VISTA — A new billboard popped up last week in downtown Vista featuring a photo well known among Southern California Democrats — an image of 74th District Assemblywoman Laurie Davies (R-Laguna Niguel) standing next to a Jan. 6 insurrectionist at a Donald Trump rally.
Alan Hostetter, the man pictured next to Davies at the October 2020 rally in San Clemente, was sentenced last month to eleven years and four months in federal prison for breaking into and bringing weapons to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Hostetter received one of the longer sentences handed down so far to a conspirator involved in the attack.
The billboard, which reads, “Laurie Davies stood with a convicted January 6 felon. Literally,” was paid for by San Clemente Mayor Chris Duncan, a former federal prosecutor who is making his third run against Davies for her 74th District seat in the November election.
Duncan said in a statement Thursday that both Republicans and Democrats should agree on the importance of “preserving law and order and defending our public safety professionals.”
“I hope this billboard sparks conversation about the danger extremism poses to our community and law enforcement and the expectation that our elected representatives condemn, not associate with, violent extremists who threaten the safety and security of our neighborhoods,” Duncan said.
Davies told The Coast News on Friday that while the billboard is a first, this claim has come up several times in past races with Duncan.
“It keeps coming up every race,” Davies said. “He’s using it because he doesn’t have anything he can represent himself with… When things like this come up, it doesn’t get me off my path.”
The photo and allegations of the assembly member’s connections to Hostetter also surfaced in 2022 during the last race between Davies and Duncan, which she won by around 9,000 votes.
Duncan and other Democrats have accused Davies of failing to condemn the events of January 6. Last month, San Diego County Democratic Party Chairwoman Becca Taylor claimed that Davies is a political ally of the individuals who raided the capitol.
While Davies has previously been mum about her 2020 appearance with Hostetter, she said that she did not know him prior to the San Clemente rally and denied having any association with him ever since. She also indicated that she supported his arrest.
“People who commit violence of any kind need to be prosecuted,” Davies added.
Another billboard criticizing Davies, this one paid for by the California Democratic Party, has also been erected along state Route 78 near College Boulevard. It states that Davies failed to vote in favor of giving funding to law enforcement to help with the fentanyl crisis, which the Assemblymember also denied.
Davies cited several fentanyl-related bills she has authored and co-authored, including AB 381, requiring substance use disorder facilities to carry Narcan; AB 1673, creating the Fentanyl Abuse Task Force focused on increasing awareness about its dangers; and AB 1598, decriminalizing testing equipment for fentanyl and date-rape drug GHB.
“I’m endorsed by all law enforcement in the state of California, and I worked with law enforcement on all my fentanyl bills,” Davies said.
The 74th district includes the communities of Laguna Niguel, San Juan Capistrano, Dana Point, San Clemente, Camp Pendleton, Vista and Oceanside.
