Democrat House Candidate Continuously Skips Votes to Suspend California Gas Tax

California Assemblyman and Democrat candidate running for the U.S. House of Representatives, Rudy Salas, missed two votes in the recent weeks to temporarily suspend the state’s gas tax, as gas prices have skyrocketed in the Golden State and across the country.

Salas did not vote on a plan offered by Republicans to suspend the state’s gas tax last week and on Thursday, which reportedly had the potential to save the state’s residents 50 cents a gallon. The plan offered by Republicans in the Assembly failed both times by a party-line vote when it was offered. However, Salas did not appear to vote for it all, either time.

On the first vote last week, Salas was one of 18 other assembly members who did not vote, but his office stated that “Salas was not on the Floor when the vote occurred, his record is very clear when he was the only Assembly Democrat who voted ‘No’ on the gas tax.” However, the Assembly Daily Journal marked him in attendance during the day.

Salas was called out by National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) spokeswoman Torunn Sinclair for missing the second vote. Shortly after, Salas’ legislative director Aaron Vad called Sinclair a “potato” and claimed the “absence was due to a family funeral.”

But, despite the Democrat being absent for a funeral, his office made it clear in his previous statements that he would have voted “no” if he showed up to either vote.

Sinclair noted on a press release that this would have been the third time Salas has not voted to suspend or delay the gas tax after skipping a vote in 2019 as well. Sinclair stated that “Californians are paying the highest gas prices in the country, but Rudy Salas is too cowardly to vote to suspend the gas tax.”

Nevertheless, Salas failing to vote on delaying the gas tax is not the first time he has been in hot water. Last year, an ethics watchdog filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to investigate the assemblyman and his congressional campaign for allegedly using state campaign resources for his federal congressional race.

Breitbart News wrote that the allegation was for allegedly using  “state campaign assets for his federal campaign,” which “violates federal election laws, including contribution limits and reporting requirements.” Salas was using old signage from his state campaign for his federal election, which “violates federal election laws” due to not being allowed to mix resources.

Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow him on Twitter.