WASHINGTON — Republicans are running a Spanish-language ad in Rep. Adam Gray’s district, saying he voted for a tax increase.

Gray, D-Calif., last month voted against the “one big beautiful bill” that would keep federal income tax rates at current levels after 2025 and cut some other taxes. If the bill fails, tax rates would go up next year.

The bill, though, also makes huge cuts to Medicaid, clean energy incentives, aid to help people buy food and other services.

“I voted for the Central Valley,” Gray explained. The bill, he said, “cuts vital assistance to American families in favor of handouts for special interests.”

The Spanish-language spot from the National Republican Congressional Committee, the GOP’s House campaign organization, confronts Democrats and Gray with a challenge.

It translates to “Adam Gray voted for the largest tax increase in generations. Adam Gray would empty your wallet.”

Democrats have not specifically countered the Republican digital ad, which began running Monday, with their own Spanish-language ad.

“Democrats absolutely need to be responding to every comment Republicans make in English and in Spanish,” said Los Angeles-based Democratic consultant Matt Barreto. “That’s an error they’ve made in the past, not always matching them”

If Republicans keep insisting that Gray is backing higher taxes, it “may lay the seeds of a narrative. That’s what Democrats should be worried about,” he said.

At the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, spokeswoman Anna Elsasser told The Sacramento Bee, “Latino voters elected Adam Gray because he delivers for the Central Valley and is focused on making life more affordable for working families.

“House Republicans just voted to rip away health care and food assistance from millions in order to give tax breaks to billionaires. The NRCC can lie about their bill, but voters know Republicans aren’t fighting for them — and they’ll re-elect Congressman Gray in 2026,” she said.

Gray is regarded as one of the nation’s most vulnerable incumbents. He won his seat last year by defeating Rep. John Duarte, a Republican, by 187 votes. The district includes Merced County and parts of Madera, Stanislaus, Fresno and San Joaquin counties.

Gray joined every other Democrat last month in opposing the Republican-authored tax and spending bill.

Most of the tax rates and breaks enacted in 2017 during President Donald Trump’s first term expire at the end of this year, and the bill would continue them. The Senate is now considering the bill.

Are Spanish-language ads effective?

Spanish-language ads are “effective for influencing the Spanish-speaking community,” said Lisa Bryant, chair of the political science department at California State University, Fresno.

About 49% of the Central Valley district’s residents speak Spanish at home, making it their preferred language, she said.

“That number is likely lower for registered voters, but it’s reasonable to assume there is a fairly sizable portion of the voting population who are native Spanish speakers and listen to, watch and read Spanish media,” Bryant said.

She cited research showing that when ads are presented to bilingual speakers and Spanish-language speakers, “there is a positive effect, increasing the support for a candidates - in this case, potentially decreasing support for Gray, because it is an attack ad,” Bryant said.

On the other hand, it has a negative effect on English-only speakers. And, said Barreto and Bryant, that can be countered with other strong ads.

Republicans are running Spanish-language ads in other swing districts. The party sees growth in the Latino GOP vote. Trump won 42% of the Hispanic vote in 2024, exit polls showed, up from 32% in 2020 and 29% in 2016.

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