Hispanic Democrats target House Republicans over Jan. 6 votes in new ads
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The political action committee of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus is releasing bilingual ads that target four House Republicans over their support for former President Trump and their votes to challenge the election results, the New York Times reports.
Why it matters: The four Republicans represent districts with large Latino populations in Florida, Texas, New Mexico and California. They each won their seats by narrow margins last year.
They include:
- Rep. Carlos Gimenez (Fla.)
- Rep. Mike Garcia (Calif.)
- Rep. Yvette Herrell (N.M.)
- Rep. Beth Van Duyne (Texas)
Details: One of the ads opens with footage from the Capitol insurrection. A narrator introduces a police officer who says he "experienced a group of individuals who were trying to kill me" that day.
- "When an extremist mob attacked the Capitol, Congressman Carlos Gimenez was forced to hide," the narrator continues.
- "But hours later, with blood still on the floors of the Capitol, he voted with Trump and helped spread the same lies that left a police officer dead and many others injured."
What they're saying: Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), chairman of the caucus' political action committee, accused the four Republicans of leading a misinformation campaign to sow doubt about the presidential election results.
- "They tried to undermine our democracy and in doing so, they helped incite the insurrection," Gallego told the Times. "The best way to fight the Republican disinformation campaign is to hold them accountable for their actions."
- The Congressional Hispanic Caucus is made up of 38 Democrats.
The other side: Danny Jativa, Gimenez's press secretary, told Axios that Democrats are "trying to take a bogus claim and magnify it into something that isn’t true."
- Jativa pointed to Gimenez's statement after the vote, in which the congressman said he objected to certification of electors from the states he believed violated an article of the Constitution.
- Gimenez acknowledged that his objections wouldn't have changed the outcome, Javita added, but said his vote reflected his duty to defend the Constitution.
- The offices of Garcia, Herrell and Van Duyne did not immediately respond to Axios' requests for comment.
Editor's note: This article has been updated to correct the spelling of Danny Jativa's name.
