Endangered Republican Falsely Claims He Hasn't Taken NRA Money Recently
Endangered Republican Falsely Claims He Hasn’t Taken NRA Money Recently
The NRA has donated to Rep. Steve Knight three times this cycle.
Kara Voght
September 18, 2018 5:18 PM
An endangered Republican congressman from Southern California wasn’t telling the truth last month when he claimed that he hadn’t received any recent donations from the National Rifle Association, federal campaign finance records reveal.
During an August 23 episode of Talk of Santa Clarita, a local politics podcast, Rep. Steve Knight was asked if he’d “taken any funds from the NRA recently.” Knight—who represents suburban Los Angeles County—replied, “No.” When the host followed up to specifically ask if Knight had declined any money from the NRA, Knight said, “Well, we just haven’t taken any funds from the NRA lately.”
But according to documents filed with the Federal Election Commission, the NRA’s political action committee has made three donations to Knight’s campaign this election cycle: $1,000 in July 2017, $1,500 in May 2018, and $2,500 in July 2018. Both the NRA and the Knight campaign reported the 2017 contribution to the FEC. The 2018 contributions currently appear in the NRA’s FEC filings but not in Knight’s filings—perhaps because campaigns are required file quarterly, while PACs must file their contributions monthly. There is no indication in the FEC records that Knight’s campaign rejected or returned any of the NRA money. Neither the NRA nor Knight’s campaign returned requests for comment.
It’s unclear why Knight—a vocal gun rights advocate who has consistently received “A” ratings from the NRA—would want voters to believe that he doesn’t take money from the group. But his statements come at a time when survivors of the Parkland school shooting have made it their mission to vote out of office any lawmakers who accept NRA donations. The Parkland teens and their allies have put particular pressure on NRA-backed Republican incumbents in suburban districts like Knight’s, where anti-gun-control views seem increasingly out-of-step voters’ desires. Knight’s Democratic challenger, Katie Hill, has also criticized him for accepting NRA cash.
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https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/09/steve-knight-nra-parkland-katie-hill/
