CA-25 was a LoW TuRnOuT ElEcTiOn
Democrats want you to think the May 12 election between Mike Garcia and Christy Smith was a low-turnout election. But California Secretary of State Alex Padilla was singing a different tune about the 161,000 CA-25 voters that cast their ballots during the March 3rd primary.
Padilla lauded California’s March 3rd turnout saying there was a “record numbers of ballots cast,” it was the most “Californians had ever voted during a primary election,” and “it was a compelling win for voter participation.”
Meanwhile, 165,000 voters cast their ballots in the May 12 special election and Padilla hasn’t said a word.
And keep in mind, according to CalMatters, the DCCC and California Democrats originally thought they could win the CA-25 special election outright on March 3 because of expected “high voter turnout.”
How’d that turn out for Christy?
Bottom line: Christy Smith lost on May 12 because she’s a bad candidate. She’ll lose in November too because she’s a bad candidate.
List of Democrats blaming low turnout for their May 12 special election loss:
Washington Post (May 6. 2020): “Democrats are setting expectations low for the special election, citing the historically low turnout by their voters in these one-off contests.”
US News (May 23, 2020): “Democrats chalk it up to an unpredictable race with low turnout that was held in the middle of a pandemic.”
Associated Press (May 13, 2020) “Smith, meanwhile, tried to motivate Democrats to return to the polls just two months after the state’s presidential primary, when the campaigns of Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and other candidates worked to turn out voters in droves.”
Newsweek (May 11, 2020): “The only way Republicans can win a California seat is in an extremely low-turnout election in the middle of a pandemic.”
Lost Coast Outpost (April 15, 2020): “The door-to-door conversations that would be particularly important in a low-turnout special election, you simply can’t do those — not in the same way you’ve ever done before.”
Associated Press (May 12, 2020): “Hill left under the taint of scandal, and in an expected low-turnout election older, white Republicans tend to be among the state’s most reliable voters.”
Los Angeles Times (May 10, 2020) “Elections like the one Tuesday are typically low-turnout affairs, and that often benefits Republicans.”