Congressional race heats up with new attack website
The race to represent Washington’s 3rd District in Congress is getting heated.
Although it sounds cliché, it’s not far from the (figurative) truth.
“JoeKentLies,” a website created to discredit congressional candidate Joe Kent, went live Tuesday and illustrated a hellish landscape. A forest full of coniferous trees was engulfed in flames, which inevitably spread to an American flag. Meanwhile, a photoshopped and vitriolic Kent — with both hands passionately flipping the bird – watched the disaster unravel.
“No matter what he may say, one thing is for sure… Joe Kent lies,” the main banner exclaimed.
The single page presents multiple dropdown options where users can learn more about Kent’s views, some of which are juxtaposed with news reports or academic journal articles. Covered subjects range from the candidate’s take on health care, the district’s timber and fishing industries, law enforcement and energy independence. All come with arguments disputing Kent’s claims.
It’s clear that the site was crafted to dissuade Southwest Washingtonians from voting for Kent, with the author (or authors) posing that the candidate is too extreme, misinformed and anti-democratic to represent the district.
“No matter how much Joe Kent lies, there’s one big truth: Joe Kent doesn’t represent the majority of Washingtonians and is the wrong choice for Congress,” it read.
JoeKentLies isn’t the only website criticizing Kent to appear during his campaign, but it deviates from its conspiratorial predecessor.
The mysterious JoeKentIsCIA site made its befuddling debut in June with claims that the candidate is a member of the deep state, a carpetbagger and lifelong socialist. After exchanging emails with one of JoeKentIsCIA’s elusive creators, Glow Kent, and investigating its origins (for a little too long), I hit a dead end.
Unfortunately, I also hit a wall when digging into JoeKentLies.
The website was created by the Clark County Panel to Protect Democracy, according to a note at the bottom of the page. Other than that, there aren’t any promising leads to discover more about the group’s beginnings and, subsequently, JoeKentLies’.
If you or someone you know has any information about who is behind this, don’t hesitate to reach me at lauren.ellenbecker@columbian.com. Another chase down the 3rd District race rabbit hole may be in order.
Lauren Ellenbecker
Lauren Ellenbecker is a politics reporter for The Columbian.