'Take That, Trump!' Candidate Says as He Kisses Hubby in Ad

In what may be a political first, Democratic Maryland gubernatorial candidate Richard Madaleno is running a 30-second campaign ad that ends with him kissing his husband, Mark Hodge, reports the Hill. The state senator vows to stand up to President Trump and says, “Here are a few of things I’ve done that already infuriate him,” then lists a series of progressive accomplishments, such as helping to ban assault weapons in Maryland and supporting Planned Parenthood. At the end, he asks rhetorically, “And what’s the No. 1 way I piss off Donald Trump and the Republicans?” then kisses Hodge on the lips. “Take that, Trump." "To our knowledge, it is the first political ad in American history to feature a kiss between a candidate and a same-sex spouse," says the LGBTQ Victory Fund.

If elected, Madaleno would be Maryland’s first openly gay governor, but he has some work to do to win the Democratic primary. He was polling at 6% in a recent Washington Post poll, which put him in fourth place behind frontrunner Democrat Ben Jealous, who's polling at 21%. The ad will run on cable in progressive Montgomery County and on Fox & Friends in the Washington, DC, market, where it premiered Thursday morning. The placement on Fox & Friends is aimed at one particular viewer, reports the Baltimore Sun. “We wanted to make sure the president had an opportunity to see this ad, and went with the network he tunes into,” says Madaleno’s campaign manager. (More gay rights stories.)