It looks like a family Christmas card, except the wife and children posing with Republican Derrick Anderson are neither his wife nor his offspring.

Anderson, who was running in a close race for Virginia’s seventh congressional district, was seen in another picture sitting at the dinner table with the same woman and three girls.

The images came to light in an article by The New York Timeswith the headline “Republican candidates looking to soften their image turn to their wives,” which reported how “male Republicans struggling to attract female voters worried about their record on reproductive rights.” , persuade their spouses to run on their behalf.”

However, Anderson, who is childless, engaged and alone with his dog, tried to borrow the wife and children of a long-time friend, apparently in an effort to appear as a family man.

A spokesman criticized Anderson The New York Times for focusing on the footage, saying that “Derrick’s opponent and every other candidate in America can be seen in similar images and videos with supporters of all kinds.” The spokesman said the video only shows Anderson “with female supporters and their children.” .

However, comments from vice presidential candidate JD Vance mocking “childless cat ladies” and a push by Republicans to roll back abortion rights failed to resonate with voters.

In 2022, Anderson praised the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the Roe vs. Wade decision that allowed women access to abortions, saying, “SCOTUS finally got it right.”

His decision to pose with a family that wasn’t his own was widely ridiculed on social media.