"In a section focused on Palm Springs, recently added to the district, the memo describes the city as "a critical constituency made up of reliable Democratic voters," but argues that "neither Will Rollins, Christy Holstege, nor Lisa Middleton won their elections to higher office due to their inability to reach voters beyond Palm Springs." It then adds: "Marni von Wilpert, as her record will show, is a candidate in the same vein, who will fail to win over Latinos and veterans, who are the true swing voters in this district.""
"LGBTQ+ leaders say the phrasing reads less like a neutral assessment than a familiar argument in which identity is recast as liability. Palm Springs is one of California's most visible LGBTQ+ political communities, and the three candidates named are all members of the LGBTQ+ community. Rollins is an out gay former federal prosecutor who ran for Congress; Holstege is an out lesbian former mayor of Palm Springs who ran for the state assembly;"
Ammar Campa-Najjar, a Democrat and Navy veteran, circulated a seven-page campaign memo while seeking the party nomination in the newly drawn 48th Congressional District. The memo singled out Palm Springs as "a critical constituency made up of reliable Democratic voters" and argued that several out LGBTQ+ officials did not win higher office because they could not reach voters beyond Palm Springs. The memo specifically claimed Marni von Wilpert would fail to win over Latinos and veterans, described as the district's swing voters. LGBTQ+ leaders and party officials criticized the language as recasting identity as a liability and pushed back against the memo's implications.
Read at Advocate.com
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