Democrat Josh Harder Holds ‘Rally’ Behind Closed Doors with Gavin Newsom

Democrat Josh Harder held a final campaign event on Monday featuring Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom — but it was held behind closed doors in his campaign office, rather than in a public venue.

Harder is challenging moderate incumbent Republican Jeff Denham in the 10th congressional district.

The local Modesto Bee noted that Denham had held a “public” rally the day before, featuring Newsom’s opponent, Republican gubernatorial candidate John Cox.

Harder tweeted an image of the event:

Thousands of volunteers joined us today. Why? There’s A LOT at stake:

✔️ Affordable healthcare
✔️ Justice for Dreamers
✔️ More jobs for the Central Valley

Join me in our last, final push tomorrow: https://t.co/aUqeuMtQM7 pic.twitter.com/Wh6ZPLGHjH

— Josh Harder (@joshua_harder) November 6, 2018

In response, Denham’s campaign manager, Josh Whitfield, issued a press release mocking Harder’s “secret” rally, and noting that Denham’s rally was both larger and open to the public.

He added: “A Bay Area liberal came to campaign for a fellow Bay Area liberal. Why does Harder keep sneaking Newsom in to the Valley, what is he hiding from?”

The Denham campaign refers to Harder as “Bay Area” Harder, noting at every opportunity that Harder derives the bulk of his funding and volunteers from the San Francisco Bay Area.

Harder hails originally from Turlock, but lived in the Bay Area for many years and worked as a venture capitalist before returning to the Central Valley to run for Congress. He was registered to vote in San Francisco in the 2016 presidential elections.

Denham has touted his record defending the Central Valley’s water from state and federal bureaucrats and environmentalists.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.