast. Don’t blow it Baltimore. The Democrats have destroyed your city!"
Fox News' Louis Casiano contributed to this report.