Tea Party Express issued a harsh statement Friday denouncing Jack Davis, the congressional candidate in the New York special election who is running on the ‘Tea Party’ ballot line.
“Tea Party Express today denounced congressional candidate Jack Davis for fraudulently calling himself a ‘Tea Party’ supporter in the NY-26 special election, when in fact he opposes core Tea Party principles, and is attempting to spoil the race for conservatives,” said Tea Party Express in a press release Friday.
The group will head to western New York on Monday to hold events supporting the Republican candidate, Jane Corwin, in Rochester and Buffalo. Tea Party Express chairman Amy Kremer will speak, as will local favorite former gubernatorial Carl Paladino. Local Tea Party groups supporting Corwin will also speak.
“Though Davis is listed under ‘Tea Party’ on the ballot, his political past reveals him as a liberal Democrat with a history of supporting higher taxes, Obamacare, cap-and-trade legislation, contributing many thousands of dollars to far-left Democrat candidates, as well as endorsing Barack Obama for president,” says the press release.
Tea Party Express implied that Davis was running specifically to hurt the Republican candidate.
“It is extremely likely that he is running under the “Tea Party” name purely to confuse and deceive voters, in an effort to split the conservative vote and help a Democrat win the seat.”
In New York, a candidate can establish his or her own ballot line, if he obtains the requisite number of signatures on a petition. (See: The Rent is Too Damn High party). So Davis, who was denied the Republican nomination by the Republican central committee, was able to name his own ballot line.
“The Tea Party Express is disgusted and outraged at these sneaky, deceptive tactics, and is launching a campaign to educate voters on Davis’s anti-Tea Party past,” runs the press release. “The group will be in the district on Monday holding press conferences and announcing further details in a campaign to reveal the truth about Jack Davis, his fraudulent candidacy, and his long history of actively opposing Tea Party principles of fiscal responsibility and limited government.”
Davis’s supporters argue that he is very much a Tea Party candidate. James Ostrowski, who runs a Tea Party group that is supporting Davis and encouraged him to run calls the idea that he is a some kind of liberal plant a “weird conspiracy theory.”
“Jack is the real Tea Party candidate,” he said.