Democrat Richard Carmona is responding to an ad from opponent Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) with one of his own that features a former supervisor vouching for his character.
It aims to be a direct refutation of an ad from the Flake campaign in which Carmona's ex-boss accuses him of scaring her and her children by angrily banging on her door late one night, and raises questions about his temperament.
The Carmona ad features the testimony of Capt. Kathleen Brennan, a former SWAT commander who, the ad says, worked with him for 20 years.
"Rich Carmona was part of my SWAT team and he was a joy to work with. Rich treats everyone with respect. It doesn't matter whether you're male or female," she says.
She goes on to call Flake's attacks "despicable" and says he should be ashamed.
Carmona will also hold a press conference on Friday to refute Flake's ad. The immediate and fierce response indicates just how strong a threat the ad — which was launched along with a website questioning Carmona's temperament — could pose.
The back-and-forth comes as the most recent independent poll of the race put Carmona up slightly, the first to do so thus far.
