Standing on the east side of the Mississippi River, Libertarian governor candidate Rick Stewart opens his first television ad by calling Gov. Kim Reynolds by her first name and questionning her resistance to legalized marijuana.
“What the hell, Kim?” he says. “Here I am in Illinois — why, only a few miles from the Iowa border — and they’ve got legal cannabis.”
Stewart, who has made ending the war on drugs and allowing the use of psychedelics for therapy a major focus of his campaign, released his new ad over the weekend.
The 60-second spot, titled “Dear Kim, ‘WEED!'” is framed as a message aimed directly at Reynolds’ opposition to legalizing marijuana — something both of her opponents in the governor’s race support.
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Reynolds opposes the legalization of cannabis, and Democrat Deidre DeJear supports legalizing and regulating the use of cannabis for adults 21 and older, similar to alcohol.
Reynolds’ campaign declined a request for comment on the ad.
Shot on the Iowa-Illinois border, Stewart’s ad contrasts the different approaches the two states take to cannabis.
Illinois legalized it for recreational use starting in 2020. But Iowa’s law bans it.
“Our laws today in Iowa put people into rape cages because they smoked marijuana,” Stewart says. “You’re going to lose your college scholarship, you’re going to lose your job, you’re going to lose your kids — you’re…