LIVINGSTON - The ad is to the point - Tom Malinowski is not to be trusted on immigration.

Is this the work of a Republican group getting a head start on the Democratic candidate it thinks will win the Feb. 5 special election in CD-11?

Not necessarily.

The attack against former Congressman Malinowski is the work of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and its campaign spending organization - the United Democratic Project. Clearly, the group thinks Malinowski is not supportive enough of Israel.

But the ad does not say that. It focuses on immigration.

We digress.

If there is one issue unifying Democrats these days it's opposition to the Trump Administration's immigration policies.

Go to one of the many CD-11 campaign forums - like one Thursday night in this Essex County town -  and you hear calls for ICE to be defunded, and for Kristi Noem to be impeached. On that, there is agreement.

In criticizing Malinowski, the ad brings up his vote in 2019 to support an overall funding bill that included humanitarian aid and more border control. Like many bills, this was a compromise. And many Democrats, including all party House members from New Jersey supported it. The ad connects that vote with support for ICE enforcement today.

An emailed question about the ad to the United Democratic Project has not yet been answered.

Asked about it after the forum, which was sponsored by AAPI, an Asian American and Pacific Islander group, Malinowski said the ad represents a lot of what Americans hate about politics. He elaborated:
"People hiding behind dark money - not to uplift the candidate they think is best, but to tear down somebody."
He called the thrust of the ad - that he backs the Administration's immigration policies - a "preposterous lie." And he added that the ad is "despicable and unforgivable," and something that all 11 candidates in the primary race should oppose.

The ad did not directly come up during the forum, where with so many candidates, there was little time for in-depth discussion.

Malinowski did refer to the ad in his closing statement when he said that despite "some of the ugly and negative ads out there," most of us agree on the key issues.

That, of course, could make things challenging for primary voters. But that's another story.