Couple in Harris ad are Republican farmers, not Democratic actors | Fact check

Hannah Hudnall, USA TODAY
Fri, October 4, 2024 

The claim: Former Trump supporters in Harris ad are actually Democratic actors

An Oct. 2 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows a Sky News anchor reporting that Vice President Kamala Harris released a campaign ad featuring two Democratic actors."Harris / Walz Campaign BUSTED for using two paid actors to pretend they were former Pennsylvania Farmers & Trump Voters who switched to Kamala," reads text within the post, which was originally shared on X, formerly Twitter. "Turns out the two were not only actors but democrat donors for years."

The Instagram post garnered more than 600 likes in a day. Similar versions of the claim were shared on Facebook and X.

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Our rating: False

The couple in Harris' ad debunked the claim. They said they are farmers and lifelong Republicans who previously voted for former President Donald Trump, not Democratic actors. Sky News issued a correction on the broadcast before the Instagram post was made.

Claim that ad featured Democratic actors is baseless

A campaign ad for Harris sparked criticism after her team shared it on YouTube on Sept. 24. The ad features a Pennsylvania couple named Robert Lange and Kristina Chadwick Lange, who say they previously voted for Trump but are now switching to Harris because of the former president's divisiveness.

Hours later, an X user shared a post claiming the two are actors with a history of donating to Democratic causes. The post, which was viewed more than two million times in less than two weeks, includes screenshots of donations from the nonprofit campaign finance tracking website OpenSecrets. The pictures show donations made by people with the same names as the Pennsylvania couple.

After the X post was shared, Sky News reported the claim in a live broadcast.

But Chadwick Lange told USA TODAY the claim is not true and is based on "very poor research skills."

"The claims that we're Democrats, that we're paid actors and that we have contributed to Democratic campaigns are all lies," Chadwick Lange said. "Bob once donated to the Tom Ridge campaign for Pennsylvania governor in the 1990s and I never made a single political donation to any party."

She said the two are still lifelong Republicans but "cannot get behind Trump in this election."

Fact check: Video shows Kamala Harris ad during Democratic primary race in 2019

The couple, who own a farm in Willistown, Pennsylvania, helped produce a small 2022 horror film called "Hayride to Hell," but they are not professional actors. The movie's website says the film was shot on the couple's farm and the screenplay was written by the two, but they are not listed as actors. They told Philadelphia outlet Savvy Main Line they had "very small, non-speaking roles as monsters" in the film. Lange is chair of the Willistown Township's board of supervisors and has long been listed by the Willistown-Malvern Republican Committee as one of the party's local elected officials.Lange told WPVI-TV in Philadelphia that he voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020, while Chadwick Lange said she voted for the former president in 2016 and chose not to vote for Trump or President Joe Biden in the next election.

Sky News took down its broadcast and issued a correction on Oct. 1, the day before the Instagram post was shared.

"During a discussion about a Kamala Harris campaign video on the program on Sept. 26, the people featured in the campaign ad were described as actors with a history of donating to the Democrats," the correction reads. "In light of additional information which we have been made aware of, we correct the record that the people involved are not actors and do not appear to be Democrat donors."

USA TODAY reached out to the Instagram user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response. The X user couldn't be contacted.

Our fact-check sources:

• Kristina Chadwick Lange, Oct. 3, Email exchange with USA TODAY

• IMDb, accessed Oct. 3, Hayride to Hell

• Hayride to Hell, accessed Oct. 4, Cast

• Willistown-Malvern Republican Committee, accessed Oct. 3, Elected Officials

• ABC6 News, Sept. 30, Lifelong Republican couple in Chester County faces intense backlash for role in Kamala Harris ad

• Sky News, accessed Oct. 3, Corrections

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Couple in Harris ad aren't Democratic actors | Fact check