‘I’ve never faced someone this liberal in a campaign’: Kevin McCarthy jostles with midterm opponent

Kevin McCarthy traded barbs with his Democratic challenger on Wednesday during their one and only election debate, when the pair clashed over crime and border security.

Running for his ninth term in office in a district that includes the working-class town of Bakersfield, McCarthy used the debate to portray Democratic candidate Marisa Wood as an out-of-touch liberal as they argued over who had the most authentic vote.

“We’ve seen the challenge of what we have with the one-party rule from Nancy Pelosi’s Democrats to Gavin Newsom and Joe Biden.

“The real challenge here is that I’ve never met someone so liberal in this campaign where she went to protest with Julie Solis and others,” he said, referring to a local candidate who was arrested last year for breaking and entering his home. office.

“What we really need is someone with a voice who can represent the entire Central Valley.”

Wood, a high school teacher whose platform emphasizes that she is a political newcomer, took an exception.

“I have a question,” she said as the moderators tried to continue. ‘My apologies.

“But did you mean me when you said you’ve never had a libido… Was that a reference to me?”

McCarthy replied: Yes. Mrs.

‘Okay. Again, you don’t know about my politics,” she said. “I wasn’t with Julie Solis.”

McCarthy said he could show her a photo if she denied it.

McCarthy is running for his ninth term in the House and is expected to be the next speaker if Republicans take control of the chamber — as predictions suggest.

He is challenged by Wood, who teaches English at a Bakersfield public school.

The two clashed over immigration when Wood was asked for her opinion on Republicans’ plans to tackle the problem by completing the border wall, reinstating the “stay in Mexico” policy and opening the loopholes of “catch and release”. ‘ to end.

Wood said they’re all for securing the border, within bounds.

“I’m not for building the wall,” she said.

“I don’t believe that’s the only way we can secure the border. I think we need to deploy the resources there to ensure that the border is secure and that criminals do not enter.’

She said there should be a balanced system that recognizes the contributions of guest workers.

It was her turn to portray her opponent as out of touch with the reality of the region.

“This is what Kevin doesn’t see on top of his political machine there in Washington or from Mar-a-Lago. He doesn’t see the immigrants I see — my students, my families back to work, two or three jobs,” she said.

“They come here to work. You can’t live in the Central Valley and not know and understand the importance of migrant workers who are here.’

And she criticized his claims of being tough on crime when he failed to press for Donald Trump’s accountability over the January 6 attack on the US Capitol last year.

McCarthy famously told his colleagues in the aftermath of the attack: “What he did is unacceptable. Nobody can defend that and nobody should defend it.’

But within weeks he visited Mar-a-Lago where he was photographed with Trump. Since then, he has tried to blame Democrats and officials for failing to occur

Wood said, “I find it so interesting that you talk about trust and truth… I think your hypocrisy is terrible.”

McCarthy defended his actions, saying he happened to be in Florida when Trump invited him to Mar-a-Lago.

‘He asked to take a picture. I don’t understand… I was in the Oval Office with President Biden a few weeks ago. It is my responsibility to speak to everyone and make sure that this voice from this Central Valley is heard,” he said.