Equality PAC Push Poll Raises Questions
Last week, Equality PAC—co-led by leaders of the Congressional LGBTQ Equality Caucus, including Rep. Richie Torres—released a poll of registered voters in CA-48 sharing profiles of only Rep. Darrell Issa and four Democratic Party CA-48 candidates:
- Anuj Dixit
- Ammar Campa-Najjar
- Brandon Riker
- Marni von Wilpert
Of note, none of these four candidates live within the current CA-48 boundaries, where the registered voters were surveyed.
Interestingly, three of the four profiles shared were gay candidates. (Ammar Campa-Najjar is the straight one.)
Omitted from the profiles shared in the push poll: Curtis Morrison (gay me). I’ve asked why here, but they have not yet responded.
I call this a push poll because a decision was made to not share my profile in the poll, but also, the press release omits what the profiles of candidates actually said, who wrote those profiles, and why.
It is no secret that I have been a critic of Rep. Ritchie Torres’s AIPAC-funded advocacy for Israel’s actions in Gaza. He even blocked me on X in early 2024. Torres has been co-chair of Equality PAC since 2023.
While it is true Campa-Najjar spent the early days of his campaign gathering endorsements from five incumbent members of Congress who, like Torres, have taken donations from AIPAC, he’s not behind the curtain here because the poll doesn’t show him in a favorable light.
Ultimately, it is unclear why this Congressional LGBTQ Equality Caucus poll omitted my name as a candidate. But my criticism of the co-chair is context that warrants noting (see post).
FWIW, I knew going into this race that my position and heartfelt belief that Israel should be held accountable for its war crimes could be a factor in this race—and so here we are.
Finally, putting aside the bias and methods of the poll, it is reassuring to see only 41% of respondents chose Republican Darrell Issa.