House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Abigail Spanberger, the Virginia Democrat challenging Rep. Dave Brat (R-VA), are featured in an Emily’s List midterm ad even though Spanberger has done everything to distance herself from Pelosi.
“Pelosi and Spanberger, together at last. Don’t take our word for it–watch the ad that the two of them star in together,” Brat tweeted on Monday evening.
Brat and Spanberger are essentially tied a week before voters go to the polls in one of the most-watched 2018 races.
“Women of America, this is your house,” Pelosi says in the ad that also features Spanberger. “And this year, pro-choice Democratic women are taking it back.”
Brat–who shocked former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) in a 2014 primary after Breitbart News broke the story about and published photos of illegal immigrants being warehoused in Texas under the Obama administration–has insisted that Spanberger will be a rubber stamp for Pelosi’s left-wing agenda.
During their October 15 debate, Brat said a vote for Spanberger would be a vote for Pelosi’s “liberal agenda.”
“If you vote for my opponent, you will get the Nancy Pelosi agenda across the board,” Brat said.
A frustrated Spanberger said she questioned whether Brat knows “which Democrat he is running against.”
“I am not Nancy Pelosi, and I am not Barack Obama,” Spanberger said at the debate. “Abigail Spanberger is my name.”
Despite Spanberger’s insistence that she will not be beholden to Pelosi, House Majority PAC, which is closely aligned to Pelosi, has spent more than $500,000 for Spanberger. Pelosi has told multiple outlets that she has instructed candidates to do and say whatever it takes to win in 2018, even if it means running away from her.
“Just win baby,” Pelosi has said in multiple interviews. In addition, Virginia has a history of sending moderate-sounding candidates like former Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) to Congress only to have them veer left as soon as they get to Washington.
A confident Pelosi has said in recent interviews that she will be the Speaker again if Democrats take back the House, and she has indicated that she will use her political acumen to push left-wing policies.
Voters against illegal immigration and high taxes elected Brat, and they may have issues with Pelosi, who infamously dismissed the GOP tax cuts that benefited many in Brat’s district as “crumbs” and insisted that there is “nothing” she would trade to build a border wall.
During their debate, Brat said Spanberger “falls to the very far left” on immigration and emphasized that “this economy is just booming” because of the GOP’s tax cuts.
Brat gave examples of how the tax cuts have made a difference for families in his district.
“That is a new refrigerator. That is a family vacation. That is a car repair.” he said.
Brat also asked voters in his district a simple question during his debate with Spanberger: “Look at San Francisco, the home of Nancy Pelosi—do you want to turn Richmond into San Francisco?”
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