The California Democratic Party posted misleading ads online over the weekend accusing Republicans of voting against a bill to protect 16- and 17-year-olds from sex trafficking.
Those ads were a head-scratching twist from a strongly controversial move by Democrats in the Assembly last week, who blocked a proposal to make it a felony to purchase 16- and 17-year olds for sex.
The backstory: Asm. Maggy Krell (D–Sacramento) introduced a bill to make it a felony to purchase all minors for sex.
- Most of her own party disagreed, however, starting with the Assembly Public Safety Committee forcing amendments on her legislation, Assembly Bill 379, to not protect 16- and 17-year olds.
- Republicans tried to force a vote on the floor last Thursday to pass Krell’s original bill without the amendments. Instead, Democrats voted 55-21 to approve the amendment to not make it a felony to traffick older teens. The amendment said it is the Legislature’s “intent” to protect 16- and 17-year olds, but that amendment does not actually cement anything in state law.
- Democrats also took the bill out of Krell’s hands, giving it to Public Safety Committee Chair Nick Schultz (D–Burbank).
- Krell sided with Republicans to vote against the amendment, and was joined by a handful of other Democrats, including Asm. Joaquin Arambula (D–Fresno) and Asm. Jasmeet Bains (D–Bakersfield).
The big picture: The California Democratic Party purchased ads on Meta platforms Facebook and Instagram from May 1 to May 5 targeting Republican members of the Assembly.
- Two of the ads targeted Asm. Alexandra Macedo (R–Tulare) and Asm. David Tangipa (R–Clovis), accusing them of not protecting older teens.
- KCRA reported that the ad campaign was pushed by Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D–Hollister). Rivas was one of the 55 Democrats who voted for the amendment which did not make it a felony to purchase 16- and 17-year-olds for sex. Rivas did not speak during the floor hearing last Thursday either.
Go deeper: Democrats said during last week’s hearings that they could not support Krell’s full measure in part to protect minority and LGBTQ communities.
- Sen. Scott Wiener (D–San Francisco) vocalized some of the party’s reasoning, to significant criticism.
- “Sending an 18 year old high school senior to state prison for offering his 17 year old classmate $20 to fool around isn’t smart criminal justice policy. Yet that’s what some people are effectively advocating in this misleading debate,” Wiener posted on social media.
Republicans respond: Tangipa told The Sun that Democrats will stop at nothing to deceive the public.
- “They are using blatant lies to cover up their own incompetence on the issue of sex trafficking. I will always vote to protect all children, and I can’t even comprehend how Democrats are arguing for exempting 16- and 17-year-olds from harsher penalties for buying of illegal prostitution.”
- Tangipa added, “Scott Wiener even went as far to defend the purchasing of minors for sex as ‘just fooling around’, which is sickening.”
- Assembly Minority Leader James Gallagher (R–Yuba City), who was also targeted by the ads, called out Democrats for lying in a post on X.
You see my friend Democrats lie…
After we called @AsmDems out on the floor last week for removing protections for 16 and 17 year old victims, they run ads accusing us… of the very thing they are doing.
You can’t hide from the truth with deceptive ads. It is Democrats who… pic.twitter.com/zlEszZ4gEw— James Gallagher (@J_GallagherAD3) May 5, 2025
