Democrat’s Wife Fears He Will Beat Her if He Loses Election

The wife of a Democratic Party lawmaker in California has testified that she fears he will beat her if he loses a close race for Congress. The Los Angeles Times buried his party affiliation, however, leaving it out of the headline and lede paragraph.

In an article headlined “Wife of assemblyman accused of domestic violence testifies she is ‘afraid’ his election loss will prompt retaliation,” the Times reports:

Baldwin Park City Councilwoman Susan Rubio said in court Thursday she is fearful her husband, Assemblyman Roger Hernández, will retaliate against her because of his poor showing in the state’s primary election.

Hernández is a Democrat, as the Times finally acknowledges in the second paragraph, representing the 48th district in the San Gabriel Valley.

The Times reports further:

Rubio is seeking a domestic violence restraining order against Hernández, a Democrat from West Covina. The assemblyman was dogged by allegations that he repeatedly beat his estranged wife as he ran for Congress.

Testifying Thursday, Rubio said she was afraid of what might happen to her in the future if Hernández is eliminated in the primary.

“I’m afraid he is going to blame it on me and try to retaliate,” she said while testifying.

Hernández has denied the allegations. The court ordered him to stay away from his wife earlier this year.

Hernández is running for Congress in the 32nd district, and challenged incumbent Democrat Grace Napolitano in the June 7 primary. He is currently in third place by 1,000 votes, though California still has to count over 1.4 million votes statewide.

Under California’s top-two “jungle primary” system, candidates from all parties compete in a common primary election, and the top two finishers automatically advance to the general election in November, even if they are from the same party.

Currently, Hernández trails Republican Gordon Fisher for second place.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. His new book, See No Evil: 19 Hard Truths the Left Can’t Handle, will be published by Regnery on July 25 and is available for pre-order through Amazon. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.