CA-45: Sweating out a close race, GOP Rep. Mimi Walters ties wildfires to climate change

[RandySF]

The adage “All politics is local” often attributed to the late House Speaker Tip O’Neill appears to be working its magic in the once-solidly Republican Orange County district of Rep. Mimi Walters.

Walters is facing a stiff challenge in November from Democrat Katie Porter, a UC Irvine law professor. So it may be no surprise that she’s trimming her political sails to catch the prevailing winds. Most recently, Walters signed on to an Aug. 22 letter from the congressional climate solutions caucus observing that the western wildfires are being “fueled by climate change” and inviting Gov. Jerry Brown to a meeting to discuss policy options.

It also places Walters at odds with her own record on environmental issues, which is one of the worst in Congress. As my colleague Evan Halper observed this week, the League of Conservation Voters gives her a lifetime score of 4% on legislative votes, and a 3% score for 2017.

That record probably won’t help Walters in November. Election forecasters have moved her district from Republican-leaning to a toss-up. Although GOP voters outnumber Democrats by nearly 8 percentage points, the district went for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. We’ve asked Walters’ Washington office to comment but haven’t heard back.

District voters tend to be well-educated, which suggests that they don’t hold much truck with climate change denialism. They also have close to firsthand experience with wildfires. The Holy fire has been burning for more than two weeks in remote parts of Orange and Riverside counties; although authorities say the fire was triggered by arson, climate change may play a role in its severity, as it has with other blazes during this ferocious fire season in California.

http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-walters-climate-20180824-story.html?utm_source=tw&utm_medium=tweet&utm_campaign=AFElection18



KATIE PORTER






https://katieporter.com

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Best of luck to Katie Porter!

I hope the winds of change are blowing strongly in her favor.

[beachbum bob]

2. Can't let any republican run from their record or the record of their

party and trump....

[RockRaven]

3. When a GOPer tries to have it both ways like this, we've got to point out how they have

done utterly nothing about a cause of a problem THEY ADMIT THEY KNOW ABOUT.

[gratuitous]

4. A Republican admitting that climate change is real?

Next one of them might concede that tax cuts for the wealthy don't trickle down. It's a world gone mad!

[John Fante]

5. The Holy Fire was started by a sovereign citizen/RWNJ.

It was fueled by the leader of her shit party.

[stopbush]

6. The ads being run here against Porter are laughable.

Look like leftovers from the Willy Horton era.