Ben Carson Launches Rap Ad Targeting Black Voters

Rebecca Cook/Reuters
Rebecca Cook/Reuters

In an effort to reach young black voters, GOP presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson is rolling out a new rap ad in a number of nationwide urban communities, ABC News reports.

Starting Friday, as part of a $150,000 radio ad buy, an ad called “Freedom” will run in markets with large black populations. The Carson campaign feels black voters are “ready and prepared to start working for Ben Carson,” campaign spokesman Doug Watts told ABC Thursday.

While Carson himself does not rap on “Freedom,” his campaign enlists artist Aspiring Mogul, who rhymes with soundbites of Carson’s stump speech.

“Vote, vote,” raps Mogul on the ad. “Ben Carson 2016. Vote and support Ben Carson for our next president and be awesome.”

“America became a great nation early on not because it was flooded with politicians but because it was flooded with people who understood the value of personal responsibility, hard work, innovation, and that’s what will get us on the right track now,” Carson then says in the ad. “Because freedom is not free, and we must fight for it every day. Every one of us must fight for us because we are fighting for our children and the next generation.”

Mogul concludes the ad, rapping, “If we wanna get America back on track, we gotta vote Ben Carson, a matter of fact, go out and vote.”

The ad will run for two weeks in Miami, Atlanta, Birmingham, Jackson, Memphis, Little Rock, Houston, and Detroit, Watts told ABC.

Added Watts of potential young black voters, “They need to get involved and express their voice through their vote.”

The campaign believes if Carson were to face Hillary Clinton in a general election, it could win by receiving just 20 percent of the black vote.

In 2012, President Obama received 93 percent of the black vote, along with shoring up the majority of support from women and other minorities.

In Wednesday’s Quinnipiac University poll, Carson leads Clinton by 10 points nationally, but trails her 73% to 19% among blacks.

Carson is beating Clinton with women nationally by 1 percent, getting 45 percent support to Hillary’s 44 percent, per the poll.

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