Issa

*694 I.

INTRODUCTION

During the course of the 2016 political campaign to represent the 49th Congressional District, challenger candidate Doug Applegate's campaign ran two television advertisements about incumbent Darrell Issa that Issa contends were false and defamatory. Issa filed a lawsuit against Applegate, *695 Doug Applegate for Congress, Inc., and Robert Dempsey (the respondents), alleging a cause of action for libel based on statements made in these two television advertisements.

In response to the lawsuit, the respondents filed a special motion to strike the complaint, pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 425.16. 1 The trial court granted the respondents' anti-SLAPP motion and entered judgment in favor of the respondents on Issa's complaint. Issa now appeals from the judgment.

In resolving this appeal, we must bear in mind the political context in which the advertisements at issue were published and the extraordinary degree of protection accorded to political speech, including political advertising, in our free society. " '[T]he constitutional guarantee [of free speech] has its fullest and most urgent application precisely to the conduct of campaigns for…