SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The California Democratic Party briefly ran misleading ads on Facebook claiming Republican lawmakers “voted against stronger laws protecting 16 and 17-year-old victims of sex trafficking.”
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The ads first surfaced Sunday and came after a contentious vote in the California Assembly when Democratic leaders last week refused to move forward with a proposal that would make it an automatic felony to purchase or solicit 16 and 17-year-olds for sex. The proposal, written by Democratic Assemblymember Maggy Krell, was part of a bill known as AB 379 that tries to crack down on the buyers in the child sex trafficking trade.
Democrats on Thursday voted to strip the bill completely from Krell, exclude the automatic felony, and inserted a few lines of text that read, “it is the intent of the Legislature to adopt the strongest laws to protect 16-and17-year old victims and strengthen protections in support of survivors of human trafficking.”
Lawmakers and other legal experts note the language means nothing and doesn’t change the law.
That did not stop the California Democratic Party and Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas’ campaign from using it as a political opportunity on social media. According to Facebook, the ads were up for 19 hours from Sunday afternoon into Monday and taken down after KCRA 3 first reported their existence.
The ads put up by the party’s Facebook account criticized Republican Assembly members Josh Hoover in Sacramento, James Gallagher in Yuba City, Carl DeMaio in Riverside, David Tangipa in Fresno, Alexandra Macedo in Tulare, Leticia Castillo in Southern California and Joe Patterson in Rocklin.
“What a desperate and pathetic attempt to mislead and gaslight Californians,” Hoover wrote on X about the ads.
A spokesperson for California Democratic Party Chairman Rusty Hicks did not provide a comment or information about the ads on Monday. His spokesperson referred KCRA 3 to Elizabeth Ashford, the spokesperson for Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas’ campaign.
Ashford did not respond to a request for comment.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, both Democrats, support the automatic felony proposal and were accused by some Assembly Democrats of spreading false information about the state’s laws around trafficking.
Even though the governor spoke out after the Assembly’s leadership blocked the proposal, it had no impact on Thursday’s vote.
“It appears @CAgovernor @GavinNewsom has zero control over his own party,” wrote Assemblyman Patterson on X. “Remember, he agrees with Republicans here. Too bad the people at CDP HQ are already treating him like a lame duck.”
The governor has not yet commented on the ads.
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