Bill Smith (California congressional candidate)
Bill Smith (No party preference) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent California's 47th Congressional District. He lost in the primary on March 5, 2024.
Smith completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Bill Smith was born in Long Beach, California. Smith's professional experience includes working as a counselor. He earned a bachelor's degree from Indiana University in 1974. Smith earned a J.D. from Northrop University in 1981.[1]
Elections
2024
See also: California's 47th Congressional District election, 2024
California's 47th Congressional District election, 2024 (March 5 top-two primary)
General election
General election for U.S. House California District 47
Dave Min defeated Scott Baugh in the general election for U.S. House California District 47 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Dave Min (D)  | 51.4 | 181,721 |
 | Scott Baugh (R) | 48.6 | 171,554 | |
| Total votes: 353,275 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for U.S. House California District 47
The following candidates ran in the primary for U.S. House California District 47 on March 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Scott Baugh (R) | 32.1 | 57,517 |
| ✔ | | Dave Min (D) | 25.9 | 46,393 |
 | Joanna Weiss (D) | 19.4 | 34,802 | |
 | Max Ukropina (R) | 14.8 | 26,585 | |
 | Long Pham (R) | 2.7 | 4,862 | |
 | Terry Crandall (No party preference) | 1.6 | 2,878 | |
 | Boyd Roberts (D) | 1.4 | 2,570 | |
 | Tom McGrath (No party preference) | 0.9 | 1,611 | |
 | Bill Smith (No party preference) | 0.6 | 1,062 | |
| Shariq Zaidi (D) | 0.4 | 788 | ||
| Total votes: 179,068 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Andrew Goffe (D)
- Weiming Chu (R)
- Harley Rouda (D)
- Julia Hashemieh (R)
- Steven Cotton (R)
- James Griffin (R)
- Mike Schaefer (D)
- Brian Burley (R)
- Lori Kirkland Baker (D)
- Dom Jones (D)
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Smith in this election.
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Bill Smith completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Smith's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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Both parties in Congress have negligently steered us toward a fiscal catastrophe that will bequeath to our children and grandchildren a shocking burden. Both parties have failed to fix the disgrace that has become our border and immigration system. Neither party has moved to change the processes that allow these and other problems to drift into crises.
I am the former Chairman of a labor union owned bank and the former General Counsel of a Fortune 500 finance subsidiary. While I cannot prove it to you here (see my website or meet me on the campaign trail!), I have a long history of creating and effecting solutions to intractable problems and I have powerful proposals to fix those facing us today.
Our 47th District will hold one of America’s most scrutinized and important Congressional elections this year. You can make it another ho-hum, no real change choice, or, by nominating (and electing) a strong independent member, you can deliver a unique and powerful message through both the campaign and the result. I invite you to visit my website billsmithforcongress.com or listen to my five minute podcasts at @independentvoter2024 to see how you can change the way Congress works. - The 47th District may be the most watched -- and consequential -- Congressional election of the year. The winner will both send and BE a message. Thus, this time, your vote is one of great consequence.
- Our dual fiscal and border crises are disgraceful. They are a product of an irresponsible Congress. Congress needs self-imposed guardrails. My proposals will create those guiderails.
- The 47th District deserves a moderate, independent voice that will join the Problem Solvers Caucus as a first act.
VERY CONCERNED AND INFORMED: Upward Mobility. Mental Health Policy. Rational AI regulation. Technical Operation of Congress. Tech Monopolization. COVID Response Lessons. Housing Costs. General Foreign Threats. NATO.
Vision of the Annointed by Thomas Sowell
The Moral Sense by James Q Wilson
The Righteous Mind - Why Good People are Divided by Politics by Jonathan Haidt
The Coddling of the American Mind by Jonathan Haidt
A Theory of Justice by John Rawls
The Road to Serfdom by F.A. Hayek
Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville
The Old Regime and the French Revolution by Alexis de Tocqueville
As a Congressman: a nation on very positive fiscal path and with secure borders and a beneficial immigration system.
Political book: Theory of Moral Sentiments by Adam Smith for an understanding of how cultures thrive.
Personal Growth: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius as a way of thinking and writing about one's day.
Mental Health: CPTSD: From Surviving to Thriving by Pete Walker as a good way of understanding how we thrive in the face of personal challenges.
Series: Slow Horses by Mick Herron as the funniest, best plotted spy series now in the offer.
Physical Health: Breath by James Nestor as an interesting observation about physical health.
What it does badly is its first Constitutional function: initiating spending legislation. In this arena its lack of discipline, its negligence, and its grandstanding at the extremes has allowed our country to drift toward a fiscal nightmare.
Getting our fiscal house in order (this includes, among other actions, annually reducing our debt on real terms and as a percentage of GDP [with crisis exceptions] securing Social Security and Medicare and maintaining the soundness of our currency).
Reacquiring national sovereignty through control of our borders (a national disgrace) and our immigration system.
Responsibly and realistically -- over the short and long term -- addressing the international threats created by the modern totalitarian regime in China and its cohorts, the Islamic Revolutionary Regime in Iran, the current Kremlin regime in Russia and the Kim regime in North Korea. This means, among other things, maintaining the power, competency and morale of our fighting forces!
Responsibly and realistically addressing environmental issues without destroying our economy.
Responsibly and realistically addressing the nature of our food supply and our pharmaceutical industry.
Improving our economy in ways that provide all classes opportunities to grow (and that reduce the gamesmanship and reveal and shame those who game the system) `
I have thought about this question a lot and have come to no firm conclusions about term limits for legislators.
I believe the presidential term limit is a good one because the presidency has assumed so much power since the Depression, WWII and the New Deal that there needs to be an artificial limitation.
Compromise is both a tool and an attitude. Compromise for the sake of compromise can lead to absurd and disastrous results as well as good and agreeable ones. So it must be used and approached carefully and with honor and integrity.
Our nation is too big and too diverse (in both the modern and classic senses of this word) to be governed without compromise. The founders understood this, so compromise, with integrity and honor and for the benefit of the country rather than party or partisan gameplayers, is the essence of Constitutional government.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on January 12, 2023
