Why A Democratic Super PAC Is Promoting A Pro-Trump Election Denier In California

House Democrats’ most necessary tremendous PAC is elevating an election-denying, “Trump conservative” on the tv airwaves in a key House major in central California.

The tremendous PAC, House Majority PAC, is funding a 30-second TV advertisement selling Chris Mathys, a right-wing challenger taking over Rep. David Valadao, a extra reasonable Republican working in California’s twenty second Congressional District. Mathys, a financier and rancher, has made Valadao’s January vote to question then-President Donald Trump the centerpiece of his run.

Likening the 2 Republicans to cans of meals with the identical partisan “label,” House Majority PAC goes on to spotlight variations within the candidates’ ideological “ingredients” within the hopes of turning right-leaning GOP major voters in opposition to Valadao and towards Mathys.

“David Valadao claims he’s Republican ― yet, David Valadao voted to impeach President Trump,” the narrator says. “Yeah, Valadao voted to impeach President Trump.”

National Democrats, who see successful the Central Valley seat as a crucial alternative, would reasonably have Democrat Rudy Salas, a state assemblyman backed by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, run in opposition to Mathys than a less-polarizing incumbent like Valadao. House Majority PAC, which is tied to House Democratic leaders, had spent more than $275,000 to assist elect Salas as of Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Congressional Leadership Fund ― House Majority PAC’s Republican counterpart ― has invested in shoring up Valadao. The GOP group has spent nearly $500,000 making an attempt to forestall Mathys from overtaking Valadao.

In California’s nonpartisan “jungle” major election ― as a result of conclude this Tuesday ― the highest two vote-getters from any political occasion proceed to the final election. As a end result, Salas, Valadao, Mathys and different candidates are all vying for one in all two slots on the November poll.

House Majority PAC’s intervention on Mathys’s behalf is the most recent instance of Democrats making an attempt to raise “ultra-MAGA” Republicans within the hopes of taking advantage of an unfavorable nationwide surroundings.

It mirrors the strategy that Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro has taken in his Democratic run for governor. Facing a crowded discipline of potential GOP contenders, Shapiro selected to contrast himself with state Sen. Doug Mastriano, a right-wing election denier, emphasizing the Republican’s ties to Trump.

Mastriano, who believes the 2020 presidential election was stolen and who entered the U.S. Capitol throughout the riot on Jan. 6, 2021, ended up successful the GOP gubernatorial nomination by a landslide.

Some Democrats worry, nonetheless, that in what’s shaping as much as be a Republican wave year, aiding figures like Mastriano is a bet. If elected governor of a key swing state, Mastriano might overturn, or in any other case meddle with, the 2024 presidential election outcomes.

Asked whether or not House Majority PAC’s effort to spice up Mathys likewise risked clearing a path for Mathys to go to Washington, C.J. Warnke, a spokesperson for the tremendous PAC, maintained in a press release that it didn’t.

“Assemblymember Rudy Salas is the fighter Californians need in the 22nd district, and House Majority PAC feels strongly that come November, Salas will flip this district blue no matter who MAGA Republicans nominate on Tuesday,” Warnke mentioned.

It’s not laborious, nonetheless, to see why Democrats would like to face a extra excessive Republican than Valadao.

Valadao has a report of distinguishing himself from the nationwide Republican Party within the eyes of voters.

Democrats unseated him in 2018 solely to have him retake his present seat, California’s twenty first Congressional District, in 2020. Although President Joe Biden carried California’s twenty first by greater than 10 share factors, Valadao nonetheless prevailed by a razor-thin margin.

Elevating Mathys is a “smart decision,” mentioned Mike Mikus, a Pittsburgh-based Democratic strategist. “In this type of environment, you have to take risks.”

What’s extra, California’s new twenty second District is slightly more Democratic than Valadao’s present seat. That makes a general-election victory for Mathys fairly unlikely. And as a member of Congress, reasonably than a governor, Mathys would have much less affect over the administration of elections, Mikus famous.

“If a crackpot wins a House seat in a district like this, in a Republican wave year, it’s not as damaging,” Mikus mentioned. “It’s one of 435 people.”