A Republican lawmaker with a problematic trading past has become a "tantalizing target" for Democrat operatives who think they can win his congressional district and gain control of the House, according to a new report.
Rep. Mike Garcia (R-CA) will soon be hit with a barrage of campaign ads reminding voters he sold up to $50,000 in Boeing stock in August 2020, just when Congress was investigating the troubled aerospace company, Politico reported Wednesday.
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"The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is betting that questions over Garcia’s suspicious stock sale in 2020 — coupled with his failure to properly disclose the transaction on time — will cause enough turbulence to flip the Northern Los Angeles County district, one of a handful of races that could determine control of the House," Politico reports.
Garcia sat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee that investigated crashes involving Boeing's 737 Max Airliner — and sold his stock one month before the Democrat-led committee released a scathing report on the company, Politico reports.
The California Republican then failed to disclose the sale by the 45-day deadline and only filed the paperwork after he won a slim victory of in November 2020, Politico reports.
The sale will now be the subject of a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee ad that features a scathing vox pop with local voters, according to the report.
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While Dan Gottlieb, DCCC spokesperson dubbed Garcia a "cash-it-in congressman" who has betrayed his constituents trust for personal gain, the Republican's campaign spokesperson argued he had no knowledge of the committee's forthcoming report.
“This makes claims of insider trading an impossibility” Liam Anderson told Politico.
But Garcia remains vulnerable to attack as his once GOP stronghold district continues to move to the left with an influx of Los Angeles liberals, Politico concludes.
"Garcia has been a tantalizing target for Democrats," according to the report. "Their internal polling (which, as always, should be taken with a grain of salt) found that 50 percent of respondents had 'very serious concerns' about the Boeing allegations."
