G.O.P. Candidates, Looking to Soften Their Image, Turn to Their Wives

Wives are hitting the airwaves across the country.

In the final, critical weeks in competitive congressional races, male Republicans struggling to appeal to female voters concerned about their records on reproductive rights are unleashing their spouses to make the pitch on their behalf.

Their ads often feature women in softly lit living rooms and pristine kitchens vouching for their husbands’ characters. Sometimes the women are driving S.U.V.s with young children in the back seat as they stop for gas and groceries, talking about how their husbands are champions for their families, and can be champions for yours, too.

Other times, candidates film footage of a wholesome family gathering around the dining room table.

In at least one case, such a gathering includes a candidate at the dinner table in a family-like tableau with a woman and children who are not related.

The campaign of Derrick Anderson, a former Army Green Beret who is running in a competitive race for an open seat in Virginia’s Seventh District, has posted footage of him posing with a woman and her three daughters in what looks like a photo that might be used for an annual holiday card. In another scene filmed for potential use in a campaign ad, Mr. Anderson is seated around the dining room table with the same woman and three girls, chatting and smiling.

But the people are not relatives. They are the wife and children of a longtime friend. Mr. Anderson, who announced this month that he was engaged, does not have any children of his own. His campaign website says he lives with his dog and does not display any of the photos.

A spokesman for Mr. Anderson criticized The New York Times’s decision to focus on the footage and said that “Derrick’s opponent and every other