Last week, the California Democratic Party announced an unusual agreement between two candidates in the 39th Congressional District, Gil Cisneros and Andy Thorburn, who had been tearing each other apart for weeks, using their self-funded war chests to unveil attack websites and negative mailers. In a formal truce, the candidates agreed to not denigrate one another between now and the June 5 primary. Both took down the hit websites about their opponent. They even took a Sadat-Begin, Camp David Accords-style picture to consummate the deal. California Democratic Party chair Eric Bauman, who mediated the Cisneros-Thorburn cease-fire, said in a statement that the flood of first-time candidates in suddenly winnable districts across California was encouraging. But he feared that “the competition in the Primaries can become so heated and divisive it impedes our ability to unite behind the person chosen by the voters to represent our Party in the fall campaign.” The nonaggression pact, Bauman concluded, would allow the Democrats to focus on their Republican opponents, and avoid the “corrosive and divisive attacks that have hurt Democratic candidates in the past.”

But just across Orange County, in the 45th Congressional District, corrosive and divisive attacks have characterized the last couple weeks of campaigning. Dave Min, the California Democratic Party’s endorsed candidate in the race, has gone hard negative against two of his opponents, accusing them of lying about their records and being funded by special interests. Min’s allegations are in some cases factually questionable at best, based on an analysis of the claims. Though both of the Democrats being attacked — Katie Porter and Brian Forde — have asked the state party to step in like it did in the 39th, the party has yet to do so. California Democratic Party spokesperson John Vigna said the main difference was that the party didn’t endorse a candidate in the 39th District but did in the 45th, so they couldn’t serve as an honest broker in any negotiations: “In a contest where we’ve made an endorsement, we obviously wouldn’t be seen as neutral.” But there’s another difference between the two races. The 39th District could represent the ultimate failure for Democrats. Because of California’s “top-two” primary, in which the two leading vote-getters advance to the general election regardless of party, Democrats could get locked out of the race in November. With three credible Republicans and four Democrats running, having two Democrats whale on each other for a month could depress turnout and let two Republicans slip through. But that problem doesn’t exist in California’s 45th. Only one Republican — incumbent Rep. Mimi Walters — is in the race. A Democrat is effectively ensured participation in the general election. So, it’s bombs away for Min against his Democratic rivals. Unusually, Vigna did express some discomfort with the actions of the party’s endorsed candidate. “As a general rule, we certainly think the voters are best served by candidates who promote themselves and their vision of service, regardless of whether there’s a chance we could be shut out by the ‘top-two’ rules,” Vigna said. “It’s possible to run a spirited but respectful contest that leaves the party, and our nominee, stronger in the fall, and that’s an approach we believe all of our endorsed candidates should do their best to emulate.” Min, an assistant professor at University of California, Irvine, and former Chuck Schumer staffer, earned the state party endorsement in February. His chief rivals are Porter, also a law professor at University of California, Irvine, who has the endorsements of Sens. Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren; and Forde, a senior adviser in the Office of Science and Technology Policy under former President Barack Obama. There has been scant public polling on the primary, most of which shows Porter with a slight lead on Min for the top two; polling from End Citizens United shows Porter leading Walters in a head-to-head matchup. The Min campaign started airing the negative TV ads last week. The first hits Porter and Forde for taking “special interest” dollars. Walters, the Republican, appears on screen but is not mentioned.

Had to grab it so here. pic.twitter.com/VbRZA04qR1 — David Dayen (@ddayen) May 21, 2018

“Washington insiders have spent over $100,000 to elect Katie Porter,” the narrator says. “And Brian Forde’s big donors? Bitcoin speculators that oppose cracking down on drug deals and human trafficking.” A second ad dispenses with showing Walters at all, accusing Porter and Forde of lying about their credentials. Porter listed “consumer protection attorney” as her ballot designation, but according to the ad, “does not have a California law license and never even passed the state bar.” Forde, the ad states, was a registered Republican until last year.

Forde told Vice that the bitcoin attacks “are sensationalist, wildly inaccurate, and in line with my opponent’s lack of understanding of the technology.” But, though Forde has raised the most money among Democrats, the attacks do appear to be more targeted at Porter, who has higher-profile backing. A mailer Min sent out doesn’t mention Forde at all, solely attacking Porter for exaggerating her role in combating the foreclosure crisis, as well as taking money from “hedge fund managers and Wall Street executives,” while he does not receive bank lobbyist or corporate PAC donations. The attacks sit in between being somewhat legitimate and really shaky. The “Washington insiders” in the first ad refer to EMILY’s List, a Porter endorser, as well as the End Citizens United political action committee. These two entities have, in other races, been allied with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, though the DCCC has not been involved in this race. The claim about hedge fund donors also appears to be correct: Porter received $5,400 from Paloma Partners CEO Selwyn Donald Sussman and $2,700 from Baupost Group’s Seth Klarman, the notorious hedge fund manager who hid his holdings in Puerto Rican debt. Overall, however, the picture is more cloudy. Porter campaign manager Erica Kwiatkowski said Porter has received over 23,000 individual donations from 15,000 individuals, and “over half of those contributions have been for $5 or less.” About $286,000 of Porter’s fundraising has come from donations under $200, according to campaign finance disclosures. Min, by contrast, has raised $160,000 in low-dollar donations. Both have raised about the same amount in high-dollar contributions. While Min claims to have not raised any money from bank lobbyists, his fourth-largest donor in terms of employer is Goldman Sachs. Asked about this at a recent candidate forum, Min said, “A friend of mine is an employee at Goldman Sachs. That’s different than accepting money at a big bank. Everyone in this room has taken money from employees of financial institutions, financial lobbyists, and the like.” Also in Min’s top five are Google’s parent company Alphabet and the Washington lobbying law firm WilmerHale (whose attorneys have represented the likes of Paul Manafort, Ivanka Trump, and Jared Kushner). He also has received $1,000 from the PAC of the New Democrat Coalition, the moderate Democratic bloc in Congress which supplied 27 votes in the House for the bipartisan bank deregulation bill which passed this week. Three of Min’s Congressional endorsers — Lou Correa, Ami Bera, and Scott Peters — voted for that bill. The ballot designation attack is far stranger. Min asserts that Porter has “falsely claimed” that she is a consumer protection attorney, because she hasn’t passed the California state bar. But Porter has an active law license in Oregon, obtained in 2002; she practiced bankruptcy law in Portland, making her, well, a consumer protection attorney. Min did not challenge Porter’s ballot designation when it was introduced. In fact, his own ballot designation of “law professor” could be up for debate, because Min is actually an assistant professor at the University of California, Irvine, law school. Porter is a full professor. In the mailer, Min accuses Porter of exaggerating when she said in a TV ad, “I won $18 billion for homeowners and helped thousands of families keep their homes.” It is true that Porter did not negotiate the National Mortgage Settlement for foreclosure fraud, accomplished by 49 state attorneys general and the federal government. But considering how weak that settlement was, that’s to her eternal credit.

Photo: Courtesy of the Katie Porter campaign