BAUGH BACKS OUT: MAGA Republican Now Refusing To Debate Dave Min
IRVINE, CA — After originally committing to debate Democratic nominee and State Senator Dave Min in California’s 47th Congressional District, GOP nominee Scott Baugh is now trying to weasel out of his promise, stating that his campaign did not think a public dialogue for voters would be “productive.”
With just over 40 days until the November election, CA-47’s Republican nominee Scott Baugh refuses to appear with Dave Min in any debate format. Senator Min has consistently made his willingness to debate Baugh known, and multiple organizations have offered to host such an event. Even with the opportunity to choose the time, place and format, Baugh has made clear that he is afraid to go head to head with Min.
“I remain eager to debate Scott Baugh at any time, place, and setting,” said Min. “But the reality is Scott Baugh won’t debate me because he is talking out of both sides of his mouth, and he’s clearly afraid of being called out on his lies, half-truths, and corruption. While Scott Baugh is too scared to justify why he’s a MAGA extremist or why he supports a federal abortion ban, families in the 47th deserve better. This no-show is disqualifying, and raises the obvious question– what is Baugh trying to hide?”
This is the latest of many broken promises and outright lies that have come to characterize Scott Baugh’s campaign and his career.
As a State Assemblymember back in the late 1990s, Baugh developed a reputation for skirting the rules and outright breaking the law, including being indicted for 22 counts (4 felonies) of campaign finance fraud, perjury, and related charges,and overseeing a scheme as Chair of the Orange County GOP to illegally register voters as Republican without their consent.
In this campaign, Baugh has knowingly mischaracterized Min’s position on Prop 36 – which Min was the first Democratic legislator to support--leading to his being served with a cease-and-desist request, and he has falsely claimed that he did not support a federal abortion ban.
Min has assembled an impressive coalition of support. In addition to being on the DCCC’s Red to Blue List of priority challengers for the House, Senator Min is the consensus choice of Teachers (American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association), Police (Fraternal Order of Police, Police Officers Research Association of California, and the Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs), Firefighters (California Professional Firefighters and the International Association of Firefighters), environmental groups (Sierra Club, League of Conservation Voters, Center for Biological Diversity), women’s rights groups (Planned Parenthood and NARAL), and organized labor (AFL-CIO, SEIU, AFSCME, Teamsters, Carpenters, Building Trades). A full endorsement list is available here.
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California’s 47th is an open Congressional District in Orange County that includes the Cities of Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Newport Beach, and Seal Beach, and portions of Laguna Beach, Laguna Hills, and Laguna Woods. Incumbent Katie Porter is vacating the seat to run for U.S. Senate. In 2022, Porter defeated former Assemblymember Republican Scott Baugh by 3.44% in this “toss-up” district. State Senator Dave Min currently represents over 80% of Congressional District 47 in Sacramento. In 2020, Min received over 158,000 votes within CA-47, defeating incumbent John Moorlach by 5.15% in this area. 19% of the registered voters in CA-47 are of Asian and Pacific Islander descent, including one of the largest Korean-American populations in the country.