by Jose Gonzales
Friday, May. 13, 2016 at 11:42 AM
Violence and dirty politics accompany the establishment candidate as he fights to rise past fifth place,
As Joe Dunn's campaign struggles to get out of fifth place in the race to replace Loretta Sanchez in California's 46th Congressional district, it is facing accusations of a new low. This adds to the upward fight Joe has had since being fired by the State Bar of California.
On May 1, 2016, through not supporting Bernie Sanders, Joe Dunn and his chief assistant showed up to a Bernie Sanders caucus in California's 46th Congressional District to help push a slate of their choosing for the Sanders delegate slots in that district.
While there, Christina Avalos, a former Congressional candidate and a Bernie Sanders activist, arrived to vote against the slate Joe was pushing. Christina had done something else Joe didn't like. She had previously voted against him in the endorsement caucus for Loretta's seat.
According to reports, Joe's chief assistant roughly grabbed Christina out of anger over Christina's vote for Lou Correa over Joe Dunn in the 46th Congressional seat endorsement caucus. Lou Correa, recently a popular state senator, has generally been considered the outsider with respect to Democratic politics while Joe Dunn has generally had the support of the establishment.
According to an earlier account, Joe's chief assistant earlier went after Christina following the endorsement caucus for the seat Joe was seeking. May 1st was reportedly the second incident.
Christina, a woman of slight build and a popular Latina, previously ran against Ed Royce for Congress. She has never been an establishment candidate. John Hanna, Chairman of the State Resolutions Committee for the Democratic Party, endorsed Republican Ed Royce over Christina, who was considered too liberal for the Democratic establishment.
Lou Correa, running in first place in the district, has a strong pro-choice record. However, he believes operations on women should be performed by doctors and not nurses. Joe Dunn's campaign has twisted this to claim that Lou is anti-woman. This false claim has been made the central focus of Joe Dunn's campaign. Most of the volunteers working on Lou's campaign are women.
The war is extending to the removal of signs. Many of Lou's signs have been pulled by someone unknown. At those locations, signs for Joe Dunn have appeared.
Also in the race and polling well is Bao Nguyen, Mayor of Garden Grove. Though newer to politics, Bao is very popular with young voters. Bao is among the Congressional candidates who has endorsed Bernie Sanders for President. He and Lou are expected to win the top two slots in the 46th Congressional seat primary and continue on to the general election.