VALENCIA —Attacks are starting early in the race among Republicans hoping to deny re-election to Democrat Katie Hill in the Los Angeles County’s most closely watched congressional contest.

At the first forum to include all four Republican declared candidates in California’s 25th House District, former Navy fighter pilot Mike Garcia came under fire Saturday when non-profit CEO Suzette Martinez Valladares claimed he is “bought and paid for” by political elites and failed to vote in most recent elections.

That Garcia was singled out for criticism was the latest sign that the 43-year-old Valencia resident is the front-runner among Republicans campaigning for the March 3, 2020 primary, a field that includes Lancaster City Councilwoman Angela Underwood Jacobs and L.A. Sheriff’s Deputy Mark Cripe.

Valladares, 38, a Acton resident, told an audience of about 75 at the event put on by Santa Clarita Republican Women Federated that “there is an elitist establishment in our community who are propping up certain candidates.”

“If that’s what you want, you want the establishment that has gotten us where we are, then you probably have a clear choice of who your candidate is,” Valladares said. “But we have to take this district back as a community, together, as activists.”

The jibe seemed like an attempt to make a weakness out of two of Garcia’s strengths, his fundraising lead among the Republicans and his high-profile endorsements from former congressmen Buck McKeon and Elton Gallegly.

Valladares didn’t name Garcia, but he took the inference and asked the moderator for time to respond.

“I’m a little flabbergasted that we would do this to each other,” Garcia said during the exchange near the end of an 80-minute event in which the Republicans were united in their desire to unseat Hill, D-Agua Dulce.

“I am not bought and paid for. I’m supported by a full spectrum of Republicans in this (Santa Clarita) valley, Simi Valley and Antelope Valley, OK? I’ve got more donors who have donated less than $200 than anyone in the race. I’m very grass-roots.”

The district includes the northern part of the San Fernando Valley.

Valladares said Garcia failed to vote in the past three elections — the 2016 and 2018 general elections and the 2018 primary —and two of the three before that.

Garcia claimed the record is wrong, that some absentee votes of his weren’t counted. He deflected a reporter’s questions after the forum, saying he would go into detail another time.

The quartet spent most of the event attacking Hill, whom they say has turned too far left to properly represent the 25th District since unseating Republican Steve Knight in 2018. Voter registration in the district is 36.5% Democrats, 31.7% Republicans and 26.2% undeclared. Hill beat Knight by 8.8 percentage points in one of the seven California districts flipped by Democrats.

One area of disagreement among the Republicans was the U.S.-Mexico border wall championed by President Trump. Garcia, Valladares and Cripe, a 54-year-old Quartz Hill resident, voiced support for the wall. Underwood Jacobs, 53, called a wall along the length of the border “impractical” and advocated more extensive electronic monitoring of the border.

One audience member, Santa Clarita Republican Women Federated third vice president Phyllis McKenna, a Valencia resident, said Underwood Jacobs’ position on the border wall could cost her McKenna’s vote.

Taking turns at the microphone at The Oaks Club at Valencia private golf course, the candidates were intent on introducing themselves to the audience of conservative activists.

Garcia said his positions are based on commitment to “Constitution, capitalism and competition.” Underwood Jacobs, who is African American, said she is a face of increasing diversity in the GOP. Cripe said a European backpacking trip with his wife in the 1980s taught him “how great this country is.” Valladares drew laughs by recalling how she was driven to the Republican Party by hearing Democratic Vice President Al Gore speak when she was in high school.

Listener Stan Rabideau, an Agua Dulce resident who wants to see Hill defeated, said the four Republicans sounded strong and similar on the issues. Rabideau said Garcia shouldn’t be offended by Valladares’ attack.

“It’s to be expected. That’s politics,” Rabideau said. “What does he think is going to happen if he faces Katie Hill? She’s going to give him a hug and sing ‘Kumbaya’?”

The primary is more than 220 days away. The top two finishers will advance to the Nov. 3, 2020 general election. It’s assumed Hill and one of the Republicans will move on.

The most tangible measure of who’s leading is fundraising. Quarterly reports filed with the Federal Election Commission earlier in the week showed Hill receiving $732,888 in April, May and June and more than $1.3 million since Jan. 1.

Garcia reported $250,257 in the quarter, although $125,000 of that was a loan by the candidate to his own campaign. Underwood Jacobs reported $121,624, Valladares $20,195, Cripe $15,410.