Democratic Senator Squirms as CNN’s Scuitto Confronts Him About Party’s Strategy of Propping Up Extremists

Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) avoided answering repeated questions by CNN anchor Jim Sciutto about Democrats backing GOP election deniers ahead of the 2022 midterms despite the Democratic Party preaching that former President Donald Trump and those extremist GOP candidates are a threat to democracy.

“Is that not fundamentally contradictory,” Sciutto asked Padilla on Wednesday.

Padilla dodged the question.

The bottom line is making a clear contrast for voters to decide this November who to vote for. We know what the nation needs. We need investments in job creation domestically. We need to tackle costs for working families. How do we bring down the costs for prescription drugs? How do we bring down the cost of childcare? How do we bring down the cost of the areas where we’re facing inflation. Democrats have plans that have been stifled because of Republican opposition in Congress. So let’s make that abundantly clear for voters. You want to restore a woman’s right to choose? Vote for Democrats. You want to tackle climate aggressively? Vote for Democrats. It’s creating the contrast that I think is going to continue to bolster our chances in November.

Sciutto pushed back.

“I get that point. But part of the Democratic case here, you hear it from senior Democratic leaders, Nancy Pelosi among them, is that some of these Republican candidates and Trump himself are a threat to democracy,” he said. “How can Democrats say that but then back some of those election deniers in their own races?”

Again, Padilla didn’t directly answer the question.

“Look, it’s going to be up to candidates across the board to pose those questions for Republican candidates to answer. Do you believe climate change is real or not? Do you believe a woman should be able to make the decisions on her own body or not? Be public, be on the record, and let the voters decide.”

Watch above, via CNN.