Another Democrat wants to unseat Devin Nunes, and is using Twitter to do it
A second Democrat is announcing a challenge to Rep. Devin Nunes in 2022 and he’s using a tactic favored by Nunes’ recent opponents: Build up a lot of Twitter supporters and raise big money opposing the Republican congressman.
“I posted (on Twitter) that I was running against Devin late at night. Then I woke up and my followers were at 50,000 plus, it just snowballed,” Eric Garcia, a 33-year-old Marine veteran running against Nunes, R-Tulare, told McClatchy Tuesday. His account now has about 130,000 followers.
It’s the same tactic Phil Arballo, a financial adviser who faced Nunes in 2020, used in the last cycle. And while fundraising via Twitter might not sound like a winning campaign strategy for most candidates, Nunes’ reputation in Democratic circles tends to drive a lot of liberal Twitter users to pay attention to his opponents.
Arballo, who was largely unknown in the district before he ran against Nunes, raised about $5 million in the 2020 cycle, but lost to Nunes by about eight points. Arballo has also declared he’s running against Nunes again in 2022.
Now, Garcia is launching an ad-style video he plans to run on his social media accounts, highlighting the fact that he served in the Marines and felt Nunes has not upheld his oath of office.
Nunes was among the Republican lawmakers who voted in January to contest election results from two swing states President Joe Biden won. Garcia’s video criticizes that vote and the mob of former President Donald Trump’s supporters who overwhelmed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
Nunes, who has served in Congress since 2003, built a national reputation during the Trump administration as a close ally of the former president, especially in defending during Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.
Garcia, who was born in Fresno and now lives in Clovis with his wife and three children, said he served two tours in Iraq in an intelligence unit, which did classified work interpreting enemy movements so troops could avoid or intercept them. He said he has 12 service-related disabilities, including a generalized anxiety disorder with symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder and autoimmune disorders that cause him pain.
He ran to unseat Nunes in 2020 under No Party Preference, but is now running as a Democrat. He said his thinking changed on parties while Trump was in office — he used to think parties didn’t matter, which he said was influenced by his time in the Marines. Trump’s policies changed his thinking.
“The parties weren’t the two sides of the same coin that I thought they were,” Garcia said. “But I was already registered in 2018. But now I think Democrats are doing the work of the people, rather than their personal or corporate agenda that Republicans are fighting for.”
This story was originally published February 9, 2021 at 2:09 PM.
.jpg)