Editorial: Yes, Gracey Van Der Mark’s record is bananas

We’re deep into election silly season, so it’s hard to take seriously the avalanche of overheated campaign mailers as well as the feigned outrage from targeted candidates. But the Orange County Republican Party’s pearl-clutching reaction to a reasonable mailer criticizing its hand-picked Huntington Beach-area Assembly candidate is one of the funniest — and desperate-seeming — things we’ve seen locally this cycle.

As The Register reported, Assembly District 72 Democratic candidate Chris Kluwe’s mailer criticizing Republican candidate Gracey Van Der Mark said on the front: “There’s a word for Gracey Van Der Mark’s Extreme Agenda.” Then it shows a picture of her face on a label on bananas. The implication — and one reasonably backed by her record as HB mayor — is her agenda is pretty crazy.

Yet the GOP unleashed an unhinged social-media response, calling it a “racially degrading mailer” and saying “identity-based mockery has no place in this campaign.” To peel back the argument, Van Der Mark is the daughter of an Ecuadorian immigrant. The GOP argues the photo is somehow a pejorative reference given that Ecuador is a major banana producer.

Democrats shrugged it off and rightly focused attention back on her rather, er, nutty record. As mayor, Van Der Mark was a ringleader for the MAGA agenda as she backed lawsuits challenging state laws that make it easier to build new housing. Those costly efforts failed spectacularly. She also promoted the censorship of library books, banning pride flags and, in her own words, creating “a safe space for people who share our values.”

Van Der Mark has faced allegations over her own ethnic-related statements. No need to rehash that ugliness, but the GOP wants us to assume her best intentions while assuming the worst about her opponent. We interviewed Kluwe and Van Der Mark during the primary. And while we weren’t impressed with either one, we found Van Der Mark to be the “least informed” candidate we’ve interviewed this election cycle “by a country mile.”

If the GOP can’t do a better job picking candidates, it needs to grow a thicker peel.