2018 Midterm Elections: Candidates

Governor Race

1. John Cox is the Republican candidate for governor of California. He is running in the general election on Nov. 6 after advancing from the primaries on June 5, 2018. Cox supports Proposition 6 which will repeal fuel tax increases and vehicle fees that were enacted in 2017 which would reduce funding for highway and road maintenance and repairs and transit programs. This includes the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017 (RRAA) and requires voter approval for the California State Legislature to impose, increase or extend fuel taxes or vehicle fees in the future. He opposes the High Speed Rail Project which is a high-speed rail system under construction in California and instead wants to invest in better roads, highways and more efficient transit projects. Cox supports clean energy efforts and opposes any new or expanded offshore oil drilling.

 

1. Gavin Newsom is the Democratic candidate for governor of California. Newsom is serving as the 49th and current lieutenant governor of California, elected in 2010 and re-elected in 2014. He served as Mayor of San Francisco from 2004 to 2011. Newsom supports California’s status as a sanctuary state, advocates for the state’s public colleges and universities to be sanctuary campuses and calls on Congress to pass a reformed DREAM Act. He supports Planned Parenthood funding and hopes to launch a statewide Getting to Zero initiative which would fight to reduce the HIV and Hepatitis C (HCV) epidemics. Newsom also supports all five major criminal justice ballot initiatives including sentencing reform, three strikes reform and the repeal of the death penalty.

Congressional 41st District Race

 

• Mark Takano is running for reelection for the 41st District of California which includes Moreno Valley, Perris and Riverside. In 2012, Takano became the first openly gay person of color to be elected to Congress. Takano supports the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and intends to protect and strengthen Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Takano has filed legislation to regulate the for-profit college industry, to protect the benefits earned by veterans and to expand access to job skills training programs. In Congress currently, Takano is the acting ranking member of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee and a member of the Education and Workforce Committee as well as the Science, Space and Technology Committee. Takano co-founded the Congressional Maker Caucus in order to support the development of new technologies and manufacturing processes.

 

1. Aja Smith is the Republican candidate for the 41st district of California which includes Moreno Valley, Perris and Riverside. Smith joined the U.S. Air Force Reserve in 2002 and in 2007 was deployed to Qatar and stationed at Al-Udeid Air Force Base during Operation Enduring Freedom. Smith supports strengthening national security by providing the military with proper technology and increased manpower. Smith wishes to

ensure that veterans receive health care and retirement benefits. Smith also supports lowering taxes for small businesses and individuals.

Senate Race

 

• Dianne Feinstein is running for reelection for California Senator, a seat she has held since 1992. She is a member of the Democratic Party and sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee in which she reviews intelligence reports, budgets and activities and participates in committee investigations. She supports investments to help create more jobs and tax reform to encourage growth and reduce the deficit. Feinstein believes that higher education should be more affordable. She supports the ongoing efforts to improve access to healthcare as well as investing in research for disease prevention. In March 2017, Feinstein established legislation that required all amateur athletics governing bodies to report sex abuse allegations to law enforcement or a child welfare agency within 24 hours. She drafted legislation along with John McCain in 2015 that would ban the torture of detainees in U.S. custody which was signed into law. Feinstein most recently voted against the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court on Oct. 5 and Oct. 6.

 

1. Kevin de Leon, a member of the Democratic Party and currently serving in the California State Senate, is running against incumbent Dianne Feinstein for U.S. Senate. de Leon served as the state senate president pro tempore from Oct. 15, 2014, to March 21, 2018. He supports Medicare for all. He has proposed a Green New Deal that will restore infrastructure in a sustainable way by capping carbon emissions and pushing for consumption of only renewable energy by 2045. He wrote SB 350 which is the law that requires that 50 percent of the Golden State’s energy consumption be sourced from renewable energy by 2030. He proposes a gun control plan that would ban assault weapons, expand background checks, close the domestic violence loophole, create harsher gun trafficking penalties, fund gun violence research and fund community programs in urban areas that are impacted by gun violence. If elected, de Leon intends to co-sign the College for All Act that would dedicate more than $3 billion to student aid which would cover undergraduate tuition for all Californians enrolled in the California Community College, California State University and University of California systems. He defends the DREAM Act as well as ensuring that California remains a sanctuary state. de Leon supports the Marijuana Justice Act which would remove marijuana from the federal government’s list of controlled dangerous substances.

State Assembly

 

• District 61

• Jose Medina is the Democratic candidate for State Assembly of District 61, which consists of Riverside, Moreno Valley, Perris and Mead Valley. Medina is running for reelection and was first elected into office in 2012 and reelected in 2014 and 2016. Medina was once a teacher in the Riverside County School District and is currently the chair of the Assembly Committee on Higher Education. He prioritizes educating the workforce. Medina is currently advocating for the expansion of the Cal Grant C program to support students who want to go to college and improve the quality of higher education as well as K-12 education. On Oct. 1, Medina’s bill, AB 2012, which ensures that part-time community college faculty have the same parental leave rights as full-time faculty, was signed by Gov. Brown. He is also supportive of increasing California’s carbon-free electricity goals to 100 percent by 2025 and prohibiting non-disclosure agreements in sexual assault cases.

• Ali Mazarei is the Republican candidate for Assembly District 61. Mazarei was not on the June 5 primary ballot however, he received the second-most votes as a write-in candidate. He supports Prop 6 which would repeal the gas tax. He opposes Senate Bill 606 and Assembly Bill 1668 which established an indoor, per person water use goal of 55 gallons per day until 2025. He opposes the California High-Speed Rail project which is a high-speed train system under construction.

 

2. District 60
   1. Sabrina Cervantes is the Democratic incumbent for State Assembly of District 60, which includes Corona, Eastvale, Jurupa Valley, Norco and parts of the city of Riverside. Cervantes is running for her second term in the general election on Nov. 6 after advancing in the primaries on June 5, 2018. Cervantes’ top priorities are supporting veterans, improving transportation and making higher education more affordable. Cervantes spearheaded the Zero Emission Assurance Project, which has been approved by Gov. Brown and provides partial refunds to people who purchase a replacement battery or fuel cell for a zero-emission vehicle. She has also authored legislation that will provide new college graduates with up to two years of debt relief for federal student loans. Along with that, Cervantes plans to create a system that will allow veteran students to obtain class credits for their military training at community colleges.
   2. Bill Essayli is the Republican candidate for State Assembly of District 60. Essayli, a former U.S. assistant attorney and prosecutor in the Riverside District Attorney’s office, opposes AB 109 which states that new non-violent, non-serious and non-sexual offenders with sentences of longer than one year would be housed in county jail facilities rather than state prisons. He also opposes Proposition 47 which classifies non-serious, non-violent crimes as misdemeanors instead of felonies. Essayli has expressed opposition to Prop 57, which increases the parole and good behavior options for felons who are convicted of nonviolent crimes. He supports Prop 6, which would repeal the gas tax mandated by SB 1. The gas tax would generate revenues of $5.1 billion towards maintenance and repair of highways and roadways as well as transit programs, using funds obtained through taxation on fuel purchases and car registrations. Essayli hopes to increase jobs and small business growth in California as well as reforming the California transportation department, also known as CalTrans. He has also emphasized public safety as a cornerstone of his campaign.

Attorney General

1. Xavier Becerra is the Democratic candidate and the 33rd and current Attorney General of California. He is the first Latino to hold the office in state history. He is also the first Latino to serve on the Ways and Means committee, the chief tax-writing committee in the House of Representatives. Here, he worked to secure fairer tax codes and trade laws as well as protecting Social Security and Medicare. One of his biggest missions is to secure access to quality and affordable health care. Becerra has fought to ensure that the Trump administration continues to support health care subsidies and worked to prevent the limitation of access to contraceptives for women. He has also defended the Affordable Care Act and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), a program that protects immigrant children who came to the U.S at a young age from deportation, in court against the Trump Administration.

 

• Steven Bailey is the Republican candidate for Attorney General of California. He was an elected Superior Court judge in El Dorado County from 2008 to 2017. If elected, Bailey plans to prioritize reducing crime in California. Bailey is supportive of the death penalty and the “Three Strikes” program which is a system that increases prison sentences of criminals who have been previously convicted of two or more serious felonies. He does not believe in strengthening gun control laws; however, he believes that drug and property crime laws should be stricter. Bailey advocates against the early release of felons from their sentences in California and prioritizes the safety of citizens. In addition to reducing crime, he promises to protect California’s sanctuary state status.

 

Treasurer

 

• Fiona Ma is the Democratic candidate for Treasurer of California. She is a Certified Public Accountant and has served as a member of the California Board of Equalization since 2015 as a representative of the 2nd district, which covers 23 counties in California. She believes that the gap between the rich and poor in California is expanding and the way to rectify that is to ensure the growth in California is being effectively managed. Ma supports greater transparency about the state’s finances by endorsing a website tracking the state’s investment health. She promises to ensure the capital necessary to complete projects related to infrastructure, transportation, public schools, housing, water quality, affordable health care and pollution reduction. Her goal as treasurer is to implement a first-time homebuyer program to make housing more accessible and work to lessen college loan debt. To reduce college debt, Ma plans to schedule outreach workshops that will help the public understand some of California’s lesser-known financial programs, such as ScholarShare 529, which helps students form a college savings plan.

 

 

• Greg Conlon is the Republican candidate running for the Treasurer of California. Conlon is a Certified Public Accountant who has been a senior partner in a Big Five accounting firm, Arthur Andersen LLP, for three decades. He has served on the California Public Utilities Commission as president for two years and as commissioner for four years. As Treasurer, Conlon plans to work on eliminating the $800 minimum state franchise income tax to help start-up corporations. Conlon is aiming to improve California’s credit rating by addressing unfunded pension liabilities. He plans to address unfunded pensions liabilities by working to author a new contribution plan for new employees and ensuring that current employees get to keep their present pension plan.