The Latest: Illinois GOP leader wants ad pulled, apology

CHICAGO – The Latest on a controversial campaign ad aired by a Republican candidate for Illinois governor (all times local):

11:10 a.m.

The chairman of the Illinois Republican Party says a GOP governor candidate should stop airing a campaign ad that critics have called racist and homophobic.

Tim Schneider said in a release Saturday that conservative state Rep. Jeanne Ives should “immediately apologize to the Illinoisans who were negatively portrayed in a cowardly attempt to stoke political division.” He says there’s no room in the Illinois GOP “for rhetoric that attacks our fellow Illinoisans based on their race, gender or humanity.”

The ad features actors portraying a transgender woman and an African-American union member, among others, all thanking Rauner for his policies. The transgender woman is deep-voiced and wears a dress that shows chest hair.

Ives says the ad illustrates Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s “betrayals of conservatives.”

The Illinois GOP is almost entirely funded by Rauner.

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9:55 a.m.

A Republican lawmaker trying to unseat Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner is standing by a campaign ad that’s being blasted as racist, homophobic and “repulsive.”

State Rep. Jeanne Ives, a social and fiscal conservative, says the ad that began airing this weekend illustrates the GOP governor’s “chosen constituents based on the policy choices he made.”

The ad features actors portraying people including a transgender woman and a Chicago Teachers Union member, all thanking Rauner.

The deep-voiced transgender woman, wearing a dress that reveals a hairy chest, says “Thank you for signing legislation that lets me use the girl’s bathroom.”

Rauner hasn’t signed a so-called transgender bathroom bill.

Advocacy groups and people from both political parties quickly condemned the ad.

Ives says GOP primary voters need to know about Rauner’s “betrayals of conservatives.”