D4 Candidate Wesley Lawrence - Republican or Democrat?

Sometimes I genuinely feel bad about writing a blog post - sometimes I relish in it. 

But most of the time, I figure you make your bed, you lie in it. 

This is one of those times. 

District 4 candidate Wesley Lawrence put on a pretty impressive performance last night at the Eastside Democrats forum, where he sounded like he knew what he was talking about in terms of policy. 

Polished, poised, and persuasive. 

After the forum I was checking the various candidates' social media platforms to see what that the individual candidates said of their performance. When I did, I came across something that has always been sort of in the back of my mind for quite some time. 

On Sunday I saw someone post celebrating the closure of Hilltop Clinic, a place that performed pregnancy termination, among many other services like birth control. I only saw the post because a Facebook friend liked the post. 

That Facebook friend was City Council Candidate for District 4, Wesley Lawrence. 

I thought it was an odd thing to do not because he used to be a Republican, I know many pro-life Democrats, but because he's in a campaign and candidates usually do everything they can to avoid that topic. 

Here's the post for reference. 

If you think this post is about abortion, you're missing the entire point. Put a pin in this, I'm coming back to it later. 

So naturally I was pretty stunned to see this post from yesterday - just a day after celebrating the closure of Hillside. 

As you can see, one day he's celebrating the closure of a women's health clinic, the next he's supporting reproductive rights. 

Talk about a flip-flop. And thats a big ass flip-flop, like Shaquille O'Neal wearing chanclas.

I don't think I've ever seen someone support both sides of an issue within a 24 hour period on something as polarizing as a woman's right to choose. 

We aren't talking about a little issue here. Its probably the biggest lightening rod issue in politics. 

And its not actually clear based on another revelation, that he flip-flopped. Its completely unclear where he actually stands on reproductive rights because I came across this - and its not old because it references his candidacy for his current race. 

Here's the link to that actual site. 

Now any time you switch parties, people are naturally going to be suspicious of you. A lot of people gave Wesley the ol' fish eye when he first started hanging around the Democratic Party because he was a Republican before. But I don't think people understood how hard-core of a Republican he actually was...or could still be. 

Most El Pasoans regardless of their party affiliation are not really died-in-the-wool with a party. Even most of the folks that vote, do so because the party they regularly vote for reflects their values and such. The people that actually attend meetings, events, fundraisers, protests, demonstrations, and actions...those are your hardcore folks. 

Your everyday passive voter just doesn't do that. 

That is something only your hardcore folks are going to do. So when you are a hardcore supporter of one party - as evidenced by the fact that you go to the aforementioned events, and then suddenly you turn 180 degrees in the opposite direction and become a hardcore supporter of a completely different set of values, people are naturally going to question the conversation. 

Just how hardcore Republican was he? 

He was a MAGA hat wearing "Lock them up" Republican. 

Allow me to show you...

And, he clearly was not a fan of Speaker Pelosi. 

That's Wes on the literal far right, holding what looks like petitions or literature. 

Conversions usually take place when someone isn't that party foot soldier type and they almost always happen over time. 

And its not unheard of - people evolve. A genuine evolution of beliefs isn't unheard of - hell there's plenty of elected officials that used to be a different party. 

But when you make a sharp left turn, all of a sudden, its naturally gonna draw some scrutiny. Until now, its mostly just been things people have whispered and not really articulated. In fact, until I asked him yesterday, I don't even know if anyone really took any time to find out what led to the conversation. 

So I asked him. 

I was looking for that seeing Jesus on the road to Damascus sort of thing. For you heathens that don't understand what I'm talking about, its a Biblical reference to the conversion of St. Paul. He used to persecute Catholics - he even participated in the stoning of a martyr of the early church, St. Stephen - until he saw Jesus on the road to Damascus. 

It was a miraculous conversation of someone who had one particular world view and one experience completely changed his moral compass. 

Wesley didn't have that experience. From what he told me, it wasn't a singular event - but he says it had a lot to do with the local GOP's position on immigration. If you talk to Wesley and you really listen to what he says, he sounds like a pretty progressive liberal. 

And I tells it like it is - he comes across as the creme of that field, with only Morgan with an equal amount of policy depth. 

Now I've heard Wesley talk about converting to Democrat before and I remembered he voted for Beto in 2018. But during the ESD forum I notice his voting record showed that he voted in the 2018 Republican primary. So I asked him to refresh my memory about when he converted and he told me he voted Republican in the Primary and voted for Beto in the General Election of 2018. 

Except that doesn't appear to be true. I was going through the GOP page because I remembered they posted a sign from the Democratic Party back in 2018. I know the sign very well. Go back to the post from the GOP with the big Vote Democrat sign. Note the date. October 22, 2018. 

It was during early voting of the general election. 

I know the sign well because I designed it. 

Now read the comment from Wesley. He says he voted "straight Republican" and then proudly spoke about wearing his MAGA hat before declaring "lock them up". 

So he either lied to me and a lot of other people about when he converted - or he lied to the GOP. I don't really care which one he was lying to. Its kind of not the point. 

Although, it is pretty ironic that he lied to someone and his campaign material he posted on the El Paso Women's March Group earlier today says he's an "honest, loyal, bold, El Pasoan."

Truth is, Wesley is running in a non-partisan race. But since some foo (I know I'm missing an "l", its Chicano slang) decided it was a good idea to put municipal elections on the same cycle as general elections, voters ALWAYS want to know what party you're a part of. 

He is super active in the El Paso County Democratic Party. I think he's even in a leadership position in an auxiliary. 

I'm not even questioning if his conversion is actually legit. I'm gonna give him the benefit of the doubt based on what I have personally seen and heard from him. 

BUT - I think he's got some 'splaning to do. And he's got no one to blame but himself. I think he needs to clarify where he stands on the issue of reproductive rights. Cities across Texas have implemented ordinances that make it more difficult for women to access certain clinics. I think he owes some clarity on those issues, especially because he courts the support of groups like El Paso Women's March. 

And I think he also owes some clarity to the El Paso County Democratic Party faithful. Because he not only claimed to vote for Ted Cruz over Beto O'Rourke to the GOP folks, but I found one more interesting thing. 

You memmur that State of the Union Address when Trump made comments about how "dangerous" was? And then he came to El Paso shortly after and Mayor Margo pissed him off by pushing back on that characterization of El Paso? He was at the coliseum that night and Beto was at the park nearby. 

Turns out, Wesley Lawrence was at the Trump rally. 

Which was after Beto's 2018 senate run. 

Wesley was identified as a "VIP attendee". 

So after he says he converted to the Democratic Party, he's quoted on the record as saying about Trump, "I think that he's had a phenomenal agenda that reminds me of Ronald Reagan..."

Lets put aside for a moment the obvious inconsistency in saying he's a Democrat and showing up to a Trump rally...but can we talk about that absolutely ridiculous claim of comparing Trump to Ronald Reagan?

I'm not even a Republican and I'm offended by that shit. Especially when he says it was immigration that made him leave the GOP. Reagan had amnesty in the 80's. Trump made kiddie concentration camps and separated families. How is that anything like Reagan?

So I gave Wesley a chance to address some of the issues. To his credit, he didn't shy away and he answered the questions, no matter how uncomfortable they were. 

Here's what he said. 

When I asked him about the comment he posted on the GOP page during early voting in 2018 and he said, 

"I regret making those comments. I was a (Republican) precinct chair, so it would have been pretty bad if I had said I had voted for Democrats." 

When I asked him about his comments about Trump's "phenomenal agenda" and attending the Trump rally at the coliseum he indicated he attended but that he had done so because he wanted to hear what Trump said, because he was disappointed about what Trump said about El Paso in the SOTU. I also asked him how on earth he could compare Trump to Reagan.

"I was taken out of context. Reagan was a little bit more compassionate toward the immigrant community... both Trump and Reagan cut taxes..."

I followed up by asking about the inconsistency in the timelines from voting for Beto in 2018 and attending the Trump rally in 2019.  

"I regret ever voting republican. It never matched my values. Its a time in my life I deeply regret. I want to make it clear to you that I never voted for Donald Trump."

I asked about the inconsistencies in liking a post about the closing of a women's health clinic on Sunday and then posting about protecting reproductive rights the next day, this was his response:

"I stand with the pro-choice community. I regret liking that post. The pro-life moment is a false movement. They don't believe from the womb to the tomb. They should be called a pro-birth movement. Here in El Paso, I think we have to have an expansion of Planned Parenthood in El Paso."

I pressed on this issue because conservative elected officials in municipalities across Texas have used zoning laws to restrict women's health clinics. This was his response.

"I don't think zoning should ever get political. I think if a pro-choice organization wants to expand their operation, I think they should be able to. I think we need to expand public health for women and our transgendered community."

Although there is still a very large glaring inconsistency. If he stands with the pro-choice community, why is he listed as a pro-life candidate?

Obviously a lot of people are going to be disappointed and will question Lawrences values and - honesty. Especially after he's admitting a lie. 

There's probably going to be a lot of people that don't believe him - in both parties. He will probably always be - at least to some degree - a "Dori-crat".

Thats a risk he took and was completely willing to take.