IRVINE, Calif. _ When some volunteers and organizers arrived at the University Synagogue Tuesday night they found some orange and red pieces of paper on the chairs in the auditorium.
"NEGATIVE CAMPAIGN ALERT" read the paper in bold black letters. "The Dave Min campaign is running attack against multiple other Democrats! IS THIS WHAT ORANGE COUNTY WANTS?"
Organizers removed the papers, but they were literal signs of how tense the Democratic primary in California's 45th District has become.
Fifteen minutes into the candidate forum, Min, a law professor at University of California Irvine, was asked about ads aimed at his fellow UC Irvine law professor Katie Porter, and Brian Forde, who worked for President Barack Obama's administration.
"There's nothing in any of the ads that we launched that is false or a personal attack," Min said, prompting some boos from the crowd.
"That is in sharp contrast to the three campaigns to my left who have been launching months and months of personal attacks, smear campaigns, character assassination," Min said, gesturing to Porter, Forde and former congressional staffer Kia Hamadanchy, who were seated onstage with him.
Democrats are targeting three other Republican-held districts that touch Orange County _ the 39th, 48th and 49th. But those primary races have also taken a negative turn. Ask voters here about the races, and they'll often remark on the negativity, and how their mailboxes are stuffed with campaign materials.
While mudslinging in politics isn't new, it's a somewhat new experience for Orange County Democrats. For the first time in recent years, they have multiple viable candidates vying for the Democratic nomination in an area that was once considered a Republican stronghold.
The question for Democrats is whether these contests have gotten too ugly _ and if they could dampen the much-needed Democratic enthusiasm heading into November.
Tensions between the Democratic candidates in the 45th District, held by GOP Rep. Mimi Walters, flared at the state party convention in February. Min secured the endorsement, but volunteers with the campaigns reported heated exchanges between their opponents.
Last week Min launched negative television ads and mailers. He criticizes two opponents in one ad: Porter for not being a licensed attorney in California (she is licensed in Oregon), and Forde for switching his party registration from Republican to Democrat in 2016 (Forde has said he voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012).
Min said his opponents have accused him of starting a whisper campaign aimed at Porter, saying her divorce records were incriminating. The rumors prompted Porter to tell her story to HuffPost. Porter said she took out a restraining order against her abusive husband. Her husband retaliated by saying Porter came at him, a claim the judge dismissed, according to HuffPost.
Min and his wife, who works on domestic violence issues, released a lengthy statement denying he was behind the rumors.
And Min wasn't the only one on stage addressing the negative turn of the primaries.
The forum also hosted three Democrats running in the neighboring 48th District. Businessman Harley Rouda, who has been endorsed by the Sierra Club, was asked about a Think Progress article detailing investments related to crude oil.
Rouda said he had invested in an entity that bet on the price of oil, and he was no longer invested in that entity. And he also said the information was being pushed by one of the opponents on stage with him, referencing stem cell researcher Hans Keirstead.
Keirstead in turn was asked by a Rouda supporter whether he would release his personnel file from his time at UC Irvine, a question related to a Mother Jones report published Tuesday that detailed a series of allegations against Rouda, including affairs with students and that he punched a female student outside of a nightclub. The university investigated the incident and determined the claims were unfounded.
Keirstead said in an interview at his biomedical company in Irvine that he has armed his campaign staffers with "fight the smear toolkits" to respond to questions about the lawsuit. He said he expected the issue to come up in the general election should he face GOP Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, but was surprised it was an issue in the primary.
Negativity between Navy veteran Gil Cisneros and health insurance executive Andy Thorburn in the neighboring 39th District prompted the state party and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to intervene.
The party organizations brokered an agreement between the two last week that they would refrain from attacking each other ahead of the June 5 primary, where Democrats run the risk of not advancing to November. Under the California primary system, the top two vote-getters advance to the general election regardless of party affiliation.
And further south in the 49th District, environmental attorney Mike Levin, also endorsed by the Sierra Club, has been forced to respond to claims from fellow Democrat Paul Kerr. A section at the top of Levin's campaign website is titled "Paul's False Claims," where Levin counters claims that he is a lobbyist who supports drilling to access natural gas. Levin, Kerr and Marine veteran Doug Applegate did not respond to requests for comment.
Fellow 49th District candidate Sara Jacobs said Democrats should be focused on Republicans and President Donald Trump.
"The Democratic candidates who are attacking other Democrats are just doing the Republicans a big favor right now," Jacobs said in a statement.
The question for Democrats in these races is whether the nastiness of the primaries will weaken the Democratic effort in the general election _ especially in an area where every ounce of Democratic energy is needed.
Orange County is traditionally Republican. Hillary Clinton did win the county in 2016, even though GOP lawmakers in the area were re-elected. Democrats say the area is shifting away from its Republican past, but they acknowledge hard work is ahead for the candidates trying to flip some of these seats.
So with the primary campaigns becoming more divisive will opposing candidates' supporters still be willing to donate, knock on doors, and make phone calls for the eventual winner?
Deborah and Wyatt Carr, a couple volunteering with Porter's campaign who attended her town hall meeting at a Laguna Woods retirement community on Saturday, said they would reluctantly vote for Min if he wins the primary.
Johanne Kaminski, a passionate Min supporter, said after the Tuesday night forum that she was concerned the negative environment (which she viewed as coming from Porter's campaign) would hurt Democratic unity after the primary. Kaminiski said should Porter win the primary, she would volunteer with the local county party or state legislative candidates, rather than Porter's campaign.
But the candidates and grass-roots leaders are confident Democratic voters will coalesce around the eventual nominee, despite the divisive primaries
"We may not all exchange Christmas cards at the end of this, but I hope that everyone in this race has the same goal and remembers the same goal, that this is about beating Mimi Walters at the end of the day," Min said in an interview at a canvass launch in Lake Forest on Sunday. Min said he would publicly endorse and support the winner of the primary "to the best of my abilities."
Keirstead was also not concerned about decreased energy on the ground, and said he would also back Rouda even though he believed Rouda was circulating the lawsuit to reporters. Rouda was also hopeful Democrats would come together.
"I know that people think that's a concern," Rouda said of sustained Democratic divisions after the primary. "But everybody's been very committed to whoever the Democratic candidate is that advances ... And ultimately whoever emerges is a better choice than Dana Rohrabacher."
Marian Bodner, the leader of Indivisble CA39, also doubted that hard feelings from the primary would deflate her group's passionate members, and that they would be less engaged if their preferred candidate did not win.
"I think we all feel like there's just way too much at stake to give up or be turned off just because of that," Bodner said.
