{"id":1609670,"date":"2022-08-17T05:04:24","date_gmt":"2022-08-17T09:04:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1609670"},"modified":"2022-08-17T05:04:28","modified_gmt":"2022-08-17T09:04:28","slug":"she-won-her-texas-primary-as-an-unabashed-liberal-now-michelle-vallejo-is-abandoning-her-far-left-policies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/she-won-her-texas-primary-as-an-unabashed-liberal-now-michelle-vallejo-is-abandoning-her-far-left-policies\/","title":{"rendered":"She Won Her Texas Primary as an Unabashed Liberal. Now Michelle Vallejo Is Abandoning Her Far-Left Policies."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">34<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fshe-won-her-texas-primary-as-an-unabashed-liberal-now-michelle-vallejo-is-abandoning-her-far-left-policies%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1609670&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"article-category\"><a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/democrats\/\">Democrats<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"article-excerpt\">House candidate scrubs radical views from campaign site after bitter primary fight<\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-thumbnail-container relative lg:mr-24 w-full my-4 mb-8\"><figcaption class=\"absolute text-white p-4 w-full text-right text-xs bottom-0 bg-black opacity-75\">\n\t\t\t\tMichelle Vallejo (Twitter Screenshot)\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\t\t\t<span class=\"text-gray text-xs md:text-lg\"><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/author\/collin-anderson\/\" title=\"Posts by Collin Anderson\" class=\"author url fn text-red-700\" rel=\"author\">Collin Anderson<\/a> \u2022 August 17, 2022 4:58 am<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p><span>South Texas Democrat Michelle Vallejo won a bitter primary fight by embracing a slew of far-left policies. Now, the congressional hopeful is abandoning those progressive positions as she approaches a difficult general election campaign.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Vallejo emerged from a tight primary runoff in Texas&#8217;s 15th Congressional District in May, defeating fellow Democrat Ruben Ramirez by just 30 votes. At the time, the self-described &#8220;progressive small business owner&#8221; was <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20220729154509\/https:\/\/michellefortx15.com\/platform-issues-south-texas\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>openly touting<\/span><\/a><span> her support for Medicare for All, a federal jobs guarantee, and student debt cancellation\u2014policy positions that landed her endorsements from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D., Wash.). Vallejo&#8217;s campaign site also expressed resentment for America&#8217;s &#8220;racist criminal legal system&#8221; and called to protect &#8220;trans and queer South Texans.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But now, as Vallejo faces an uphill general election battle against Republican Monica De La Cruz, she&#8217;s running away from the same policies that helped her attract liberal primary voters just a few months ago. Between late July and mid August, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20220815160909\/https:\/\/michellefortx15.com\/platform-issues-south-texas\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>internet archives show<\/span><\/a><span>, the Democrat updated her campaign site to remove all mentions of &#8220;Medicare For All,&#8221; a &#8220;federal jobs guarantee program,&#8221; and the need to &#8220;forgive all student loan debt.&#8221; Vallejo&#8217;s &#8220;LGBTQ+ Justice&#8221; section, meanwhile, no longer includes the word &#8220;trans,&#8221; and the Democrat&#8217;s border policy blurb now calls to invest in the same immigration enforcement system she used to call &#8220;racist.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Vallejo&#8217;s campaign site overhaul is an obvious attempt from the progressive Democrat to rebrand herself as a moderate as she runs in a newly drawn district that President Donald Trump won by nearly 3 points. It&#8217;s also an implicit admission that the Democratic Party&#8217;s liberal wing has become too &#8220;woke&#8221; for many South Texas Hispanics\u2014a development that Republicans say has helped them make inroads in the Rio Grande Valley, a historic Democratic stronghold.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Still, Vallejo&#8217;s decision to abandon the progressive positions that defined her primary campaign could divide the district&#8217;s Democratic voters with November fast approaching. In addition to Warren and Jayapal, Vallejo earned a primary election endorsement from Lupe Votes, a liberal South Texas group that <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lupevotes.org\/pueblo-platform\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>supports<\/span><\/a><span> Medicare for All, a federal jobs guarantee, student loan cancellation, and other progressive policies. Texas College Democrats also <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CollegeDemsTX\/status\/1484192516106772481\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>backed Vallejo<\/span><\/a><span> ahead of the May primary, citing the Democrat&#8217;s &#8220;unapologetically progressive campaign.&#8221; Neither of those groups returned requests for comment. Vallejo&#8217;s campaign also did not return a request for comment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>As a whole, almost none of Vallejo&#8217;s pre-primary policy &#8220;priorities&#8221; made it to her general election campaign site.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The Democrat&#8217;s health care section used to be titled &#8220;Health Care for All&#8221; and included explicit support for a &#8220;single-payer universal healthcare system.&#8221; That section is now labeled &#8220;Affordable High Quality Health Care&#8221; and replaces the call for Medicare for All with a watered-down pledge to &#8220;expand Medicare.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Similarly, Vallejo removed the word &#8220;climate&#8221; from her energy policy header. She also replaced her support for a Green New Deal-esque &#8220;federal jobs guarantee&#8221;\u2014which would cost <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/issues\/study-green-new-deal-would-cost-up-to-94-trillion\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>up to $44.6 trillion<\/span><\/a><span>\u2014with a line touting the &#8220;bipartisan infrastructure law that will bring billions of dollars to South Texas.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Vallejo also touts her newfound bipartisan bonafides in her updated policy sections on the southern border and Second Amendment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Her &#8220;Immigration&#8221; policy blurb\u2014which used to be titled &#8220;Embracing the Border + Immigration Justice&#8221;\u2014no longer attacks America&#8217;s &#8220;racist criminal legal system&#8221; and calls to &#8220;pass a pathway to Citizenship for all 11 million undocumented Americans.&#8221; Instead, it states the need to make &#8220;an investment in border infrastructure&#8221; and only naturalize illegal immigrants &#8220;who have worked hard, followed the law and contributed to their communities.&#8221; Vallejo added a line to her &#8220;End Gun Violence&#8221; section, meanwhile, that ensures voters that the Democrat &#8220;grew up shooting at gun ranges and hunting on family ranches&#8221; and &#8220;strongly supports the bipartisan gun safety bill written by Texas Sen. John Cornyn.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Beyond the border and gun rights, Vallejo&#8217;s &#8220;LGBTQ+ Justice&#8221; policy portion once said &#8220;lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer South Texans deserve equal protection and justice.&#8221; It now reads, &#8220;Every South Texan deserves equal protection and justice.&#8221; Furthermore, Vallejo&#8217;s new segment on &#8220;Affordable Education&#8221; was once titled &#8220;Free Public College and Trade School + Eliminating Student Debt.&#8221; The Democrat&#8217;s updated version no longer calls to &#8220;forgive all student debt,&#8221; but it does note that Vallejo is &#8220;still paying off her student loans,&#8221; which she acquired as an Ivy League student at Columbia University in New York City.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>There is one policy position, however, that Vallejo is standing by after her primary win. Both her old and new issue pages stress the need to &#8220;end mandatory minimum sentencing, cash bail, solitary confinement, private prisons, qualified immunity, and prioritizing investing in mental health resources and services for our community.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Vallejo&#8217;s decision to abandon her public support for various left-wing policies comes after the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/dccc.org\/michelle-vallejo-tx-15-added-to-competitive-dccc-red-to-blue-program\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>added<\/span><\/a><span> the South Texas congressional hopeful to its &#8220;Red to Blue&#8221; program, which &#8220;arms top-tier candidates with organizational and fundraising support to help them continue to develop strong campaigns and win in November.&#8221; It&#8217;s unclear if the group had a hand in Vallejo&#8217;s flip-flopping, as the DCCC did not return a request for comment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Vallejo will face De La Cruz in November. The Republican in 2020 narrowly lost to incumbent Democrat Vicente Gonzalez in a closer-than-expected race\u2014Gonzalez subsequently opted to run in a nearby district that is more solidly blue. De La Cruz, who <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.monicaforcongress.us\/meet-monica\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>describes herself<\/span><\/a><span> as a &#8220;proud small business owner&#8221; and &#8220;woman of strong faith,&#8221; has <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fec.gov\/data\/elections\/house\/TX\/15\/2022\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>raised<\/span><\/a><span> $2.9 million to Vallejo&#8217;s $700,000.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Democrats House candidate scrubs radical views from campaign site after bitter primary fight  Michelle Vallejo (Twitter Screenshot)  Collin Anderson \u2022 August 17, 2022 4:58 am<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1609670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1609670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1609670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1609670\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1609670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1609670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1609670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}