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FIRST ON FOX: A Democratic congressional candidate backed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., attacked the U.S. as “AmeriKKKa” and called for the deconstruction of the police and economy.
Gabe Vasquez, one of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s (DCCC) “coveted Red to Blue program” candidates, won the Democratic nomination Tuesday night for New Mexico’s second congressional seat setting him up to face incumbent Rep. Yvette Harrell, a Republican, in November.
“Our victory tonight sends the message that New Mexicans want an authentic representative who puts them first, instead of one who is only interested in playing partisan games,” Vasquez said in a statement on Twitter.
However, Vasquez carries baggage that may not sit well with the constituency of the currently-red toss-up seat. He has called to “deconstruct and rebuild” law enforcement and the economy, as well as attacked the United States as a racist nation.
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Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, March 19, 2021.
(Chip Somodevilla/Pool via AP)
“More pain and suffering for brown families in Amerikkka,” Vasquez tweeted in August 2019. “My heart hurts for these children.”
“Black lives matter. Until we deconstruct and rebuild the systems of oppression that keep black people in perpetual harm, justice will not be served,” the Democrat congressional nominee tweeted in June 2020. “That includes law enforcement, the economy, and the disgusting wealth inequality that keeps white rich men in power.”
Vasquez also called for a “fundamental power shift” in the government starting on racial lines and made the claim that as “long as white folks (mostly men!) dominate this nation’s wealth [and] preside over our nation’s governing bodies [and] judicial systems, the racism, killing [and] injustice will continue.”
Both Pelosi’s leadership political action committee (PAC), PAC to the Future, and her own campaign have donated thousands of dollars to Vasquez. Additionally, the House Majority PAC, which is aligned with Pelosi, has donated to the New Mexico Democrat.
In total, the two PACs and Pelosi’s campaign have donated a combined $24,000 to Vasquez, according to Federal Elections Commissions (FEC) filings.
In July 2019, the Pelosi-backed candidate also called the Thin Blue Line — a police-supporting nonprofit — “propaganda” with “racism at its core value” and called the Republican Party “racist at its core.”
Additionally, Vasquez previously expressed his openness to defunding the police and replacing law enforcement with psychologists.
Vasquez has also claimed that “traditional public education has always told a selective history dominated by the white male, colonialist narrative and has omitted the history of all peoples” and supports the abolition of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
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He also retweeted a tweet claiming that “ICE is committing genocide” and wrote in November 2020 that the agency needed to be disbanded.
Vasquez’s campaign manager Robert Phillips told Fox News Digital that “Gabe Vasquez strongly supports public safety and the police” but did not address the tweet comparing America to the Ku Klux Klan.
“As a Las Cruces Councilmember, he repeatedly voted to increase funding for the police,” Phillips said. “Gabe supports common-sense reforms that strengthen public safety while ensuring all aspects of our justice system live up to the ideals of fair and equal treatment under the law.”
The statement rings hollow, however, as Vasquez voted to withhold overtime funding from the Las Cruces Police Department through the state’s Operation Stonegarden program.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., leaves the chamber after urging advancement of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, named for the late Georgia congressman who made the issue a defining one of his career, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2021.
(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Vasquez’s candidacy is the latest illustration of the leftward lurch the Democratic Party is taking ahead of the critical midterm elections, which has many predicting will see major Republican gains.
Old guard Democrats are on the losing end of the lurch, though, with moderate members being targeted by progressives, who are poised to expand their influence next Congress.
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Pelosi’s campaign did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.
