A new ad for current San Diego City Council President Georgette Gómez's run for congress in California's 53rd district is targeting fellow Democratic candidate Sara Jacobs, who is the granddaughter of Qualcomm founder Irwin Jacobs. Disclosure: Irwin Jacobs is a major donor to KPBS.
"Sara is spending millions of her family's fortune to buy a seat in congress — Sara supports Trump's tax cuts for corporations," said part of the 30-second ad.
The Gómez campaign cites a San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board interview from January 30 (not January 20 as depicted in the Gomez ad) where Jacobs allegedly made the comments. During that interview, Jacobs did tell the board she favored lowering corporate taxes, but she added that Trump's cuts were too much.
"I was not in favor of the Republican tax bill that raised our deficit ... I think we need to reverse some of the most harmful provisions in the Republican tax bill," Jacobs said during the interview. "I agree that we should have lowered corporate tax rates — I think we lowered them too far."
The Jacobs' campaign responded that "Jacobs favors lowering taxes only if corporate tax loopholes are closed, which would in effect raise taxes on corporations," and the campaign is calling on Gómez to take down the ad as false and misleading.
“It’s disappointing to see other Democrats stoop to the level of the Trump campaign to spread lies in order to mislead voters," a spokesperson for the Jacobs campaign said. "Georgette Gómez should immediately take down her false and misleading ad, and apologize to the voters of CA-53 who deserve the truth from their candidates and elected leaders.”
RELATED: San Diego Democratic Party — Again — Accuses Sara Jacobs Of 'Misleading' Statements
The Gómez campaign said the ad is not coming down.
"There is no reason to pull down this ad," a spokesperson for Gómez's campaign said. "Sara Jacobs is on the record saying that she agreed corporate tax rates should have been lowered, which is the cornerstone of the Trump tax bill. Now she’s again misleading voters by denying that she ever said that."
The new ad comes just after the San Diego County Democratic Party again called out Jacobs for using the phrase “endorsed by California Democrats.” The party said that falsely implies Jacobs has the endorsement of the state party, which has endorsed Gómez. Jacobs has said the quote is taken out of context from her full ballot statement.
A poll from just last week shows Jacobs with a double-digit lead over Gómez, but nearly 40% of those surveyed still said they were undecided.
