Is His Serial Dishonesty Finally Catching Up With Central Valley Republican Jeff Denham?

We haven't spent enough time talking about CA-10, an important district that the DCCC has failed over and over again to rescue from Republican hands. A Central Valley district primarily in Stanislaus County, with a substantial part of San Joaquin as well, the district is represented by a knee-jerk Republican backbencher, Jeff Denham, an odd fit in a minority majority district. CA-10, just east of San Jose, gave Obama wins both times he ran and, albeit by a smaller margin, went for Hillary over Trump last year, 48.5% to 45.5%. The biggest towns in the district are Modesto, Manteca, Tracy, Riverbank and Turlock.

The DCCC has been running candidates who look "good" on paper-- at least in DC-- but who have been unable to dislodge Denham. The DCCC are trying to bum rush some their kind of guy in as the candidate-- Josh Harder, a wealthy venture capitalist and the local activists are lining up behind Tracy nurse and former Riverbank City Council member Dotty Nygard. Lisa Battista (no issues page on her website), David Byttow (no website) and Mateo Morelos Bedolla (website has expired) have declared their candidacies and there has been talk that the last 2 Denham opponents, Michael Eggman (2014 and 2016) and Jose Hernandez (2012) are considering rematches. Also former Riverbank Mayor Virginia Madueño may be planning on jumping in.

One reason 2018 may be Denham's Waterloo is his vote to repeal Obamacare and replace it with TrumpCare, a bill that would deprive 111,711 people in CA-10 of health insurance, over double the national average. But it wasn't just that Denham voted in lockstep with Ryan-- he always does-- but that he promised his constituents that he wouldn't. Early last March at a meeting with constituents Denham explicitly "agreed to not repeal the Affordable Care Act without a replacement that would protect people with pre-existing conditions, as well as allow people to stay on their parent's health insurance until the age of 26."

Two months later, when Denham flew back to the district, residents were angry that he had betrayed them and gone back on his word. His town hall meeting in Riverbank went badly.

"You voted against me," said one woman who said she depends on Medi-Cal for her healthcare.

"I voted for something that I thought would help my district," he said.

Denham had previously said that he would vote against the bill, but ended up voting for it, along with the rest of California's House Republicans.

He lied to his constituents about what TrumpCare would and wouldn't do but when he was cornered about his misleading assertions-- like a bogus claim that people would get cheaper pharmaceuticals-- he hemmed and hawed and claimed there will be "future amendments."

This truck can start rolling again the day Dotty Nygard becomes the Democratic nominee

Blue America has gone up against Denham once before. Two summers ago we ran a moving billboard campaign in two Central Valley congressional districts, CA-10 and CA-16, the former Denham's and the latter represented by Blue Dog Jim Costa. Both were enthusiastic supporters of the TPP reactionary trade agenda and both are mighty lucky that Congress has decided to write the laws in such a way that bribery in the form of "campaign contributions" is not considered bribery by the criminal justice system, a whole other deception worth taking time to think about. Denham was well aware that his Democratic-leaning district would not put up with a $700 million Medicare ripoff to grease the skids of the TPP, so he tried to disguise his support.

Modesto Bee reporter Nan Austin asked Denham's office for a comment on the rather blunt and unambiguous accusations against him that are being driven up and down CA-10 and into almost every city and town Denham represents. "Congressman Jeff Denham just voted to cut your mom’s Medicare by $700 million to finance a trade agenda that sends your job to China" was not what Denham wanted voters thinking about when they sat down to decide between him and Democrat Michael Eggman.

The Denham camp called the signs "disingenuous and misleading."

"Congressman Denham supported legislation to eliminate the Medicare cuts that were contained in the Senate version of TPA, and he supported legislation to increase trade and bring jobs to the Central Valley. This a disingenuous and misleading line of attack," said Denham Press Secretary Jordan Langdon, in response to a Bee inquiry.

Blue America, however, stood behind the Blue America Pac political ads, saying the message referred to an earlier vote that included the Medicare cut. Denham voted against that portion of what was then a two-part package, but the group called that a slight of hand.

"Costa voted for both halves. Denham voted for one half. But the clear intent of the House Republicans was to pass both halves," said a Blue America spokesman who would give only the pen name Gaius Publius. "Any vote for any piece was a vote for the whole package to succeed," he said in a phone interview Tuesday.