Josh Harder and a Democrat Super PAC have failed in their bid to convince a court that Jeff Denham is not a farmer – an embarrassing defeat in their effort to fool the public into thinking Jeff Denham, a lifelong farmer, isn’t actually a farmer.

The lawsuit was an attempt to cover for the fact that their own candidate, Josh Harder, moved to the Valley from the Bay Area to run for Congress and 99 percent of his money comes from outside of the 10th Congressional District, which is heavily reliant on ag. Most recently Harder made the shocking decision to skip an August 20 rally in Sacramento attended by 1,500 Valley residents stating that the “needs of the district are not met” by attending such events.

Jeff Denham has a history of farming in the Valley. Jeff Denham’s history of farming is well documented:

• Growing up on a farm before enlisting in the Air Force at the age of 17;

• Starting his own agriculture-related business;

• Purchasing a farm so his children could grow up in farming the way he did;

• Denham then converted that property from sweet potatoes to almonds which he still grows today.

Josh Harder is a Bay Area venture capitalist who left the Valley behind. By contrast, Josh Harder left the Valley to become a venture capitalist in the Bay Area. While a venture capitalist, Harder did not invest a single dime in the Valley and has a history of investing in companies that ship jobs overseas. The Sacramento Bee reported that only one percent of Harder’s campaign money comes from the 10th District noting in their article that the vast majority is coming from Bay Area liberals.

Recently it was revealed what Harder thinks about farmers. Despite failing to vote in 90 percent of elections before he filed to run for Congress, Josh Harder published a paper entitled “Why Do People Vote?: A Psychological Analysis of the Causes of Voter Turnout.” In it, Josh Harder writes that farmers vote more often than they should since they are uneducated and that he believes it’s because farmers are only motivated by federal subsidies.

Specifically, Harder writes: “farmers vote at a substantially higher rate than would be expected based on their levels of education...because, like people with government-related jobs, farmers are inspired by federal farming subsidies.”

Congressman Denham has led the charge in Congress to halt the Bay-Delta Plan by passing legislation to prevent its implementation. Congressman Denham has also enlisted the support of Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke and Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue who both visited the 10th District at the invitation of Congressman Denham. Denham participated in a rally last week with local elected officials and candidates from across the political spectrum along with 1,500 concerned citizens.

Notably, Josh Harder failed to attend the rally and the Farm Bureau candidate forum on the same day stating that the “needs of the district are not met” by attending such events.

Josh Whitfield, a member of the Waterford City Council, is also campaign manager for Denham for Congress.