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The campaign website for California House GOP candidate Greg Raths, who’s running against Rep. Young Kim in a primary, appears to copy nearly word-for-word several passages from South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham’s campaign website.
“Lower taxes. Less regulation. A smaller, smarter, more efficient government. Those are the values and priorities Greg Raths will fight for in Washington as your Congressman,” the Raths website said as of Friday morning.
“Lower taxes. Less regulation. A smaller, smarter, more efficient government. Those are the values and priorities Lindsey Graham has fought for as a senator in Washington,” Graham’s website said in 2020.
Raths told Fox News Friday that he was unaware of the issue until it was brought to his attention by a reporter.
“I work with several staffers who give me inputs to my webpage content and some of that data may have come from another conservative candidate’s website. Although I agree with Senator Graham on several issues, it was never my intent to use his verbiage on my site,” Raths said. “This does give me the feeling that my opponents are digging deep into my campaign for anything to slow my strong surge in the final weeks of this primary campaign for CA40th Congressional District.”
(Greg Raths for Congress campaign)
Raths ran for Congress in California’s 45th district in 2020 and lost a relatively close race against progressive Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif. He filed paperwork to run against the freshman Kim, R-Calif., in the state’s 40th Congressional District late last year.
But Raths’ campaign website this time around appears to include several passages that appeared in nearly identical form on the website for Graham, R-S.C., when he ran for reelection last cycle.
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Graham’s 2020 website is archived via the internet archive Wayback Machine. Excerpts from his 2020 website are also saved on the nonprofit Ballotpedia website.
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“Greg Raths understands that the way to create jobs and build a strong economy is to let Americans keep more of what they earn and get the government out of the way,” the Raths website said Friday.
“Lindsey Graham understands that the way to create jobs and build a strong economy is to let Americans keep more of what they earn and get the government out of the way,” Graham’s site said in 2020.
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“So what’s the best way to bring down health care costs, cover more people, and make health insurance more affordable?” Raths’ current website says. “Redirect money and power over health care decisions away from Washington and return it to patients, local communities, and states.”
Graham’s website in 2020: “So what’s the best way to bring down health care costs, cover more people, and make health insurance more affordable? Redirect money and power over health care decisions away from Washington and return it to patients, local communities, and states.”
There are multiple other instances of the Graham website and the Raths website matching nearly verbatim, especially when describing the candidates’ positions on health care.
(Greg Raths for Congress campaign)
“This is a testament to Young Kim’s strength in this race,” Winning for Women Action Fund spokesperson Olivia Perez-Cubas told Fox News Digital. “Her opponent feels the only way to attempt to beat her is by plagiarizing the words of a sitting U.S. Senator. Young Kim, with the $4 million she’s raised, will be just fine in this primary.”
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Winning for Women endorsed Kim ahead of her 2020 win and re-endorsed her this cycle.
“Senator Graham convincingly won the most expensive Senate race in U.S. history, so who wouldn’t want to do many of the same things our campaign did?” Graham campaign consultant Scott Farmer said. “After all, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”
Raths is expected to be a significant underdog in the 40th Congressional District primary, as Kim is backed by House GOP leadership. She was a part of the 2020 House GOP freshman class that significantly outperformed expectations — winning seats for the GOP when Republicans lost the Senate and the presidency.
California’s 40th Congressional District is rated “Likely Republican” by the Cook Political Report.
California’s primary elections are on June 7.
