Republican candidate for Michigan Senate John James is apologizing for the image of a Nazi swastika in a televised campaign ad. He addressed supporters on Monday, telling them the swastika came from stock footage on Shutterstock.
“I need to fess up and admit this was a terrible error on our part,” he says on a Facebook live video posted Monday on his official campaign page. “We should have caught this error and we didn’t — no excuse.”
As head of the campaign, James took responsibility for the error and added that he denounced “hatred in all its forms.”
The ad, titled “Ready to Serve,” shows a school hallway as James talks about “failing schools” and how change is needed to fix pressing problems in Michigan. In the hallway is a bulletin board with a red, white and black swastika pinned to it. The swastika was not intended to carry any message, according to his campaign.
The ad has been taken down from YouTube.
James is challenging Democratic incumbent Sen. Debbie Stabenow for her seat.