House GOP campaign arm launches new ad blasting Don Lemon’s ‘prime’ comments

The House GOP campaign arm launched a one-minute ad this week featuring House Republican women lawmakers attacking CNN’s Don Lemon for comments he made last month in which he argued that former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley “isn’t in her prime.”

The ad by the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), which was first reported by Fox News and released on Thursday, includes Reps. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.), Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.), Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa), Erin Houchin (R-Ind.), Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.) and Stephanie Bice (R-Okla.). 

“I’m not about to let Don Lemon or anyone tell me, I’m not in my prime,” Bice says in the beginning of the ad before Cammack next says, “I’m in my prime because I don’t need Google to tell me.”

“There’s nothing liberals fear more than strong conservative women,” Hinson says in another part of the ad.

The ad comes weeks after Lemon said during CNN’s morning program that Haley, who is a GOP presidential candidate, was not “in her prime.”

“This whole talk about age makes me uncomfortable. I think it’s the wrong road to go down. She says people, you know, politicians or something are not in their prime,” Lemon said in February. “Nikki Haley isn’t in her prime, sorry. A woman is considered to be in their prime in 20s and 30s and maybe 40s.”

Lemon suggested at one point that a person could “look it up” on Google when a woman is in her prime. He later addressed his comments on Twitter, calling them “inartful” and saying “I regret it.”

But the CNN host’s comments sparked immediate criticism, including from Haley, calling his remarks “sexist.”

“Liberals can’t stand the idea of having competency tests for older politicians to make sure they can do the job. BTW it’s always the liberals who are the most sexist,” she tweeted with a video of Lemon’s comments on CNN.