WASHINGTON — Trevor Reed, the Fort Worth native and Marine veteran who was imprisoned in Russia for almost three years, has thrown his support behind freshman Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, in a new video ad for the congressman, who’s running for reelection this Nov. 8.
The new 30-second campaign ad, released Sunday, features Reed as he talks about what U.S. officials declared a wrongful detention in Russia after his arrest in 2019.
“I sat in that Russian prison for almost 1,000 days,” Reed says in the ad. “I never thought I would see Texas or the United States again, but August Pfluger never gave up on me — just like he never left a man behind in battle. Today, I’m free because August never gives up on Americans, and he’ll never give up on you.”
Pfluger, who served as a colonel in the U.S. Air Force, represents the Reeds in Congress. Reed’s family, who now live in Granbury, has said Pfluger played a key role in the fight for his release.
“Bringing Trevor Reed home safely to American soil was the most important mission of my first term in Congress, and standing on the tarmac as he took his first steps back on Texas soil is a moment I will never forget,” Pfluger said in a news release Monday announcing the ad. “I am proud to work on behalf of Trevor and all those in the 11th District of Texas.”
Pfluger is running unopposed for reelection in a district the Cook Political Report considers “Solid Republican,” and won his race in 2020 after capturing nearly 80% of the vote.
The West Texas lawmaker was there with Reed’s family in April at Kelly Field in San Antonio when Trevor touched down in Texas for the first time since his release from Russian prison.
“It was an honor to be with his parents and his sister and to be able to literally see him touch his foot down on American soil,” Pfluger told The Dallas Morning News at the time. “I mean, what a great reunion to see the joy on his parents’ face, his family’s face and his as well.”
Reed was arrested in Moscow in 2019 and accused of assaulting a police officer. Russian authorities contend that he grabbed the officer as they drove to the station after a night of heavy drinking, causing the squad car to swerve and endangering two officers.
U.S. officials maintained that the charge was bogus. Despite little forensic evidence, Reed was sentenced to nine years in prison.
Throughout his first term in office, Pfluger repeatedly called on Putin to end Reed’s imprisonment. He also sponsored a resolution last year calling for Reed’s release that passed with bipartisan support in the House. Sen. John Cornyn sponsored a similar resolution in the Senate, which also passed.
Earlier this year, President Joe Biden authorized the release of a Russian drug smuggler who spent a dozen years in U.S. prison in order to secure Reed’s return. The prisoner swap took place in Turkey, cloaked in Cold War-style secrecy with relations at the lowest point in decades since Russia invaded Ukraine.
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