Did Carl DeMaio issue public statements or press releases in response to each lawsuit?
Executive summary
Carl DeMaio and his campaign repeatedly issued public denials or statements through spokespeople in response to recent campaign-finance complaints and investigations, while Reform California under his chairmanship publicly backed at least one voting-integrity lawsuit and DeMaio personally convened a town hall about it; the historical sexual‑harassment allegations produced a mix of denials, campaign statements, and later legal developments but not a uniform pattern of single press releases for every legal action cited in the record [1] [2] [3] [4]. Reporting shows explicit, attributable statements rejecting or contextualizing complaints in several cases, but the sources do not demonstrate that DeMaio personally issued separate, formal press releases for every lawsuit or complaint referenced [5] [6].
1. What lawsuits and complaints are in play — and which need responses
The recent reporting centers on multiple formal complaints and lawsuits: a new campaign‑finance complaint reported to state elections regulators and the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) alleging misuse of Reform California funds to benefit DeMaio’s Assembly campaign (Voice of San Diego; Times of San Diego; San Diego Union‑Tribune) and a separate voting‑integrity lawsuit that Reform California publicly supported concerning Long Beach voting procedures (Reform California; DeMaio’s site) as well as the long‑running sexual‑harassment allegations and ensuing criminal investigation and guilty plea by an ex‑staffer from 2014–2016 [5] [6] [1] [2] [3] [4].
2. Campaign‑finance complaints: public denials from DeMaio’s team, not always a named DeMaio press release
When state regulators opened a new complaint and the FPPC was accused in September 2024, DeMaio’s campaign or spokesperson publicly rejected the allegations; Voice of San Diego and the San Diego Union‑Tribune quote spokesperson Jen Jacobs denying the complaint and framing it as a politically motivated attack, and Times of San Diego reported DeMaio “didn’t immediately respond” to a request for comment while opponents circulated the complaint text [5] [1] [6]. Those pieces show campaign spokespeople issued statements, but the reporting does not document a single DeMaio‑signed press release in each instance — instead it records spokesperson emails and statements to reporters [5] [1].
3. Reform California’s public support of voting lawsuits: DeMaio convened town halls and issued organizational messaging
Reform California — which DeMaio founded and chairs — explicitly announced support for a Long Beach voting‑integrity lawsuit and DeMaio convened a town hall explaining the suit and next steps, according to Reform California’s site and DeMaio’s own channels; those are public organizational statements attributable to DeMaio as chairman rather than necessarily separate litigation‑response press releases for outside plaintiffs [2] [3] [7]. The organization’s webpages and news posts constitute public responses endorsing and explaining litigation the group backed [2] [3].
4. The sexual‑harassment episodes: denials, campaign statements, and later legal records — mixed forms of response
During the 2014–2016 episode, DeMaio and his spokespeople publicly denied allegations; contemporaneous reporting quotes DeMaio denying the claims and campaign spokespeople saying allegations were taken to police, while later Justice Department and Roll Call reporting documents a guilty plea from an ex‑staffer who obstructed the investigation — coverage that includes campaign responses but not a single uniform pattern of a DeMaio‑issued press release tied to each legal action or development [8] [9] [4] [10]. Sources record statements by spokespeople (for example Maryanne Pintar) and DeMaio’s own denials in media interviews, but they do not show DeMaio issuing a press release for every allegation or legal filing [10] [9].
5. Bottom line: consistent public rebuttals and organizational statements, but not always formal press releases for “each lawsuit”
The evidence shows a consistent strategy of public rebuttal: campaign spokespeople issued denials to reporters about campaign‑finance and ethics complaints, Reform California published supportive messaging and town‑hall presentations when it backed litigation, and DeMaio publicly denied earlier harassment allegations in media interviews; however, the available reporting documents statements and spokespeople quotes more often than a discrete, individual DeMaio‑signed press release in response to every single lawsuit or complaint cited here — the record supports that responses were public and attributable but not that a formal press release accompanied each legal filing [5] [1] [2] [3] [10]. Reporting limitations: sources do not catalog every press release DeMaio or his organizations may have issued, so absence of citation here is not conclusive proof a release never existed [5] [2].