Christopher Smith (California)

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This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Christopher Smith (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent California's 25th Congressional District. He lost in the primary on March 3, 2020. Smith unofficially withdrew from the race but appeared on the primary election ballot on March 3, 2020.

In January 2020, Smith announced he suspended his campaign.[1] He still appeared on the primary ballot.[2]

Elections

2020

See also: California's 25th Congressional District election, 2020

General election

General election for U.S. House California District 25

Incumbent Mike Garcia defeated Christy Smith in the general election for U.S. House California District 25 on November 3, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Mike Garcia
Mike Garcia (R) Candidate Connection
 
50.0
 
169,638
Image of Christy Smith
Christy Smith (D)
 
50.0
 
169,305

Total votes: 338,943
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for U.S. House California District 25

The following candidates ran in the primary for U.S. House California District 25 on March 3, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Christy Smith
Christy Smith (D)
 
31.7
 
49,679
Image of Mike Garcia
Mike Garcia (R) Candidate Connection
 
23.9
 
37,381
Image of Stephen Knight
Stephen Knight (R)
 
18.9
 
29,645
Image of Cenk Uygur
Cenk Uygur (D)
 
5.9
 
9,246
Image of Getro Elize
Getro Elize (D)
 
4.0
 
6,317
Image of David Lozano
David Lozano (R)
 
4.0
 
6,272
Image of Anibal Valdez-Ortega
Anibal Valdez-Ortega (D)
 
3.1
 
4,920
Image of Robert Cooper
Robert Cooper (D)
 
2.9
 
4,474
Image of George Papadopoulos
George Papadopoulos (R)
 
1.8
 
2,749
Image of Otis Lee Cooper
Otis Lee Cooper (Independent)
 
1.4
 
2,183
Image of Christopher Smith
Christopher Smith (D) (Unofficially withdrew)
 
1.3
 
2,089
Image of Daniel Mercuri
Daniel Mercuri (R) Candidate Connection
 
0.6
 
913
Image of Kenneth Jenks
Kenneth Jenks (R) Candidate Connection
 
0.4
 
682

Total votes: 156,550
Candidate Connection = 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

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Christopher Smith did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.

Campaign website

ECONOMIC EQUALITY

Growing income inequality might be the single biggest challenge facing our country. The promise of the American Dream is growing increasingly out of reach for the majority of Americans. Wages for the middle class have stagnated or gone down. Hard working families are falling behind and are often falling into poverty. Meanwhile, the top 1% of earners are now wealthier than at any point in history. Around the country, its increasingly harder to ignore the difference between the ‘haves' and the 'have nots,’ and it's my belief that it’s a major contributing factor to many of our country’s toughest problems.

I believe that being a citizen of the wealthiest, most innovative, and most productive country in the history of the world should guarantee everyone a life free from poverty. No one in our country should go hungry. No one should have to live in their car, on the street, or on the edge. We deserve an economy that works for us all. All Americans deserve to flourish, regardless of the circumstances of their lives.

I will work with any member of Congress that’s willing to help grow the economy and increase equal prosperity for hard working Americans that have been left behind in this new Gilded Age.

Economic inequality is a result of the intersection of many public issues. The number one cause of bankruptcy is due to healthcare emergencies and new technological advances are automating away millions of jobs.

If we truly want to solve income inequality, then our solutions must incorporate bold ideas that touch on every aspect of our lives and economy. We must support workers rights and strength our labor unions.

Central to this plan is the Green New Deal. The Green New Deal will create upwards of 20 million jobs working with technologies of the future. It will generate economic growth while transitioning away from non-sustainable technologies.

Policies I will fight for include:

  • The Green New Deal - creating 20 million jobs for the new economy
  • Repealing the Trump deficit-expanding ‘tax cuts’ that benefited the wealthiest Americans
  • Medicare for all
  • Strengthening Social Security and other elements of our social safety net
  • Working towards a Universal Basic Income (UBI) underwritten by a VAT tax
  • A federal minimum wage of at least $15/hr
  • Making sure corporations pay their fair share, especially those that have benefitted from being based in the United States.
  • Ending tax evasion loopholes and increase funds for auditing corporations and the wealthy (who the IRS, as they recently admitted, don’t have the funds to properly audit)
  • Strengthening labor unions and laws that protect collective bargaining
  • Protecting workers in the technology sector that pursue efforts to unionize

IMMIGRATION REFORM

I believe in an immigration system that keeps compassion for the human at it its center. This belief comes from a personal place. Very recently, in the fall of 2019, my stepmother was sworn in as a US citizen. She, like most immigrants, is a wonderful person that works hard and contributes a great deal to her community and our country.

About 10 years ago I spent two weeks in El Paso and Juarez learning about the complex issue of immigration. Through my discussions with Border Patrol agents, local politicians, immigration attorneys, and nonprofit services I learned first hand that the people coming to this country are just like me and you. Migrants don’t choose to leave their homes and communities for no reason. They leave their lives behind because they are looking to provide a better life for their families or escape violence in the countries from which they come. They still believe that America is the place where one can come to have an opportunity, to stand on their feet, and to have the protection of functioning governmental institutions. Let there be no doubt that immigrants are rightful keepers of the American Dream.

For too long now our President, and other people in leadership roles in our country, have vilified good people and implemented cruel policies to keep them away.

To create a compassionate immigration system I would pursue legislation to:

  • Immediately release all detained children to their families
  • Immediately close all for-profit ICE detention centers and update government run facilities to provide a higher standard of care
  • Abolish ICE
  • Increase the number of immigration judges to shorten immigration legal proceedings
  • Implement a guest worker program
  • Extend DACA indefinitely with a path for DACA recipients to gain citizenship
  • Restructure our immigration policy to provide those seeking refuge with safe harbor

PROTECTING OUR WATER SUPPLY

As a result of the changing climate, droughts are now a constant presence in the American West. The depletion of our freshwater resources has severely impacted our farmers and agricultural sector. Many of our cities fight over the scarce water that remains available for use, and their residents are far ed with skyrocketing water bills.

While addressing climate change is a fundamental part of solving this problem, there are ways to help ease the burden on our farmers and cities.

In Congress I would propose:

  • A comprehensive water audit to determine where efficiencies could be made and how best to manage our limited freshwater resources
  • A tax on fresh water that's used in some industries, namely things like bottled water, beverages, and resource extraction
  • Re-evaluating our outdated system of water rights

RESTORING AMERICAN LEADERSHIP ABROAD

Under this current administration, our foreign policy and leadership is in shambles, and people around the world have stopped looking to the US for leadership on the challenges facing the international community. America is ceding this leadership role to our adversaries in China and Russia. Developing nations are increasingly looking to them for investment, aid, and protection.

We are abdicating our leadership role and ceding it to authoritarian regimes around the world.

As a member of Congress I would advocate for increasing our role in the world. I would pursue policies of engagement rather than avoidance.

International affairs policies I would support include:

  • Strengthen and increase American support for international organizations such as the United Nations, WTO, Cites, and I would support joining the International Criminal Court
  • Expanding cross cultural programs such as the Peace Corps
  • Strengthening human rights around the world and increasing penalties for state actors that violate human rights, specifically:
    • China for treatment of religious minority groups, Taiwan, and Hong Kong protestors
    • Russia for it’s attacks on press freedom, political assassinations, and interference in foreign elections
    • Saudi Arabia for ordering extrajudicial murder, violating women’s rights, and its longstanding support of terrorism
    • Other, similar cases of human rights violations carried out by state actors
  • Expand foreign aid to Taiwan and other countries that champion democracy in the face of authoritarianism
  • Defend Democracy around the world through nonviolent policies
  • Intervene militarily only when it’s required to save innocent lives, but never for empire building or for economic reasons

ANIMAL WELFARE

Animal welfare is not often discussed in our political discourse, but it’s an issue I care deeply about. As a (non-annoying) vegan and dog dad, I believe we should extend compassion to all living beings, not just our fellow human beings.

As a member of Congress, I would champion the welfare of animals. I would sponsor legislation that:

  • Makes it illegal to sell beauty and color cosmetic products that have been tested on animals in the United States
  • Criminalizes the abuse of animals in the agricultural sector
  • Decriminalizes and increases protections for whistleblowers in the agricultural sector

FAIR ELECTIONS

As our partisan politics have become increasingly more divisive, we have seen the GOP co-opt our elections as a way to tilt the playing field to their advantage. We have seen a dramatic increase in voter suppression laws and tactics. We have seen state legislatures extensively gerrymander districts to favor one party over the other.

This needs to change.

In order to fix many of these issues we need to first fix our elections first. We need to limit corporate money in elections and pursue an amendment to effectively stop Citizens United. We also need to increase voter turnout, not try to make it harder for people to vote. While serving in Congress I would tirelessly pursue all of these policies and be a champion for more democratic elections.

Specifically I would:

  • Support an amendment overturning Citizens’ United
  • Introduce / support legislation that makes election day a federal holiday
  • Support any legislation that allows greater participation in our elections

MEDICARE FOR ALL

Everyone in our country deserves access to quality healthcare and preventative care.

Millions of Americans are struggling to pay their rising insurance premiums, many others will slip into poverty because of an unplanned health emergency. While the quality of our healthcare remains high, access to that care is out of reach for many of our fellow Americans.

In the wealthiest country in the history of the world, we can do better, we must do better. Providing comprehensive coverage at low or no cost is a moral imperative for an advanced society.

A few years ago, when I didn’t have health insurance, I started to have scary symptoms that could indicate a serious health condition. After many difficult years, Congress passed the Affordable Care Act and I was finally able to afford the care I needed. The illness turned out to be minor, but during that period I understood how vulnerable America’s millions of uninsured people are. I never want anyone to have to go through what I went through.

And the most frustrating thing is that no one needs to.

While growing up as the son of an Army officer, my family had access to excellent healthcare at no cost. The military has been providing our men and women in uniform universal healthcare coverage for decades. If we can find away to provide care for our service members, then we can find a way to provide it for our citizens.

More specifically, I believe that the best way to fix our healthcare crisis is to gradually implement Medicare For All. Under a Medicare For All system, our net out-of-pocket expenses would go down and no one would have to go without quality healthcare again.

As part of a comprehensive healthcare plan, we will need to implement prescription drug reform, address medical malpractice lawsuit abuse, and the unjustifiable profit margins of some medical device manufacturers and medical service providers.

PROTECTING OUR PLANET & THE GREEN NEW DEAL

Climate change is the looming crisis that haunts the future of our children but affects every person in the United States today.

In Southern California we’re already feeling the devastating impact of our inaction on climate change. We have decades long droughts that harm our farmers and increase our water costs.

Our fire season gets increasingly longer while the fires become more frequent and more severe. District 25 has seen several fires this year.

Sea level rise has already begun to erode the beautiful California coastline, affecting personal property and our beaches.

It’s no longer possible to kick the can down the road. Instead, it’s imperative to face climate change head-on, as soon as possible, with every resource at our disposal. Solutions will include reimagining our energy infrastructure and developing renewable technologies of tomorrow.

But that won’t be enough.

We will only have a true sustaining environment once we confront our society’s troubled relationship with the natural world. To this end I will support and pursue the following policies through legislation:

  • The Green New Deal
    • Creating 20 million jobs for the new economy
    • Pledging to cut all carbon emissions from power generation and transportation by 2030, and a carbon free economy by 2050
    • Investing in large-scale civic projects benefiting the health of our environment and people
    • Supporting small farmers by supporting permaculture and more sustainable farming practices
    • Increased federal grants and loans for technologies that address the world’s most pressing environmental and energy issues, focusing on minority and women lead companies
    • Pays for itself within 15 years
  • A national carbon tax and dividend, which will offset the rising costs of energy by providing a dividend to every resident - similar to the Alaskan Permanent Fund, but instead it’s a divided where residents benefit from fighting emissions, not creating them
  • Committing to abiding by the goals outlined in the Paris Climate Agreement through legislation
  • Protecting public lands by fully funding The Land and Water Conservation Fund, which is the country’s most important conservation program. It funds over 40,000 projects across all fifty states and every congressional district, and has protected 2.37 million acres
  • Opposing any policies that transfer public lands to private interests or that unduly exploit the resources held in common by the people for the gain of individuals or corporations
  • Comprehensive plastics policy to reduce the use of single-use plastics and reduce plastic waste
    • Regulation and tax on the manufactures of single-use plastics with a goal to eliminate all manufacturing and sale of these items by 2035
    • Goal to eliminate all plastics in our waste stream by 2050
    • Federal grants for states to clean up plastic pollution in our national waterways and coastlines

EQUALITY AND CIVIL RIGHTS FOR ALL

  • As the son of a lesbian, the brother of a lesbian, and the brother in-law of someone who is hearing impaired, this issue touches my life daily.

Everyone citizen enjoys the undeniable right to pursue a meaningful life - one free of judgement, obstacles, or lack of opportunity based solely on one's race, sex, gender, sexual identity, or ability status.

After the optimism of electing our first black president, we seem to have slid backwards about 50 years. Racism, sexism, and all the other isms seem to have found safe harbor in our country again. We must all stand up and say “Enough!”

As a member of Congress, I would be a tireless champion for the underrepresented, underprivileged, and those who are most vulnerable in our society.

I support the Equal Rights Amendment and would back any legislation that furthers the cause of equality and justice. Specifically I would like to support or sponsor legislation that:

  • Increases funding for hate crime investigations and prosecutions
  • Creates protections for currently unprotected classes of people, specifically for the LGBTQ community
  • Increases accessibility on the internet for the differently abled
  • Protects and provides services for those on the autism spectrum and people facing all types of emotional and mental challenges

TECHNOLOGY AND SECURE ELECTIONS

Our world is going through a period of rapid technological advancement the likes of which we have never seen before. This presents many complex challenges that take a great deal of technical knowledge in order to craft effective policies.

With SOPA and PIPA, we have seen misguided attempts to change copyright laws in a way that would cripple the internet, and industries of the future. With the Trump Administration and the appointment of Ajit Pai, we have scene the giant telecoms weaken net neutrality laws and protections for the consumer. Our elections are currently being attacked from state and non state actors from around the world and the GOP in Congress have show no appetite to try to address this pressing issue that cuts to the heart of our democratic process.

Compounding this problem further is that most members of congress are technologically illiterate.

As a former software developer I am passionate about issues of technology, privacy, and network security. I would champion the following policies:

  • An Internet Bill of Rights that would codify the right to privacy and cryptography on the internet, among other things
  • Breaking up big tech monopolies, like Amazon, Google, and Facebook, in order to foster more competition and a healthier marketplace
  • Adopting GDPR in the United States
  • Sponsoring a telecom bill for the future that would reclassify ISPs as telecommunications services, thus ensuring net neutrality
  • Increased oversight of telecommunications company billing and service practices while increasing competition by lowering the barrier to entry for competitors

STRENGTHENING OUR INSTITUTIONS

Under the Trump Administration, we have seen a deliberate and coordinated effort to undermine, dismantle, and tarnish the reputation our longstanding federal institutions.

We have seen unqualified people appointed to head agencies that have been diametrically opposed to their mission for their entire career. We have seen the Justice Department be co-opted and used as a political shield and weapon against the Administration's perceived enemies. The State Department has been used as a tool to further the political interests of the President, and career public servants have been attacked, dismissed, and sidelined.

As a member of Congress I will fight every day to restore these institutions and remind our fellow Americans of the great services they provide to us and our country. When an option, I would exert oversight on the executive branch and hold political appointees accountable for their actions.

I would also seek legislation requiring one full year of civics education for students in public high schools.

COMMON SENSE GUN LAWS

My father grew up working on ranches out west and served for 20 year sin the US Army. He loves guns. He taught me how to shoot at a young age and he now keeps a blog about gun rights. My experience being raised by him has shown me that guns can be owned and operated responsibly and that in many cases they can be used as a legitimate tool.

However, if common sense gun laws can save even a small percentage of lives, then we must implement them. I support:

  • Universal background check with no loopholes for gun shows
  • Red flag laws
  • A ban on high capacity magazines
  • Assault weapons ban
  • Optional gun buyback program[3]
—Christopher Smith's 2020 campaign website[4]


See also


External links

Footnotes


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