At a final press conference before Tuesday’s election, Congressional candidate Carl DeMaio called on San Diegans to send a reformer to Washington and called out the Scott Peters campaign for “false smears.”
“They know I’m going to Washington to shake things up, just like I shook things up on the San Diego City Council,” he told a room packed with media and supporters at his campaign headquarters in Miramar.
He said the Republican Party’s “brand has been tarnished,” but he aimed to show that it is not the “party of ‘no’” and can provide solutions to the problems facing Americans.
“I think San Diegans want a problem-solver in Washington,” he said.
The latest polls shows DeMaio to be in a dead heat with incumbent Peters, whose campaign got a boost Saturday with a visit by Vice President Joe Biden.
When asked about a KPBS report that a second former staffer had complained of sexual harassment, DeMaio said it was part of a “last-minute series of false smears” by a “desperate politician.
“I will not join Mr. Peters in the mud,” he said.
He called out the media for not probing the source of the allegations, and repeated that the San Diego District Attorney had found insufficient evidence to bring charges.
The chairman of the San Diego Republican Party was on hand to support DeMaio. “Republicans are united behind Carl. We’re going to send a reformer to Washington,” said Tony Krvaric.
DeMaio has campaigned as an openly gay, independent Republican who is committed to diversity. “Government should not tell us how to live our lives,” he said.
As the press conference ended, supporters clapped and cheered and began chanting “Carl…Carl…Carl.”
