NEW: After Calling Pro Choice Protections “Disgusting,” Matt Gunderson Kicks Off General Election Lying About His Anti Abortion Record

NOTUS : Leaked audio shows that Gunderson called Californians' successful 2022 effort to codify reproductive freedoms "disgusting"

Anti-abortion extremist Matt Gunderson is kicking off the general election by lying to voters - falsely claiming to be a 'pro-choice Republican' in his first ad despite being caught on audio earlier this year calling Californians' effort to enshrine reproductive rights into the state constitution "disgusting," opposing the pro-choice initiative that 65% of Californians supported, and openly seeking the support of extreme anti-abortion organizations in his previous bids for power.

Gunderson is trying - and failing - to take a page out of Donald Trump's playbook: distracting from his anti-abortion, anti-women track record by flip-flopping on his stance.

DCCC Spokesperson Dan Gottlieb:
"If Matt Gunderson really thinks voters in North County San Diego and South Orange County are this gullible, he has no business representing them. Not only did Gunderson openly oppose a measure to enshrine the right to reproductive care in California's state constitution - which residents of California's 49th district overwhelmingly supported - he also accepted support from an extreme anti-abortion organization, which advocates for a total ban on abortion without exceptions for rape or incest. Give up the act, Gunderson."

NOTUS: A Republican in a Tight House Race Is Borrowing Abortion Rights Terminology
Oriana González | September 11, 2024

• With abortion becoming a big liability for the GOP in the post-Roe era, one Republican in a tight House race in California is taking an original messaging approach in a new TV ad: borrowing terminology coined by Democrats and the abortion rights movement.

• "[Gunderson is] just throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks. I think the only thing that's going to stick is that he's trying to deceive people," Levin told NOTUS. "It's no longer the early '90s."

• Levin's opponent isn't the first Republican to borrow words popularized by the abortion rights side.

• Just last month, former President Donald Trump said on Truth Social that his administration "will be great for women and their reproductive rights," highlighting how he is looking to get voters who support abortion access on his side.

• While Gunderson says in the ad that he opposes politicians making abortion decisions for patients and his website states that he would reject federal abortion restrictions, he opposed a ballot initiative in California that successfully enshrined abortion rights into the state's constitution in 2022. He told NOTUS that he would not support a federal bill to protect abortion access because he believes the issue should be up to the states.

• In January, when he was asked at a local GOP event about what could be done to restrict abortion in all 50 states, he said, "That decision has been made for you unfortunately" in California, calling the 2022 ballot initiative "disgusting," according to an audio recording obtained by NOTUS.

• But even as Gunderson says he supports abortion, he takes a page from other Republicans and tries to pivot from the conversation around the procedure. (In the ad, the candidate says that "there's more that unites us" besides abortion beliefs.)

• "I think if it comes up in conversation, you know, people are very thankful that we can put that issue aside," Gunderson said, adding that abortion isn't the main concern in the district.