A small crowd showed up at Modesto’s Red Center Thursday, September 22, for debates featuring candidates for two of the Valley’s seats in the House of Representatives. John Duarte, running against Adam Gray in Congressional District 13, was represented by his wife Alexandra. Republican Tom McClintock, heavily favored in District 5 against Mike Barkley, didn’t show up.
Newly redrawn to include parts of six counties, District 5 seems tailor made for a Republican, the chief reason McClintock is favored. Rated as a tossup by most polls, District 13 registration trends Democratic, but Republican Duarte made a strong showing in the Primary Election, which included Democrat Phil Arballo as well as Gray.
The debate between Gray and Ms. Duarte was tepid, almost certainly because Donald Trump’s dark shadow still looms over the nation, and especially over Republican candidates who must calculate how much allegiance to the former president will be necessary to bring out the base voters crucial to success at the polls. John Duarte’s campaign in a politically balanced district offers a special challenge.
Duarte’s campaign website includes his statement that, “‘You can’t lie to trees and you can’t lie to your bank account.’ John wants to take these values to Washington DC to teach politicians a thing or two about integrity, accountability, and work ethic.”
Unfortunately, those few Republicans in Washington D.C. who tried to maintain “integrity” and “accountability” during the Trump era were run out of the party faster than Josh Hawley could sprint through the halls of Congress on January 6, 2021.
The problem for Republicans who try to maintain truth and integrity during the reign of Trump is a simple numbers game: Without the MAGA base, they can’t win and Trump controls the MAGA base. Having lost the majority vote seven out of the last eight presidential elections, Republicans running for national office find themselves dependent on voters like the QAnon Shaman and his friends who stormed the Capitol on January 6.
The Republican Party swallowed the Trump poison pill then learned too late there’s no antidote. Trump mastered the dark arts of political and financial corruption during the McCarthy era while under the tutelage of Roy Cohn, a man who could easily make you believe reptiles can walk and talk.
Frank Rich detailed the sordid history of the Cohn/Trump partnership in a masterful report for New York Magazine in 2018.
According to Rich, Trump and Cohn were bosom buddies (Cohn became Trump’s attorney after moving on from Joe McCarthy) until Cohn got too sick to help Donald lie, cheat, and steal, whereupon Trump dropped him and moved on.
“I can’t believe he’s doing this to me,” said Cohn, dying of AIDS. “Donald pisses ice water.”
Today, many Republicans can’t believe what Trump’s done to their Party, but denial isn’t making him go away. The best those who try to distance themselves from Trump’s corruption and mendacity can do is recite the current politically correct disclaimer cum prayer, “I don’t always agree with his methods, but I like his policies.”
Like his policies? Yes, the Republican Party is all-in on abolishing women’s rights, imposing tariffs, cozying up to war criminals like Vladimir Putin, discrediting American intelligence services in favor of Putin’s lies, and, lately, thwarting the nation’s law enforcement agencies, including the Capitol Police, the FBI, and the Department of Justice.
That’s not a problem for candidates like Tom McClintock, whose new district is mostly bright red. The moment after it was drawn, the Democratic Party gave up on it. Only perennial Democratic candidate Mike Barkley dared make a run, and this time he’s by far the best choice, if only because he actually believes in science, favors democracy, and champions the rule of law over the depredations of a sociopathic former president.
Adam Gray’s District 13, on the other hand, is a nuanced mix of traditionally Republican and Democratic voters who prefer to judge candidates and issues based on local relevance. In that respect, Gray has been hugely successful during his tenure as a representative for California State Assembly District 21. That district has a voter demographic similar to newly configured Congressional District 13.
During a short and civil debate period, Gray pointed out endorsements from a broad spectrum of Democrats and Republicans that includes Stanislaus County Sheriff Jeff Dirkse, Merced Mayor Matt Serratto, Modesto City Councilmember Chris Ricci, Stanislaus County Supervisor Vito Chiesa, former Merced County Supervisor Hub Walsh, and dozens of other Republicans and Democrats unlikely ever to appear again in support of the same candidate. The only way to amass that much support from so many different constituents is through an unusual gift for earning public trust through public service.
Gray’s proven record of delivering for such a diverse group eclipses any probability Duarte might be able to disentangle himself from Republican marching orders, not that he would necessarily want to — Kevin McCarthy, whose fealty to Trump includes a willingness to lie and prostrate himself for Trump’s favor, is Duarte’s biggest Republican backer. Despite critical issues like women’s rights, inflation, and the ominous prospect of protracted war in the Ukraine, this year’s elections are ultimately about the future of “government of the people, by the people, and for the people.”
Today’s Republican Party has made clear its intention to replace our Democratic Republic with an authoritarian regime that would strip away women’s rights and replace the ballot box with a cult of personality. Valley voters have never had a clearer or more important choice between moving forward toward “a more perfect union” or backward into the darkness of authoritarian rule.
Adam Gray and Mike Barkley are your choices for democracy.
In turning out every representative in Congress who did not support Donald Trump, the Republican Party disenfranchised everyone unwilling to follow him down the road to ruin. The intolerance of the party to other ideas and positions on the issues makes voting for any of its candidates counterproductive. While I am not a Democrat, that party is clearly the lesser of two evils. Anyone who would never vote for a Democrat is better off not voting at all than supporting a Republican Party with bankrupt moral values.
Those who only get their information from right wing media Or internet sites have been sadly misled and have been inculcated with misinformation beyond believability. The fact that they get angry when challenged only confirms that in their hearts, they know that they have been duped.
Without providing concrete proof, Anyone who says that an election is rigged unless he wins is either a liar or an idiot. Those who believe the liar are gullible.
What is even worse, Republicans abandoned their traditional values of supporting the police, the military, the courts–virtually every institution that helped make the country great. If the reader does not think this statement is true, simply review all the statements made by Donald Trump, the man the supermajority of the party supports.
While I think John Duarte is a good man, because the Republican Party demands absolute obedience and will require him to abandon his moral principles, my conscience will not allow me to help him win until the party dumps Trumpism.
Thank you, Bruce. Well put.
I can accept Trump. The world is filled with a smattering of nutjobs whose history/childhood was so off balance and corrupt that they end up with a distorted pathology. People like Bernie Madoff and Jeffery Epstein are a predictable result of human experience. So is Trump.
Some people who support Trump I can accept too. They are just gullible/naïve enough that they need to follow, and their lives are a series of bandwagon jumping and cheerleading for causes and leaders they go all in with. They will send the son of the prince of Nigeria a check while sipping the Miracle Spring Water from Peter Popoff. There are democrats in the same category.
The average hardline election denying republican is completely unredeemable though. They know better, yet preach lies. They are okay with cheating. They are okay destroying the climate so long as they have a boat for the lake. They want oil for their guzzling truck, even if it means war. They hinder any type of progressive improvements (seen easily in other countries), and they love anger and violence. They are like the Taliban. America needs to be very scared of these people. They may be Americans, but they are trying to overthrow America.
It’s a difficult to believe so many people still considered Trump as an OK President even before he was elected. Case in point ” access Hollywood” video/tape. They still accepted him. Why? Beats me. He has the morals of an alley cat with less conscience. He proved, to all who listened, how cruel and egocentric he is when his policies took/snatched children from asylum seeker parents, and put them in cages with no paperwork to put them back together again. Unthinking Republican voters fixated on his supposed business success. It Proved that money has even more power than even actual facts. Just a hint was enough. Actual facts and good old common sense went down the drain and was followed by straight up corruption even by his AG of DOJ. Republicans, then and now, in Congress followed him/Trump so close you have/had trouble seeing their noses. Neither Party is a guarantee of honesty and real public service to be done. Look deeper than the skin flakes or wind up with a snake skin sloughed/shedded off, leaving you crying, or saying “what happened” when you can’t speak your opinions.
Very well written, Mr. Caine. You sum up the current Republican Party short, sweet and to the point. Thank you!
mikebarkleyuscongress.com mjbarkl.com/run.htm –mike
I hope Mike gets the seat !
I wish to give kudoss to you, Eric, for providing the public with articles to help bring us peace and good health. Your Valley Citizen is one of my most important places to go for update information.. Thank you for the many articles on important issues, especially on Democracy.
More than 60 years ago I gave a high school graduation speech on the importance of protecting democracy by being involved, not being apathetic. Hopefully people will heed to the need for us all to stand up and fight for democracy. You are certainly doing your part! Thank you.
Thank you JO. As you know, democracy is hard to keep and requires constant vigilance and action. Thank you for doing your part.