OK, you probably already know we're just
about two weeks away from Election Day.
Voters in California have a lot to decide.
But let's talk about
Congress for a minute though.
So there are 413 national Congressional
seats on the ballot across the country.
Of those seats,
213 are Republican and 222 are democratic.
Looking at all 400 plus races,
election forecasters at fivethirtyeight.com
think that ten of them are virtual toss ups,
meaning there is no favored.
Candidate at this point, so locally,
the race in California's 9th
district is being watched closely.
The district includes Stockton,
Antioch, Galt, Lodi,
and some other parts of the
Delta and San Joaquin County.
It's been a reliably blue district
since the 1960s.
But, but, but but.
The margin of victory for
Democratic candidates has gotten
smaller and smaller since 2012.
District 9 is where incumbent Congressman
Josh Harder is facing off against Tom Patty.
The race has allegations and.
Controversy and Corvera
explains what's at stake.
At 36 years old, Josh Harter is seeking
his 3rd Congressional 2 year term.
The Turlock Democrat says
he has moved to Tracy,
but says his roots have always
been in the San Joaquin Valley.
For people who don't know you,
you know, how would you
describe yourself?
I'm a fifth generation
resident of this community.
My great grandfather started a
Peach farm in Manteca in 1850.
Now I'm raising my 7 month old
daughter Lillian with my wife. Man
harder faces Republican Tom Patty,
a longtime county resident and current
San Joaquin County supervisor.
He's also the owner of a
crane operating business,
first and foremost local businessman.
Community activists.
And most importantly, a father.
In the community that I grew up in,
in the Community that I've owned,
businesses I've employed,
Patty says he's running in part to,
quote, bring common sense back to
Washington and to help unite lawmakers.
Harter says he's running because, quote,
there's a lot more work left to go.
We're in the midst of a drought,
and California is still planning
to ship Northern California water
from here to Southern California.
We're dealing with the cost of living.
Same King County has grown exponentially.
People are still paying
five $6 a gallon for gas,
and I'm not going to go to Washington.
On the behest of a party,
I'm going to go to Washington on behest
of the community that I grew up in.
The community where I do business
in the community where my
daughter is going to school in.
However, the race has become
contentious and nasty, but Tom Patty
is just out for himself. Tom Patty
took all that money
for his own business.
Patty doesn't deny taking the over
$30,000 in paycheck protection COVID
cash to help keep his business running,
but Harter has criticized Patty
as the only county supervisor.
That abstained from distributing
more than $33 million in COVID
related American rescue plan
funds in August last year.
Why did he abstain?
Because I'm not certain.
This later stage of dollars and
allocation to people is as necessary
as is being talked about and as
the necessity for allocation.
In a confidential investigation
by the San Joaquin County Human
Resources Department addressing
complaints against Patty and leaked
to the San Francisco Chronicle,
Patty was also accused of.
Bribery. Allegedly promising.
Quote a board member at a local
homeless organization funding in
exchange for support of Patty's plan to
build the regional homeless shelter.
And quote, he was cleared by
the Counties investigation.
It's Josh Harter's paid staff that came
forward with the allegation. Literally.
That's not true. But you know,
if he says he's innocent,
then he should support making
this investigation public
again, according to the
San Francisco Chronicle,
the county's investigation.
Did substantiate Patty quote
threaten both staff members and
community organization members?
No allegations were violent threats,
but they were related to
job status and funding.
Patty denies it ever happened.
So what we
have going on in this investigation,
First off, is hearsay. Secondly,
my constitutional rights were denied.
I was never even interviewed.
Political experts say the Patty
Harter election has become
a very closely watched race,
not just here but nationally too.
I think this is very significant.
Right. With the House being very,
very close, when you look at the
Democrats only have a slim majority
in the House, only A5 seat, majority
political science Professor Joel Blank
believes it will be a close election.
You know, Josh harder and both Tom
Patty have well known name recognition.
And so I think what I'll come down to is
getting the vote out on that November
day. How do you convince voters who are
on the fence to vote for you, you know?
We've been very clear about our values.
Now, nobody's going to agree
with me on 100% of issues,
but we're focused on making sure
that we're making the right
decision independent of party line.
I'm working for the people where I live.
I'm working for the people
that I currently serve.
I'm working for the people that
for decades I've done work,
I've employed and I've done commerce
with my community for decades.
And new tonight from San Joaquin
County officials tell ABC 10 they
are investigating who leaked that
HR investigation about Tom Patty
to the San Francisco Chronicle.