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Producers of viral Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ad release campaign video for Hawaii’s Kaniela Ing

COURTESY PHOTO

A screenshot from a new video for state Rep. Kaniela Ing shows the candidate campaigning for Hawaii’s first congressional district seat. The video was produced by filmmakers Naomi Burton and Chris Hayes.

The producers of a viral video that helped the congressional campaign of New York City’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez released a campaign video today for Hawaii state Rep. Kaniela Ing who is vying for the U.S. House seat representing urban Oahu.

The ad was produced by filmmakers Naomi Burton and Chris Hayes who started Means of Production.

The ad for Ing touches on progressive themes that he has emphasized throughout his congressional campaign, while recounting his childhood story of working in the pineapple fields to help support his family after his father passed away when Ing was 11 years old.

“The people of Hawaii demand housing for all, Medicare for all, a green New Deal, free college and student debt cancellation now,” Ing says in the ad.

The ad includes shots of Ing barbecuing with friends, playing with his young son, swimming off of Waikiki, and campaigning door to door. The footage is interspersed with images of rundown apartments in Honolulu and shiny Honolulu high rises.

Ing, like Cortez, is part of a progressive wave in Democratic politics. Both identify politically as democratic socialists.

Ocasio-Cortez, who made national headlines when she beat a 10-term incumbent in the Democratic primary, has thrown her support to Ing. After her primary win, she tweeted, “America: Please send @KanielaIng to Congress with me! He is incredibly inspiring — another working class American who knocked on 15,000 doors to win his state assembly seat. Now he’s running for Congress. Imagine what we could accomplish if we both went in together.”

Cortez, like the winner of Hawaii’s Aug. 11 Democratic primary, still faces a Republican challenger in the general election, but is expected to win the congressional seat.

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