As more than a few people have pointed out on X this week, three attack ads from 43rd Legislative District candidate and We Heart Seattle Executive Director Andrea Suarez appear to have darkened the skin tone of her opponent, Shaun Scott. In the ads, several clips of Scott speaking at events, as well as a copy of his author photo on Amazon, appear darker than the source material. In one of the ads, the skin tone of a white woman setting a car on fire during protests in 2020 appears unaltered from the source video.
Jonathan Choe, a fellow with a right-wing think tank called the Discovery Institute, donated his video editing work on the ads to Suarez’s campaign, according to public disclosure records.
Example 1: Original image
Example 1: Suarez ad version
Example 2: Original image
Example 2: Suarez ad version
Example 3: Original image
Example 3: Suarez ad version
Example 4: Original image
Example 4: Suarez ad version
The Stranger asked Suarez if she darkened Scott’s skin on purpose. She dodged the question and said she was “glad my videos are getting attention because Shaun would be a disaster for our state and a very unpopular carry forward of lawlessness and harm because of vu’s [sic] stupid defund the position [sic] efforts he helped push.”
When The Stranger asked a second time, she accused Scott of not playing by the rules, pointing to campaign finance complaints against him filed by a Republican-leaning lawyer who files a lot of PDC complaints.
When The Stranger told Saurez she was not answering the question, she said Scott was a “very beautiful man” and it was “ludicrous” that people were suggesting that “if his skin was darker in one video vs. another (which imo even more beautiful- Sudanians, Ethopians, as example) that it sheds him in some less than or ‘scarier’ (a comment made on X) … and THAT is racist thinking.” All of that is sic.
She continued: “And to suggest it was an intentional edit ‘to make him scarier’ means you are saying he’s scary in the first place and on that point he most definitely is a dangerous policy maker harming our most vulnerable…. And that IS scary to all of us if elected.”
She said she approved the videos, but we’d have to ask Choe about his editing techniques. Choe did not respond to a request for comment.
Darkening the skin of Black candidates is an age-old trick that plays on an audience’s implicit racial biases. In 2015, Stanford researchers determined many attack ads from 2008 Republican Presidential candidate John McCain significantly darkened former President Barack Obama’s skin color, noting Obama’s skin appeared darkest in spots attempting to connect Obama to criminal activity. By contrast, McCain’s face was lightened in some ads. To measure the effect, researchers showed study participants different images of Obama and asked them to complete word puzzles like “CR_ _ _” and “LA _ _.” Those shown darker images were more likely to complete the puzzles with negative stereotypes about Black people.
It’s not hard to find other examples. In 2020, Republican US Sen. Lindsey Graham’s reelection campaign posted an ad that digitally darkened the skin tone of challenger Jaime Harrison. In 2021, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens’s skin appeared darker in attack ads. In 2022, Wisconsin Republicans were accused of intentionally darkening a Black senate candidate’s skin, and Georgia Republicans were accused of doing the same to Gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams. A conservative Super PAC darkened former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s skin in 2022. New Mexico Republicans were accused of race-mongering for darkening white hands in a tough-on-crime ad.
Locally, mailers sent out in the 2020 race for Washington’s 28th state senate race darkened and greyscaled an image of Democratic state Sen. T’wina Nobles while lightening the skin of Republican state Sen. Steve O’Ban. In a different but similarly racist ad, former King County Council Member Kathy Lambert depicted Girmay Zahilay as a maniacal, socialist puppet master. Zahilay was the only member of color on the council at that time, but she singled him out among all the other progressives on council to attack as the "socialist" on the nonpartisan body.
Andrew Ashiofu, chair of the WA Stonewall Democrats, publicly called out one of the Suarez ads on X. When reached by text, he said the fight to combat racism is on the ballot in the 43rd District. “How you run a campaign shows how you will be as an elected official,” he says.
When asked for comment, Scott said in a text that his campaign was proud of its endorsements and “unwaveringly focused” on getting a win for the progressive groups that believe in his vision.
