An ad run by Democrats in California’s hotly contested 22nd congressional district knocks incumbent Republican Rep. David Valadao for voting to impeach President Donald Trump, hoping to suppress GOP turnout in the district.
The ad, the Wall Street Journal notes, is “sponsored by the Democratic group Voter Protection Project, which is funded by House Majority PAC, which is associated with the House Democratic leadership,” which pushed impeachment.
Rather than defending their impeachment, Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives are criticizing impeachment in a race that could be decided by a few votes, and which could determine control of the House.
Valadao voted against Trump’s first impeachment, but was one of ten Republicans who voted for the second. Many of those later retired or were defeated in primary races. Valadao is popular in his district, but could still face a reckoning — though voters may see through the Democrats’ ruse.
The incumbent Valadao was one of seven Republicans who lost their seats in California in the 2018 midterm elections, when Democrats pioneered the use of “ballot harvesting.” The practice, legal for the first time in the 2018 election, allows anyone to turn in unlimited numbers of other people’s ballots, no questions asked.
Valadao lost by fewer than 1,000 votes, likely due to ballot harvesting. Republicans then adopted the practice themselves, and Valadao won his seat back in 2020.
Valadao is facing former California State Assemblyman Rudy Salas.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.