Miami state Sen. Daphne Campbell is the worst candidate on this month's primary ballot. She lies about basically everything: her dead mother, her liens, her debts to the federal government, and the cash a lobbyist stuffed into her purse on camera. When reporters question her about these lies, she either pretends she's not Daphne Campbell or calls the cops.
But she also just released the year's best campaign ad. Pump up the volume and prepare to be swayed:
That song, performed by local musical artists Anna Pierre (a former North Miami mayoral candidate) and Princess Georgy, is a legit jam. Good luck getting the chorus "It's Daphne Campbell" out of your head for the rest of the day.
And most of the video production is as charming as a lovingly crafted public-access TV show. Pierre dances in front of rainbows, exchanges an extremely awkward high-five with a Georgy, and uses an old-school phone to dial in her support for Campbell. At one point, Campbell appears to have stumbled onto a telenovela set featuring a sick man:
Yes, there are a few curious choices in the ad in light of Campbell's shaky record, such as when Pierre sings, "It's Daphne Campbell/When there's a hurricane... When we don't have electricity/It's Daphne Campbell."
After Hurricane Irma, Campbell got caught bragging about pressuring a Florida Power & Light lobbyist to restore her electricity and then insisted she was simply trying to help her ailing mother. The only problem was that her mom had been dead for several years.
There's also the song's claim that Campbell provides "social support and assistance for our elderly" — a dubious claim given the dire record of her group homes and her son's criminal charges for Medicare fraud.
Then there's the video's shot of Campbell receiving an award from Scientologists — a scandal-plagued group not often featured in mainstream political ads:
We also need to consult with a few religious experts to fact-check this particular claim. And if it's true, we have a few questions for the big guy upstairs:
But factual quibbles aside, this ad is glorious. If Campbell wins reelection August 28, you can thank Anna Pierre, Princess Georgy, and a beat that's still running through your head.