Carl DeMaio, the first openly gay Republican running for national office, is facing off against freshman Democrat incumbent Scott Peters in California’s 52nd District, which is largely comprised of the City of San Diego and nearby suburban areas and neighborhoods.
We have already covered this race twice, as we are pushing for a victory for DeMaio in what is a highly contested but realistically “flip-able” district.
Currently, Ballotpedia ranks CA-52 as “a battleground with a slight Democratic lean,” and a late July Roll Call poll found DeMaio trailing 48 percent to 43 percent, slightly outside the 4.9 percent margin of error.
Readers can see #CA52: Flip opportunity against 1st term Dem in evenly split district and Democrat Scott Peters plays the “Tea Party card” on opponent (#CA52) for coverage of the race during the summer and biographical information of the two candidates.
Peters has tried hard to link DeMaio with the Tea Party and the far-right “fringe” of the GOP. However, as his reelection seems increasingly unlikely, the freshman democrat recently turned to full-on desperation by calling out the apparently “unusual” fact that DeMaio is gay and running as a Republican. Worse, a few months ago Peters’ own campaign website used the derogatory term “Mary” to refer to DeMaio.
Meanwhile, DeMaio’s “Fix Congress First” plan of action has gained national momentum and recognition: Similiarly-named Florida Republican House candidate Carl Domino adopted DeMaio’s plan.
DeMaio has also released some scorching attack ads against Peters, including one a parody called “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire: Government Edition.” According to the ad, Peters’ votes taken while on the San Diego City Council ballooned public officials’ pensions, often making millionaires out of them. The ad shows many examples of this extreme government largesse, including a city librarian who earns more than $234,000 a year from her pension.
The Peters campaign shot back stating that Peters was not on the council when the pension problem began, but there was no denial, according to the Times of San Diego, of the votes Peters made.
DeMaio, in addition to reaching out to the LGBT community as well as young voters, has made significant inroads into the traditionally Democrat Asian-American community. San Diego’s first Asian-American on the City Council, Tom Hom, endorsed DeMaio, as well as a local leaders of the Asian and Pacific Islander communities.
Peters, meanwhile, seems to staying in line with accusing DeMaio of being affiliated with the Tea Party and trying to retain his core support groups – LGBT, youth, and minority voters, to all of whom DeMaio is making significant headway in communicating his message.
Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS political action committee has made the CA-52 race one its top priorities, allotting it $750,000 in just this past week.
Surely, a DeMaio victory would spell great hope for those in the GOP desiring to see a new type of reformist, pragmatic and libertarian-leaning conservative emerge on the national political scene.
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