GOP County Supervisor Comment, Falsehood-Laden Radio Interview Underscore Growing Comstock Dishonesty Problem

From the Jennifer Wexton for Congress campaign:

GOP County Supervisor Comment, Falsehood-Laden Radio Interview Underscore Growing Comstock Dishonesty Problem

LEESBURG – As public polls continue to show support for Congresswoman Barbara Comstock’s reelection campaign lagging, she is increasingly resorting to openly dishonest attacks to salvage her standing in the race.

Yesterday Comstock laced a series of dishonest statements and outright lies into a radio interview with conservative host John Fredericks, including the bizarre claim that Wexton had never attended a local festival despite photographic evidence to the contrary. Hours later, one of Comstock’s top elected supporters, Republican Loudoun County Supervisor Ron Meyer, contradicted one of Comstock’s ads in a tweet.

Comstock’s interview with John Fredericks included the following exchanges:

[at 5:30] Asked by Fredericks whether she was “part of a Republican effort to repeal and replace Obamacare… without regard to pre-existing conditions,” Comstock responded that it was “absolutely false” and that she “didn’t vote for a repeal.” Comstock was likely referring to her vote on the American Health Care Act, but had previously twice voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act in full without passing any replacement to protect Americans with pre-existing conditions, in addition to voting dozens of times to weaken the law.

[at 11:00] Fredericks says, of a recent Washington Post/Schar School poll that showed Comstock losing by 12 points, “This is a fake poll with a fake narrative through the fake news in order to advance a fake agenda.” Fredericks went on to call the Washington Post and the “fake news media” “corrupt” without objection from Comstock, who responded with an extended rant on the Washington Post, which she said “has always gotten it wrong in this district.” The Post endorsed her in 2016.

[at 13:00] Comstock claimed that Wexton “has turned down other debate opportunities.” The League of Women Voters noted in a statement yesterday which ran in the Herndon Connection that it had been forced to cancel its scheduled VA-10 debate: “While Sen. Jennifer Wexton has accepted, Congresswoman Barbara Comstock did not respond to our invitation.”

[at 13:30] Comstock claimed that Wexton is “in hiding,” and has ignored parts of the district, including western counties and Manassas. Wexton has had a packed schedule of public events, including numerous recent appearances in Manassas, and has both attended past events and scheduled future ones in Clarke and Frederick Counties. Wexton is the only candidate in the race regularly releasing a public schedule to press in advance.

[at 14:10] Comstock falsely claimed that Wexton “has never gone to an event here that is a regular that most local politicians go to which is the Korean KORUS Festival and we just had it last weekend, once again she didn’t show up.” Wexton spent an hour and a half at the end of a very busy day at the festival, as photographs of her there show.

Later that day Comstock supporter and elected Republican Ron Meyer, who serves on the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, sent a tweet noting that Jennifer Wexton had opposed tolls on I-66, directly contradicting recent ads boosting Comstock which suggested that Wexton was responsible for I-66 tolling.

While Meyer attempted to knock Wexton for being unable to “convince” the Governor to change the program, a standard we suspect he would not hold Comstock to regarding Trump’s policies, his tweet unintentionally rebutted the Comstock tolling ad. That ad’s claims were also recently torn to shreds by the Washington Post Editorial Board.

“This is the kind of dishonest campaign candidates resort to when they can’t run on their record, and Barbara Comstock clearly does not want to talk about her record of voting with Donald Trump 98 percent of the time,” said Wexton campaign spokesman Aaron Fritschner. “If Comstock cannot win honestly and fairly, she does not deserve to win at all. These lies will only serve to remind voters again why they need a new, independent voice like Jennifer Wexton to represent them in Congress.”

Another Comstock ad on MS-13 also failed to stand up to the scrutiny of an Associated Press fact-check, and numerous mailers boosting Comstock have quoted Jennifer Wexton as saying “I’m a tax and spend liberal.” As video shows, the full quotation was, “A past thing that they [Republicans] have said about me is that I’m a ‘tax and spend liberal.’”