In a primary season already littered with viral, remarkable political ads, Zephyr Teachout, a candidate for New York attorney general, dropped a contender for the best ad of the year Monday afternoon.
The ad begins with a close-up shot of an ultrasound, as Teachout says in a voiceover, “What does his or her future look like? Do we save our democracy? Do we flip Congress? Does Robert Mueller indict Trump? I don’t want to wait and see.”
As the camera begins to zoom out, we see a woman lying on a table. The voiceover continues.
“It’s why I sued President Trump the week he was inaugurated, wrote the book on corruption, and took on the Albany machine, and rallied against pharmaceutical and insurance companies for putting profits over people,” she says.
Being a parent and being in power shouldn’t be in conflict for a woman any more than they are for a man. pic.twitter.com/8hq8M80uDW
— Zephyr Teachout (@ZephyrTeachout) September 10, 2018
The ad ends as the camera pans to the woman’s face — it’s Teachout, lying on the table getting the ultrasound.
“I’m Zephyr Teachout, and you’ve never seen an attorney general like me. And neither have they,” she says to the camera.
Teachout shared the ad on Twitter Monday, saying, “Being a parent and being in power shouldn’t be in conflict for a woman any more than they are for a man.”
Teachout is due in October, and she’s spent a large chunk of her pregnancy campaigning. While other political ads of yore have shown pregnant women and ultrasounds, they have usually focused on reproductive rights. Teachout’s ad doesn’t mention health care at all, but rather highlights her long career in law and anti-corruption work.
Got a welcome 3 mile-an-hour lift this morning at the end of the labor day parade!! #solidarity #labordayparade pic.twitter.com/EHuOdq2HrS
— Zephyr Teachout (@ZephyrTeachout) September 8, 2018
“Being pregnant doesn’t change the fact that I’ve been working on these issues for over 15 years. It doesn’t change the fact that I have a unique expertise,” Teachout said in an interview with Time magazine recently.
Teachout is running a tight race for New York attorney general, recently securing the endorsement of The New York Times. She has also captured significant grassroots energy, and the tides of the race seem to have shifted in her favor in recent weeks, perhaps exemplified by one New York City councilmember’s announcement that he was going to vote for Teachout after first endorsing her biggest rival, New York City Public Advocate Letitia James.
Should Teachout win in November, she will be the first woman elected as the state’s attorney general, and she has vowed to take on a culture of corruption in Albany and fight the Trump administration in D.C.
“It’s arguably one of the most important legal jobs in the country when you can’t trust the federal government,” Teachout said in an interview with ThinkProgress last month. “It’s absolutely critical that we continue the defensive — and offensive — work to stop illegal behavior by the [Trump] administration.”
New York’s state primary elections will be held Thursday, September 13. According to The New York Times, Teachout currently sits in third place with approximately 18 percent of the prospective vote, behind Democratic Rep. Sean Maloney (25 percent) and James (24 percent). Verizon executive Leecia Eve is in fourth place with 3 percent of the vote.