YAKIMA, Wash.-Candidates in the 14th District, which covers a large swath of Southcentral Washington are responding to controversial text messages being sent to voters.
The texts from the Washington State Republican Party, are targeted at Democratic candidates Maria Beltran, Ana Kennedy and Chelsea Dimas and read in part:
“They hate you, they hate your family, they hate God and they hate the truth. Don’t let them represent you!”
Beltran, who is running for the State Senate, issued a statement through the Latino Caucus in response to the text messages, which read in part:
“They accuse me of awful, flatly untrue things and disrespect my Catholic faith and Mexican heritage,” Beltran said. “This is an attack on our democracy. Instead of winning voters over on merit, the Washington GOP is resorting to vile rhetoric meant to divide and confuse the Latino community in Central Washington at a historic moment in state history when our vote matters most.”
Sen. Curtis King, Deb Manjarrez and Gloria Mendoza, Republican candidates in the 14th District, issued a joint statement on Nov. 4 in response to the text messages that read:
“We disavow the text. Our campaigns had nothing to do with it. None of us had any prior knowledge it was being sent. It does not represent our views.”
The General Election is Tuesday, Nov. 5.
