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The final week of the race to fill former Rep. Eric Swalwell’s, D-Calif., seat is being roiled by disputes over the role of the local Democratic Party and money.
A supporter of Melissa Hernandez, a local transit official backed by the centrist New Democrats, filed a Federal Election Commission complaint against state Sen. Aisha Wahab, a progressive endorsed by the California Democratic Party.
The complaint alleges Wahab received an “illegal and unreported in-kind contribution” from a county party, stemming from an initial contribution of $60,000 from Wahab’s own state Senate campaign account.
“Sacramento politicians play by their own rules while families here pay the price, and this complaint shows exactly how that game works,” Hernandez said in a statement.
Wahab responded saying the complaint was “deliberately misrepresenting” the party’s support for her despite their endorsement.
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According to the complaint, Wahab’s state Senate campaign donated the money to the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee, which could have moved the money to its federal account and went on to launch an independent expenditure boosting Wahab. It also alleges federal limits on “soft money” were violated because the state Senate account contained contributions that would not be permissible for a federal account.
The San Francisco Bay Area race has also drawn substantial outside spending against Wahab, including from the AIPAC-linked United Democracy Project. Wahab is backed by progressives like Reps. Lateefah Simon, D-Calif., and Greg Casar, D-Texas. Hernandez has the backing of the Hispanic Caucus’ political arm.