Fighting opioid addiction is nothing compared to '$5 million worth of negative ads coming at me,' says GOP congressman

Opioid addiction is an American crisis. So are negative campaign ads, if you ask Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.).

At least that's what the congressman implied during a Wednesday visit with incarcerated drug addicts at Virginia's Chesterfield County Jail. One inmate was particularly worried about finding a job after her release, and Brat insisted he could relate. "You think you're having a hard time? I've got $5 million worth of negative ads coming at me," Brat said on audio captured by WCVE, Richmond's NPR affiliate. "How do you think I'm feeling? Nothing's easy. For anybody," he continued.

Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat currently challenging Brat's seat this fall, soon tweeted that Brat's comparison of "the hardship of addiction and the struggles of recovery to his campaign" was "shameful." But Brat still hasn't clarified his comment, and even included WCVE's audio clip in a press release about the jail visit.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Sign up

Brat does go on to tell the inmate "you've got it harder ... coming up with a job or whatever," per WCVE's audio. And in a tweet, Richmond Times-Dispatch reporter Graham Moomaw suggested Brat's comment "could've been at attempt at humor." Whatever the off-color comment was, it seemed to get President Trump's attention. Kathryn Krawczyk