Barack Obama’s office called out a Republican candidate in Fresno, California, that released an advertisement to falsely boast of his work with the former President. And we get it, David Valadao, Obama is far more popular than Donald Trump — the latter of whom is the least popular president in the history of polling. Valadao is trying to retake his old seat from Rep. TJ Cox (D-Fresno) in one of the most contentious congressional races in the country.
The Fresno Bee reports that the voiceover in Valadao’s ad says, “An independent problem solver, (Valadao) worked with President Obama to bring more water to the Central Valley, made health care more accessible, and stood up to his own party to reform immigration and protect Dreamers.”
Katie Hill, the communications director for Obama’s office, wasn’t having it and issued a strongly worded statement to counter the Republican candidate’s claims.
“We strongly condemn David Valadao for resorting to distortion to falsely suggest President Obama’s support – especially given that President Obama has endorsed his opponent, TJ Cox,” Hill said, according to the outlet. “Valadao typically opposed President Obama’s policies, even voting to repeal Obamacare and rip health care away from thousands of people in the Central Valley while turning his back on DREAMers.”
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Yeah, that healthcare issue is really coming back to bite Republicans in the ass amid the raging pandemic.
Robert Jones, the general consultant for Valadao’s campaign, insisted that the ad did not say that the former President had endorsed Valadao, but it only said they had worked together on water. But, you know, that healthcare claim is a doozy.
“David is proud of his bipartisan record in Congress and while he didn’t always agree with President Obama or President Trump on every issue, he always worked to find common ground when it was good for the Valley,” said Andrew Renteria, campaign manager for Valadao. “As these campaign season attacks demonstrate, Washington D.C. suffers from a lack of compromise, not too much of it.”
Valadao, as the Bee notes, also voted for a Republican replacement of Obamacare that would’ve weakened protections for people with pre-existing conditions. The Trump administration has been trying to eradicate Obamacare, and that would eliminate affordable coverage for those with pre-existing conditions.
You can read the full article here.
Featured image via Gage Skidmore/Flickr, under Creative Commons license 2.0
