(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Top Comments: Local Politics Edition: MAGA vs MAGA [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-10-13 Here at Top Comments we welcome longtime as well as brand new Daily Kos readers to join us at 10pm Eastern. We strive to nourish community by rounding up some of the site's best, funniest, most mojo'd & most informative commentary, and we depend on your help!! If you see a comment by another Kossack that deserves wider recognition, please send it either to topcomments at gmail or to the Top Comments group mailbox by 9:30pm Eastern. Pleaseinclude a few words about why you sent it in as well as your user name (even if you think we know it already :-), so we can credit you with the find! I live in rural northern San Diego County in California, home to avocado groves and vineyards. Despite California’s reputation as being a liberal paradise, this particular corner of California is not so liberal. While they’re not common, it’s still not hard to find Trump flags waving on peoples’ flag poles, and pop-up Trump merch tables by the side of the road. There’s no lack of right-wing derangement around here. This introduction is by way of explaining how it is that in this year’s general election, we have two Republicans facing off against each other for my district’s State Assembly seat. This is the 75th Assembly District. There are 6 such districts in San Diego County, and a portion of a seventh shared with Orange County. All of these districts hug the coast except for the 75th, which consists of about 80 % of the county. As I said, it’s rural. Population density is low. I wrote about the primary race for this seat in February, where there were, 6 candidates, 4 Republicans and 2 Democrats. The California primary is an all-party free-for-all where the top two vote-getters face each other in the general. We started getting weird mailers promoting the stronger of the Democratic candidates, Kevin Juza. They were weird because they weren’t from the candidate himself, but in fact from an organization posing itself to be progressive, but that was actually a front group for Republican candidate Carl Demaio. (The tell? In the mailer, the word “Democrat” was used an adjective. Actual Democrats never do that.) This was Demiao’s attempt to ratfuck the election. He didn’t want to face another Republican in the general election, so from behind this front group, he was encouraging Democrats to pool their votes so that a Democrat would win. He didn’t get his wish. Another Republican candidate, Andrew Hayes, edged out Juza for 2nd place by a fraction of a point. About the candidates: Carl DeMaio has been a perennial candidate for years. He won a seat on the San Diego City Council in 2008, the only general election he’s won. In 2012, he got on the general election ballot as candidate for mayor of San Diego, but lost. In 2014, he won the primary to face the incumbent Scott Peters for Congress (CA-52) but lost. In 2020, he ran in the primary for CA-50 (the seat that Duncan Hunter resigned from), but lost that too. Unusual for a Republican running for office, Demaio is openly gay and married to a man. However, as his aforementioned attempt to ratfuck this year’s primary attests, DeMaio is a true sociopath. His history is littered with allegations of bullying, bribery, and sexual harassment. Despite the fact that DeMaio was the top vote-getter in the primary, the Republican Party of San Diego County endorsed his opponent, Hayes. Local Republican Party bigwigs hate DeMaio as he is a chaos agent, and they don’t want him in the California Assembly. So, which one is the pot... Andrew Hayes, by comparison, is just a run-of-the-mill Republican operative and MAGA. He had been an aide to a couple of local GOP politicians, and he serves on the school board in the town of Lakeside (Hubby’s hometown). In his role on the school board, he has supported a parents’ “bill of rights,” but while he’s squishy about outright book-banning, he is for limiting access to some books. He has not publicly voiced hostility to transgender students, but he’s hasn’t shown any support either. Call him MAGA-lite, if you will. Both of these candidates have managed to figure out that if they’re going to win the general election, they’re going to need Democratic votes. So now we’re getting a plethora of mailers from them, and it’s kind of funny. Each is (metaphorically) pointing a finger at the other and shouting “MAGA!” The anti-DeMaio mailers are actually coming from a firefighters’ group, funded by mainstream Republican backers. The anti-Hayes mailers, on the other hand, are coming from DeMaio’s fake-progressive front group; They point out that DeMaio is gay and pro-choice (though he has a history of flip-flopping on this issue), while Hayes isn’t. Unfortunately for him, DeMaio is also an unprincipled rat-bastard. ...and which one is the kettle? Mailers or no mailers, we left the place on the ballot for the 75th State Assembly seat blank. We do not vote for Republicans, and the California ballot does not allow for write-ins. We are used to having bad (i. e. GOP) representation in government, and will simply ride out this particular cycle as we’ve done before. Fortunately, California’s legislature is controlled by a safely Democratic majority. Comments are below the fold. Top Comments Alas, nothing came in from the field this evening. 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