Hispanic Democrats slam four Republicans over Jan. 6 vote in new ads

The campaign arm for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) on Tuesday released the first of a set of bilingual ads targeting Republican representatives in Florida, California, New Mexico and Texas for their vote on Jan. 6 challenging the 2020 election results in Arizona and Pennsylvania.

The ads target GOP Reps. Carlos Giménez (Fla.), Mike García (Calif.), Yvette Herrell (N.M.) and Beth Van Duyne (Texas).

All four lawmakers represent heavily Hispanic districts where Democrats lost a close race in 2020.

“These four Republicans led a misinformation campaign and helped spread the ‘Big Lie’ on social media and conservative news media outlets by sowing doubt about the Presidential election results,” said Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.).

“They tried to undermine our democracy and in doing so, they helped incite the insurrection. The best way to fight the Republican disinformation campaign is to hold them accountable for their actions,” added Gallego, chairman of Bold PAC, the CHC campaign arm.

The first ad released Tuesday targets Giménez, a former mayor of Miami-Dade County, Fla., who narrowly defeated former Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D-Fla.) in November.

The ads were commissioned Bold PAC and produced by Latino-owned campaign consulting firm Solidarity Strategies. 

The ad against Giménez kicks off with a quote from a police officer present in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

“Listen to this police officer describe his experience defending the Capitol on January 6th,” says a narrator.

“I experienced a group of individuals that were trying to kill me,” the police officer says over footage of the violent attacks at the Capitol Jan. 6.

The voiceover then says Giménez “was forced to hide,” as former President Trump’s supporters breached Capitol security. 

“But hours later, with blood still on the floors of the Capitol, he voted with Trump and helped spread the same lies that left a police officer dead and many others injured,” says the narrator.

Giménez on Jan. 6 voted with 120 other House Republicans to object to Arizona’s electoral vote count, and with 137 of his colleagues to object to Pennsylvania’s count.

Democrats have been on the offensive since the Jan. 6 insurrection, blaming the violence that day on misinformation campaigns and Trump’s own language.

Misinformation over the events of Jan. 6 and other issues has taken on a distinct form on Hispanic media, where false accusations of allegiance to authoritarian leftist Latin American regimes carry political weight.

Such accusations played a key role in Florida’s 2020 elections, contributing factors that lead to Democratic defeats in the state.

“This is an important issue for BOLD PAC because misinformation campaigns continue to target the Latino community through their use of Spanish language media,” said Gallego.