Update: This story has resulted in Orona’s resignation. Read about that here.
When David Garcia, the leading Democrat in Arizona’s gubernatorial race, hired liberal activist Xenia Orona as his campaign’s digital director, he may not have known her history of anti-Arizona, anti-America, and anti-police tweets. After PJ Media requested comment, however, he has no excuse.
“An open letter to Arizona: F**k you,” Xenia Orona tweeted on November 6 2012, when Republican Mitt Romney defeated then-President Barack Obama in the Grand Canyon State.
https://twitter.com/Seneeah/status/266036355467980801
Despite this and other tweets, the Garcia campaign paid Orona $3,000 cash for “payroll” to the “Digital Director,” according to campaign finance records.
Garcia, the leading Democrat in the August 28 primary, is running to replace Gov. Doug Ducey (R-Ariz.). Ducey still leads in most polling. The Democrat has pledged to abolish the Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and even suggested that there should be an open border between the United States and Mexico.
Garcia’s entire campaign revolves around race-based identity politics, according to the Washington Free Beacon’s Brent Scher. Responding to the Democrats’ 2016 loss, liberal financier Steve Phillips founded Democracy in Color, which describes itself as “a political organization focused on race, politics and the multiracial, progressive New American Majority.” To underscore the point, Phillips wrote a book, Brown Is the New White. Phillips hailed Garcia’s campaign as a roadmap for his national plan, solely because of the candidate’s race.
Garcia himself echoed this mentality, appearing on Phillips’s Democracy in Color podcast and saying, “I believe a Garcia needs to win in Arizona. For this state to really reach its promise, for this state to be fully represented by the people of Arizona, somebody with my last name needs to win.”
Garcia’s campaign did not respond to PJ Media’s request for comment, perhaps because Xenia Orona represents his values.
In late June, Orona tweeted the bold declaration “Abolish ICE.”
— Xenia (@seneeah) June 28, 2018
She explained her thinking in a May 23 tweet that has since been deleted. “ICE is abusive and needs to be abolished,” Orona quipped. Then she added a hashtag, “FTP,” which translates to “f**k the police.”
Twitter screenshot.
Garcia, the candidate, did not respond to PJ Media’s request for comment about Orona’s tweets, and this one in particular. Just last month, police trooper Tyler Edenhofer was fatally shot in the line of duty in Phoenix, the Associated Press reported. Phoenix held a candlelight vigil for him.
Orona may have deleted that tweet, but last September, she attacked the very idea of law and order. “Law and order is the smokescreen that bigots hide their hate behind. Remember that when you hear talk of enforcement,” she tweeted.
Law and order is the smokescreen that bigots hide their hate behind. Remember that when you hear talk of enforcement. #DACA
— Xenia (@seneeah) September 5, 2017
But that wasn’t all. This past January, Xenia Orona identified the United States of America as a “sh*thole country” in a tweet about her immigrant heritage.
“I am a business owner and a creative. I am a college graduate, the first of many in my family. I am involved in multiple campaigns to make Arizona a better place. I am from 5 generations of border crossers between this [sh*thole] country and la Madre Tierra of México,” she tweeted. Right next to the word “sh*thole” came a small American flag.
https://twitter.com/Seneeah/status/951871424322453504
In a follow-up tweet, Orona explained why she thought of the U.S.A. as a “sh*thole” country. “I will keep working to make the US live up to its false advertising to be the land of opportunity and stop taking advantage of my people,” she tweeted.
This anti-American, anti-Arizona, anti-law enforcement cocktail should be offensive to Arizona voters, but it seems Democrats like Garcia are banking on racial identity politics to bring them victory in November.
If there were any doubt that Orona’s Twitter account (@seneeah) did not belong to Garcia’s digital director, this tweet should silence it. “Everyone! Check out this awesome site I helped build. David is the candidate Arizona needs and deserves,” she tweeted, with a link to the candidate’s website.
Everyone! Check out this awesome site I helped build. David is the candidate Arizona needs and deserves. @dg4az @SelfUsNow https://t.co/RL2BgGLydR
— Xenia (@seneeah) March 7, 2018
In an era when “Guardians of the Galaxy” director James Gunn is fired for old tweets and racist tweets from Sarah Jeong sparked a scandal at The New York Times, it is fair to question Garcia about his digital director’s digital footprint.
Garcia has not disavowed Orona or her past tweets. This raises the question — does her offensive race-motivated anti-American and anti-law enforcement rhetoric actually mirror the heart of Garcia’s campaign?
If not, why didn’t Garcia just tell PJ Media when I asked?
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