Staring down the prospect of a Republican flipping his seat, the largely reserved Rep. Jim Langevin (D-RI) is turning up the heat on congressional hopeful Alan Fung.
Langevin unloaded on Fung for a recent mailer sent out with a quote from the congressman lavishing praise on him, countering that it was ‘disingenuous” and echoing attack lines from Democrat contender Seth Magaziner that Fung could serve as a trojan horse for the “radical MAGA agenda.”
“Allan Fung and his D.C. Republican buddies ought to be ashamed of themselves for sending such a blatantly disingenuous mailer,” Langevin said in a scathing statement.
ALLAN FUNG PULLING AHEAD IN DEEP-BLUE RI DISTRICT, FUELING SPECULATION OF GOP UPSET
“Instead of trying to pull the wool over Rhode Islanders’ eyes, Allan Fung should have the courage to be honest about his extreme positions. Sadly, his supporters have resorted to misleading Rhode Islanders,” he added.
The mailer in question was sent out by the Republican-backed Congressional Leadership Fund and featured a quote from Langevin in which he proclaimed, “I have nothing bad to say about Alan … I consider him a friend.”
Langevin appears to have made the remarks in June but argued it was taken out of context because he has endorsed Magaziner, saying that he thought Democratic policies would be a better fit for the district than Republican ones. Both Magaziner and Fung are vying for Rhode Island’s 2nd Congressional District.
“Nice people certainly do not pave the way for Donald Trump and Kevin McCarthy to bring their radical MAGA agenda to Congress, which is exactly what Allan Fung has said he’ll vote to do,” Langevin added.
The mailer also cited comments from House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) describing Fung as a “quality opponent.”
Fung has cast himself as a centrist, distancing himself from GOP anti-abortion policies and campaigning on bringing fiscal sanity back to Washington, D.C. But Magaziner has long sought to caricature him as a puppet for former President Donald Trump and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), both of whom are deeply unpopular in Rhode Island.
“It doesn’t get more disingenuous than Jim Langevin trying to walk back comments he made just weeks ago because they helped make the case that Allan Fung is a great candidate and Seth Magaziner is angry he’s losing,” National Republican Congressional Committee spokeswoman Samantha Bullock said in response to Langevin’s statements, per The Public’s Radio.
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Despite being a Republican in a district that President Joe Biden won by double digits in 2020, Fung has polled ahead of Magaziner in multiple polls, including an internal Magaziner poll. Notably, many of those polls have large margins of error and small sample sizes.
The district has been held by a Democrat for nearly three decades, but Fung has brought ample name recognition and a decent approval rating to the contest. He served as the mayor of Cranston, the second-largest city in the state, from 2009-2021, and ran for governor unsuccessfully twice.
