By Thomas Warren III, Editor-in-Chief

Every election season, deflection and denial seems to be the tool of the political establishment when faced with inconvenient facts about their candidates. Typically, this kind of denial just comes from the candidate’s supporters, but on Wednesday, the “fake news” conspiracy must have reached a feverpitch at Josh Winegarner’s campaign headquarters, with the candidate attaching his name to a video by a supporter responding to the supposed “myths” of the District 13 congressional race.

The video by Jared Blankenship, shared by the Winegarner campaign, attempts to dispel what Winegarner describes as his “opponent’s fake news claims.” Blankenship addresses a number of topics in the video, but two particular ones stood out.

First, Mr. Blankenship addressed the fact that Mr. Winegarner lobbied against the Trump administration on country of origin labeling and lobbied to keep NAFTA. Now, while Mr. Winegarner and Mr. Blankenship claim this does not make the congressional hopeful anti-Trump, I think it does raise questions about Mr. Winegarner’s ethics. The entire Winegarner campaign, thus far, has been built around doing one thing and saying another. Sure, he lobbied against Trump and was disclosed to the U.S. Senate as doing so, but now he supports Trump, right? We may never truly know, but it is my opinion that Mr. Winegarner’s lobbying record should cast serious doubts on whether he is being totally transparent with voters on this point.

The other point Mr. Blankenship addressed in his video is a topic I brought up in an editorial I penned last week. In that article, I pointed out that U.S. Rep. Will Hurd, who is one of the most anti-Trump Republicans in the U.S. House, is using his Super PAC to support Winegarner. What Mr. Winegarner’s supporters have latched onto from that article is the fact that I mentioned an agriculture-based political committee that is supporting Winegarner is not registered with the FEC locally and is registered out of Waco. I do not plan to rehash that point in this article, but you can read my previous article here.

In response to Mr. Winegarner, I wanted to say for the record that nothing about this organization being based outside of Texas’ 13th Congressional District or about Winegarner lobbying against the Trump administration is untrue. It does not matter how much Josh Winegarner, his campaign consultants, and his volunteers wish these facts would disappear, the truth is that he lobbied contrary to the political positions he is now trying to sell to voters and he is, in fact, supported by two major political committees (now three) which are not registered with the FEC out of addresses in Texas’ 13th Congressional District.

Mr. Winegarner may not like these facts, but it does not under any circumstances qualify this information as “fake news.”

If Mr. Winegarner truly does believe these facts to be “fake news,” instead of preaching to the ever-shrinking choir that is his base of supporters, I would like to throw down the gauntlet and offer a challenge to the candidate right now: if you truly believe that the facts of your lobbying record and your support from out-of-district PACs are “fake news,” you are welcome to send in an op-ed by 7am this Friday, explaining why you feel this way, and we will publish it in its entirety, along with my rebuttal.

Instead of hiding behind your supporters and claiming facts to be “fake news,” just because they are inconvenient for your campaign, you are welcome to make your case right here. I will be waiting and will gladly deliver my rebuttal. I’m sure our readers would love to know your feelings on these issues, and I would too.

Facebook posts about alleged “fake news” can only go so far in an election. While Ronny Jackson is out having real conversations with voters about the issues, I would think the Winegarner campaign would want to be out talking to those same voters. However, that might not be the way lobbyists run for office.

If Mr. Winegarner truly wants to be taken seriously as a prospective congressman, then he should take this opportunity to explain himself to voters. Otherwise, if he hides from real conversations and waits on his establishment connections to buy him this congressional seat, then I have full confidence that voters will know what to do on July 14.