Americans were recently bombarded with election advertisements on all platforms preceding election season. While sometimes informative, these ads often slander candidates, pushing legal and ethical limits. To ensure fair elections, stricter federal regulations must be implemented against inflammatory and manipulative tactics in political ads.
California’s 45th congressional district, the most expensive House race in the country, caused a stir in local communities due to controversial ads. Democrat Derek Tran targeted Vietnamese audiences with his ads, promoting his support for pro-choice laws, while Republican Michelle Steel also focused on Vietnamese and other Asian-American voters, advertising her conservative background.
Both Tran and Steel have poured an unusually high amount of money into their campaigns, including ad funding. According to an article by LAist, more than $46 million was spent on this race, an absurd amount for a single house seat in the nation, which Tran won by a slim margin of 615 votes. Political Action Committees (PAC) helped fund advertising efforts, creating ads to support their candidate and tear down the opponent’s credibility.
Tran centered his argument on Steel’s conservative, pro-life stances. In a Vietnamese advertisement, Tran also accused Steel of making underhand deals with China and accused her husband of having affiliations with China.
These ads mirror controversial mail ads sent by Steel’s campaigns, observed by ABC News, that depict Derek Tran with Communist symbols. In the previous 2022 campaign, Steel also accused her opponent, Jay Chen, of having Communist affiliations in a controversial ad, creating both a misleading and unfounded narrative against Chen. These tactics used by both candidates majorly distort campaign integrity, as they can sway voters unfairly.
CA-45 candidates used “redbaiting”: accusing an opponent of having communist affiliations, specifically seeking key Asian votes. Redbaiting accusations can be especially influential to Vietnamese immigrants, many of whom moved to the U.S. to escape communism. Though these tactics may be common, they must be discouraged as they reduce the integrity of elections and increase political polarization. Instead of using these strategies to smear opponents, campaigns should center on their candidates’ policies.
While political ads are currently protected under free speech, the exception of defamation can be difficult to prove as intention must be accounted for. To combat the spread of misinformation, stricter federal regulation must be enforced to prohibit inflammatory and unfounded claims in political ads. Social media platforms must carefully screen non-English advertisements, which can often be mistranslated. A stricter prohibition of manipulating images to misrepresent candidates’ backgrounds, affiliations, and policies must also be enforced.
Federal legislation could minimize the slander tactics seen in races like CA-45. Instead of letting divisive and unethical tactics influence voters, the integrity of future elections must be protected by deterring this behavior.
