Mailer suggests Ly is targeting Republican voters in the District 5 Sacramento County Board of Supervisors race
An interesting aspect of the independent expenditure committee mailers flooding mailboxes in Elk Grove and Sacramento is the labeling of a candidate's party and its possible implications.
Although Democratic voter registration has a distinct advantage in Elk Grove and Sacramento, there are still sizable populations of Republican and decline-to-state voters that are ripe for the picking if the message is fine-tuned.
Take the most recent attack mailer against Sacramento County Board of Supervisor Steve Ly. This is the third attack mailer from the California Real Estate Independent Expenditure Committee.
Titled "Steve Ly is Hiding His Record as a 'Lifelong Democrat from Republican Voters." This mailer was received by Republican voters, argues Ly is a Democrat, but suggests he is targeting Republican voters.
Ly, who was Elk Grove's former mayor, left the Democratic Party after he said they would not defend the Hmong-American community in the Sacramento region from what he said were racist attacks during the hotly contested 2020 Elk Grove mayoral election. Ly lost his reelection bid to Bobbie Singh-Allen.
The mailer suggests Ly has been targeting Republican voters, which could affect the results for Republican candidate, Elk Grove City Councilmember Pat Hume. Even though Ly does not have the financial resources of Hume or Democratic candidate Jaclyn Moreno, perhaps polling reveals Ly is peeling voters away.
While Ly has not overtly targeted Republicans, his campaign messaging on platforms like Instagram might be subtly appealing to more conservative voters. Today he posted a picture calling himself "an avid outdoorsman," and last week, he posted a picture touting his love of farming.
Although farming and hunting have appeal across the political spectrum, they generally attract a more conservative, older audience. Hume is from an old-line Elk Grove family from a time when the community had a heavy emphasis on agriculture and ranching activities.
To our knowledge, Hume has never promoted any connection to Elk Grove's agricultural background or an interest in hunting but has been fond of posing with his pet dog.
For Ly, who should receive substantial support from the sizable Hmong community in South Sacramento, maybe an appeal to farmers and hunters will be his campaign's extra push. If nothing else, Ly could be the barrier for Hume or Moreno from reaching 50-percent and being declared the winner in the June 7 primary.
If Ly wasn't a threat to Hume, why the attention?
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