Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Charles Booker of Kentucky has proven time and time again that he is too woke for Kentucky.

Booker was elected in the May primary to be the Democrats’ nominee to run against incumbent U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.

He is considered by all political insiders as a long shot against Paul, who is running for his third term in the Senate.

We agree with those political insiders. Among the many reasons Booker is a long shot against Paul is not only is he running against an incumbent in a deep red state, but his progressive views – such as his support of the Green New Deal and financial reparations for descendants of slaves – are way out of touch with the majority of Kentuckians.

First, the Green New Deal won’t fly at all in eastern and western Kentucky. These are key areas Booker would need to even come close to defeating Paul. Secondly, his talk of reparations for descendants of slaves reminds us what we saw last week coming out of California, where there is a proposal to make residents in that state pay reparations.

That theme might play well in La La Land, but it won’t play well here in Kentucky. To suggest that current generations pay for the actions of what was a minority of people even in the South is just plain stupid. It would be akin to descendants of slaves paying reparations to descendants of the Union soldiers who died so they could be free.

If these views weren’t out of the mainstream enough for Kentuckians, a video advertisement titled “Pain of our Past” that Booker’s campaign aired last week – featuring a noose around Booker’s neck – was a remarkable exhibition of bringing demagoguery to a whole new level in our state.

In his campaign ad, a black-and-white picture is shown of a Black person hanged in what appears to be the late 19th or early 20th century with a crowd of White people on the scene.

Booker talks throughout the ad and says, “The pain of our past persists to this day. In Kentucky, like many states throughout the South, lynching was a tool of terror. It was used to kill hopes for freedom. It was used to kill my ancestors. Now, in a historic victory for our commonwealth, I have become the first Black Kentuckian to receive the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate.”

His victory in May, which he describes as a first, demonstrates that most Kentuckians are focused on the future rather then the past.

“My opponent?” Booker continues as images of Paul flash on the screen, is “the person who single-handedly blocked an anti-lynching act from being federal law.”

What Booker fails to mention in his ad is that Paul co-sponsored an updated bill, known as the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act, that passed the Senate in March and is now law. Paul did single-handedly hold up the legislation in 2020, saying he was concerned it could be applied too broadly as written.

Booker is trying to suggest that Paul condones lynching. We’ve never seen or heard anything to suggest that Paul has a racist bone in his body.

Paul deserves a lot of credit for his hard work on criminal justice reform, which positively impacted people of color. The junior senator of our state worked with Black leaders to help get this much-needed reform moving and ultimately passed in to law.

In a statement last Wednesday, Jake Cox, Paul’s deputy campaign manager, suggested Booker’s ad was “a desperate misrepresentation of the facts.”

Cox is on target.

Again, Booker demonstrated in this campaign ad how woke of a candidate he truly is.

To suggest that Paul somehow condones lynching is absolutely absurd and not steeped in reality. It’s an attempt to use the race card, which has become the Democratic Party’s modus operandi.

We predict this campaign ad will alienate many voters in Kentucky and rightfully so because it’s factually inaccurate, depicts present-day Kentucky in an untruthful way and is a textbook example of character assassination.

Paul can rightfully tout that he was the co-sponsor of legislation that ensures that federal law will define lynching as the absolutely heinous crime that it is.

Another issue we take with this ad is Booker says his ancestors were victims of lynching. We would submit that he lost his credibility for us to believe him after making this outrageous video.

This video is a real indication of where Booker’s campaign is.

The video was an attempt to smear a good man’s name. It further indicates Booker’s campaign has no real ideas for Kentucky and that his only slim chance for the election is to play on fear – which is indicated by this disgusting video.

Desperate candidates, which we believe Booker is, usually run deplorable campaign ads like this one very close to the general election. The fact that his campaign ran it at this time shows a campaign that has bad leadership, no vision and a candidate who lacks ideas that the majority of the electorate will support.

In this despicable campaign ad, Booker says, “The choice couldn’t be clearer. Do we move forward together or do we let politicians like Rand Paul forever hold us back and drive us apart?”

We would submit to the Senate hopeful that it’s people like you who hold us back and drive us apart with character assassination and race-baiting ads like the one you appeared in last week.