TJ Cox and David Valadao went on the attack in debate for House seat: Here’s what happened
Rep. TJ Cox and his opponent, former Rep. David Valadao, called each other liars multiple times during a debate Tuesday night that mostly centered on their attack ads and the coronavirus pandemic.
Cox, D-Fresno, repeatedly tried to liken Valadao to President Donald Trump not just in policy, but in his mannerisms during the debate hosted by KGET. The two rarely interrupted one another, but when Valadao did interrupt Cox at one point, Cox was ready with a comeback.
“Sorry Donald, it’s my time on the floor,” Cox said, comparing Valadao to Trump during the first presidential debate, when he repeatedly interrupted Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.
He also said that, like Trump, Valadao “always has excuses” and that Valadao wanted to team with Trump to take away health care.
Cox won the 2018 election over Valadao, a Republican dairy farmer from Hanford, by less than a thousand votes. It’s considered one of the most contested congressional battlegrounds in the country in 2020. Outside Republican and Democratic groups have spent more than $7.5 million on this race this cycle, according to the campaign finance database OpenSecrets.
The district went to Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton by 16 points in 2016 but Valadao still won the House seat that year, demonstrating that he was able to separate himself from Trump, who is not popular in the Latino-majority district.
Valadao during the debate accused Cox of the same partisanship that voters are tired of seeing from Washington, of taking credit for bills that never became law and of lying about his tax liens. When moderators asked Cox about attack ads that went after him for owing back taxes to the state and the federal government, Cox said Republicans “tried to create this lie” and said he had no tax liabilities.
The state and federal government have assessed multiple tax liens against Cox and his businesses. His staff has acknowledged in the past that he was in the process of paying those liens off, but have since provided documentation that says Cox has paid all those taxes back.
“It’s the same old thing when it comes to TJ Cox,” Valadao said. “He lies and he distorts the truth.”
The two showed agreement on some issues, including the need to wear masks to combat the coronavirus pandemic, that people should follow social distancing guidelines, the need for a path to citizenship for immigrants who were brought to the country illegally as children, that climate change is real and is caused by man and that both California and the federal government need to do better forest management to combat wildfires.
But they had competing views on how to get action on those items.
Cox repeatedly blamed Republicans for not delivering on immigration reform — the House in 2019 passed immigration bills that were ignored by the Senate, including a bill to grant a path to citizenship for Dreamers — while Valadao said immigration reform would only be possible if members of Congress are willing to cross the aisle.
“In six years in Congress, he couldn’t get a Dream Act to the floor,” Cox said.
“Passing a bill on the House floor doesn’t solve the problem,” Valadao rebutted. “You haven’t delivered either ... you’re continuing to deceive people about what you have and haven’t done.”
This story was originally published October 21, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
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