Candidate's own siblings star in attack ad against him

Siblings of Arizona Republican Representative Paul Gosar have denounced their brother's views and endorsed his rival in a video campaign for Democratic candidate David Brill launched Thursday.

The ads show six of the conservative congressman's siblings condemning their brother's stance on issues such as immigration, the environment and healthcare, and pledging their support to Brill, who hopes to unseat Gosar in Arizona's 4th Congressional District, the Phoenix New Times reported.

Brill's campaign revealed the ads at a fundraiser held at First Studio in Phoenix on Thursday evening.

Gosar is one of President Donald Trump's biggest defenders, but his siblings do not appear to share his political views.

One of his brothers, Pete Gosar, ran for governor of Wyoming as a Democrat in 2014, having sought the Democratic nomination in vain four years earlier.

'Not who we are'

In one ad titled "A family defends its honor," Gosar's brother David says: "We've got to stand up for our good name, this is not who we are."

In another video, Gosar's sister Grace says, "It would be difficult to see my brother as anything but a racist," according to the Phoenix New Times.

"If he actually cared about people in rural Arizona, I bet he'd be fighting for Social Security, for better access to health care. I bet he'd be researching what is the most insightful water policy to help the environment of Arizona sustain itself and be successful," said another sister, Jennifer.

David Gosar told the Phoenix New Times that Arizonans would be doing their family a favor if they sent Gosar home, referencing what he said were his brother's weird statements and "mangled" language. "He just doesn't appear to be well," he added.

The idea for the video campaign came about after one of Brill's campaign staffers, Jay Ruby, cold-called Gosar's brother David after seeing some of his Twitter posts criticizing his brother, the Phoenix New Times reported. 

Not long after, several of Gosar's siblings made financial donations to Brill's campaign, his campaign manager Todd Landfried said, according to the paper.

Not the first time

It is not the first time that some of Gosar's nine siblings have banded together to speak out against their brother.

When Gosar suggested during an interview with Vice News that the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville may have been a staged event organized by an "Obama sympathizer" and funded by Hungarian-American George Soros, seven of his siblings published a letter on the Arizona news site the Daily Miner.

Read more: George Soros — selfless philanthropist or liberal demagogue?

"Those aren't our family values or the values of the small Wyoming town we grew up in," the letter read. "Character assassination wasn't revered. Lies and distortions do reveal much about the character of the congressman of Arizona's 4th Congressional District, however," it continued.