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David Kim (California)
David Kim (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent California's 34th Congressional District. He lost in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Kim completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
David Kim was born in Sierra Vista, Arizona. Kim earned a bachelor's degree in history from the University of California at Berkeley in 2006 and a juris doctor from the Yeshiva University Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in 2010. His career experience includes working as an immigration litigation attorney and a juvenile dependency attorney and founding The Hollywood Lawyer. Kim has served on the MacArthur Park Neighborhood Council and has been a member of the Los Angeles Tenants Union. He has also been affiliated with the DSA-LA, Los Angeles Dependency Lawyers, and the Korean American Bar Association[1][2][3][4]
Elections
2024
See also: California's 34th Congressional District election, 2024
California's 34th Congressional District election, 2024 (March 5 top-two primary)
General election
General election for U.S. House California District 34
Incumbent Jimmy Gomez defeated David Kim in the general election for U.S. House California District 34 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Jimmy Gomez (D) | 55.6 | 105,394 |
 | David Kim (D)  | 44.4 | 84,020 | |
| Total votes: 189,414 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for U.S. House California District 34
Incumbent Jimmy Gomez and David Kim defeated Calvin Lee, Aaron Reveles, and David Ferrell in the primary for U.S. House California District 34 on March 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jimmy Gomez (D) | 51.2 | 41,611 |
| ✔ | | David Kim (D) | 27.9 | 22,703 |
 | Calvin Lee (R) | 14.1 | 11,495 | |
 | Aaron Reveles (Peace and Freedom Party) | 4.0 | 3,223 | |
 | David Ferrell (D) | 2.8 | 2,312 | |
| Total votes: 81,344 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
2022
See also: California's 34th Congressional District election, 2022
General election
General election for U.S. House California District 34
Incumbent Jimmy Gomez defeated David Kim in the general election for U.S. House California District 34 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jimmy Gomez (D) | 51.2 | 62,244 |
| David Kim (D) | 48.8 | 59,223 | |
| Total votes: 121,467 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for U.S. House California District 34
Incumbent Jimmy Gomez and David Kim defeated Clifton Rio Torrado VonBuck in the primary for U.S. House California District 34 on June 7, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jimmy Gomez (D) | 50.7 | 45,376 |
| ✔ | | David Kim (D) | 39.0 | 34,921 |
| Clifton Rio Torrado VonBuck (R) | 10.2 | 9,150 | ||
| Total votes: 89,447 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Endorsements
To view Kim's endorsements in the 2022 election, please click here.
2020
See also: California's 34th Congressional District election, 2020
General election
General election for U.S. House California District 34
Incumbent Jimmy Gomez defeated David Kim in the general election for U.S. House California District 34 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jimmy Gomez (D) | 53.0 | 108,792 |
| David Kim (D) | 47.0 | 96,554 | |
| Total votes: 205,346 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for U.S. House California District 34
Incumbent Jimmy Gomez and David Kim defeated Frances Yasmeen Motiwalla, Joanne Wright, and Keanakay Scott in the primary for U.S. House California District 34 on March 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jimmy Gomez (D) | 52.0 | 57,066 |
| ✔ | | David Kim (D) | 21.0 | 23,055 |
 | Frances Yasmeen Motiwalla (D) | 13.6 | 14,961 | |
 | Joanne Wright (R) | 7.7 | 8,482 | |
 | Keanakay Scott (D) | 5.6 | 6,089 | |
| Total votes: 109,653 | |||
| = 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
- Shannel Pittman (G)
- Vanessa Aramayo (D)
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
David Kim completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Kim's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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- People-Centered Politics: Our political system drives a disparity of wealth/power between the donor class and the majority of Americans. The lack of substantive improvements in the American quality of life, despite increases in economic productivity over 40 years, is attributable to the corporate stronghold of our politics. Corporate PACs, lobbyists, in conjunction with policies intended to suppress the vote of working-class Americans, stall legislative solutions to economic, environmental, and political crises. We must dismantle this matrix of deceptive governance and replace it with a structure that centers the people. It starts by setting a proper example: I have and will never accept a cent from any corporate donor, unlike the incumbent
- Co-Governance: CA-34 has suffered from a trend experienced by far too many congressional districts- a representative disconnected from their constituency. My campaign is built upon the philosophy of Co-Governance; rather than merely towing the party line, a representative must maintain a mutual relationship with the voices of their district. Those voices, not establishment leadership in Washington, know what is best for their communities. Through in-person town halls, regular office hours, and responsive representation, I will govern with my constituency, ensuring I am solely guided by the needs of the people.
- Life-Empowering Policies: My two prior goals together build a foundation that allows us to advance towards policies that empower all American lives. We must prioritize legislation that constructs social safety nets, giving every individual a guaranteed floor to stand on, and thrive: Medicare for All, tuition-free university for all, affordable/public housing, a Green New Deal, and community investment. Such initiatives equitably address systemic barriers that have historically impeded communities’ development of generational wealth. The incumbent’s collusion with corporate donors and status quo entities leaves him incapable of truly fighting for life-empowering initiatives as this future can only be attained through true progressivism.
Provide economic security for all in the form of a monthly Universal Basic Income, Medicare For All, a Homes Guarantee, free public college/vocational schools, student debt cancellation, Jobs with Living Wages, a 4-Day Work Week and more.
End political corruption by banning corporate PACs from campaign finance (cutting off their support for corporate politicians like the incumbent), overturning Citizens United, increasing the transparency of political donations, delivering Democracy Dollars (Vouchers) and Matching Funds, and instituting Ranked Choice Voting; through these reforms, we can hold our elected officials directly accountable to the people, rather than any corporate interest. Furthermore, centering the people’s interests above all else ensures that our leaders co-govern, rather than merely follow the established party order.
Pass a Green New Deal, and move to clean, renewable energy, eliminating carbon emissions by 2030.
Abolish ICE and grant immediate temporary, permanent status to our undocumented through a fast track to U.S. Citizenship program, while also passing immediate relief now (i.e., eliminating 1-year asylum filing requirement for C08 based work permits; etc.).
Establish a Department of Peace to focus our foreign policy efforts and funds towards peacemaking, rather than fueling the military industrial complex.
I admire Martin Luther King Jr. and respect his unwavering and outspoken commitment to the fight for equality and justice of all peoples. I look up to Mother Theresa for her unconditional love and compassion that she generously shared with all.
Compassion: Without compassion, there's no way an elected official can be grounded in fighting for constituents and the people. An elected official must have deep compassion to recognize and legislate on the problems and issues affecting our people, communities and country.
Passion: Without passion, showing up for your community day in and day out will take a toll. A leader must truly care about those they represent. They must not be afraid to fight for the people at all costs and must not give up or lose focus.
Communication: Not only does a good leader have to understand the needs of their community, but they also have to translate those needs into policy, and advocate effectively for that policy. I make myself available to any constituent who wants to meet with me over video conferencing to discuss their needs, interests and concerns. I will take the lessons I learn from voters with me to Washington.
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 website
Kim’s campaign website stated the following:
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How We Shift the Paradigm My campaign for CA-34 is guided by THREE CORE VALUES. Life Empowering Policies I view Life Empowerment policies as a multi-step approach to governance. We can implement a protective safety-net to secure everyone’s basic needs, and establish the supportive framework necessary to allow every family and individual to fulfill their own futures. Personal dreams, community goals, collective joy, familial love, and generational hope all are fueled by eliminating the weight of financial despair which burdens so many hard-working peoples. How do we eliminate that burden? We build upon the work of progressives from a past generation. Progressives of the New Deal. Progressives of Great Society. We take their blueprint, and apply it to policies of today, prioritizing equity and systemic reformation.
Co-governance We can ensure that this happens through co-governance.
Co-governance has the potential to expand beyond these discretionary measures, however. As an elected representative, I seek to pass our Responsive Representation Bill:
Our elected federal representatives aren’t co-governing, communicating and coordinating with our constituents, activists, community organizations or local leaders. They are instead passively co-sponsoring bills when told to do so by the ruling class. Therefore we cannot expect them to understand our struggle, and the urgency required to implement substantive change. This disconnect results in a government that allows its people to slip through cracks into perpetual ruin, as it abandons their collective future. It’s time to take our power back' as a people and create a government that represents us, and that starts with voting in 100% people-powered candidates who are sourced and rooted in the community, and who will co-govern, communicate and coordinate. That is what I promise to do as your Congressperson. People Centered Politics
How We Plan to Do It Democracy Vouchers For too long, the needs of impoverished communities and marginalized peoples have been entirely ignored within the modern political system. The reason? The lack of campaign dollars flowing from these communities to politicians in power. We can force our representatives to listen to their true constituents by delivering political power to the people’s hands, in the form of a democracy voucher which they can use to donate to any representative who truly meets their needs. Ranked Choice Voting It’s time for us to re-examine our election system, with the question of who it truly benefits? Right now, it solely benefits the interests of the two parties’ establishment at the helm of the political machine. Established incumbents keep taking advantage of the two-party system, forcing unsatisfied voters to keep voting for the status quo, in order to prevent a worse option winning. Ranked-choice voting allows people to vote for the candidates they truly desire, without succumbing to the pressures of the current two-party restriction. It allows true progressive candidates like David to take on establishment incumbents all across the country! Enfranchisement Holding Elected Officials Accountable A revolving door in Washington has created an intimate relationship between elected representatives and lobbyists. Politicians seeking to advance their personal interests move from the public to private sector, using their Washington connections to represent corporations as career lobbyists. Furthermore, representatives can use their post to aid the very companies and industries they hold private ownership in. Eliminating these opportunities for corruption disincentivizes self-interested agents from seeking office. What This Will Do For Us |
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| —David Kim’s campaign website (2024)[6] | ||
2022
David Kim completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Kim's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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- Everyone deserves the right to live, to have housing, to have healthcare, to have a sustainable job, to have money to pay for food and basic expenses, to legally live here and work, to apply for U.S. permanent residency/citizenship, to have responsive representation by their government leaders and to be fairly treated despite skin color, race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and religion.
- None of us should feel like the floor can be ripped out from under us. All of us should be able to pursue our dreams and truly live the one life we’ve been given, and be able to fully experience and live life, not just survive it. If the government is supposed to be of, for and by the people, then its priority should be to allow us, the people, to THRIVE.
- With the 2022 campaign in CA-34, we have a chance to help uplift everyone in our communities. In November 2020, our 100% people-powered grassroots campaign came close to winning with 47.1 of the total votes cast in the General Election for CA34’s congressional seat despite going up against an incumbent who raised 10x more money by pocking more corporate PAC and special interest money than a majority of members in Congress. It’s clear that people in our district want and need transformative change, but that transformative change won’t happen if we continue re-electing the same career politicians. It’s time to put an end to the corporate influence of politics.
Provide economic security for all in the form of a monthly Universal Basic Income, Medicare For All, a Homes Guarantee, free public college/vocational schools, student debt cancellation, Jobs with Living Wages, a 4-Day Work Week and more.
End political corruption by banning corporate PACs from campaign finance and funding corporate politicians like the incumbent, overturning Citizens United, increasing the transparency of political donations, and passing Democracy Dollars (Vouchers), Ranked Choice Voting and Matching Funds so that we can have our elected officials be held accountable to the people, and not to corporate interests and money that re-elect them, and have leaders who co-govern with us, the people, and not the Democratic or Republican parties.
Pass a Green New Deal, and move to clean, renewable energy and zero fossil fuel use, eliminating carbon emissions by 2030.
Abolish ICE and grant immediate temporary, permanent status to our undocumented through a fast track to U.S. Citizenship program, while also passing immediate relief now as well (i.e., eliminating 1-year asylum filing requirement for C08 based work permits; etc.).
Establish a Department of Peace to focus our foreign policy efforts and funds towards peacemaking and not war, or the military industrial complex.
Reappropriate funds from military, prison systems and police to more resources for communities, and first responder alternatives.
I admire Martin Luther King Jr. and respect his unwavering and outspoken commitment to the fight for the equality and justice of all peoples. I look up to Mother Theresa for her unconditional love and compassion that she generously shared and gave to all.
Compassion: Without compassion, there's no way an elected official can be grounded in fighting for constituents and the people. An elected official must have deep compassion through which to see, understand and legislate on, the problems and issues affecting our people, communities and country.
Passion: Without passion, showing up for your community day in and day out will take a toll. A leader must truly care about those they represent. They must not be afraid to fight for the people at all costs and must not give up or lose focus.
Communication: Not only does a good leader have to understand the needs of their community, they also have to translate those needs into policy and advocate effectively for that policy. I make myself available to any constituent who wants to meet with me over video conferencing to discuss their needs, interests and concerns. I will take the lessons I learn from voters with me to Washington.
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 website
Kim's campaign website stated the following:
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Universal Basic Income What is UBI?
Why UBI? In addition to reducing widespread poverty, a Universal Basic Income of $1000 per month to every American adult will cost less to implement than our current inefficient means-tested relief programs. The federal government would provide UBI payments directly into the hands of the American people through free public banking. Numerous basic income experiments have shown:
Furthermore, UBI has the potential to increase the economy by 13% and help revive pandemic-ravaged industries like retail and hospitality. While some gross cost calculations for the UBI program run into the trillions, the net cost, or “real cost” is calculated to be just a sixth of the oft-mentioned price tag — an investment that our nation can make at a lower net price than the current defense budget. Universal Basic Income FAQs Has Universal Basic Income ever been done before? Experiments with unconditional cash benefits around the world have proven to be one of the most successful ways of reducing poverty. The fear that cash recipients would waste their money on drugs or alcohol, stop working, or have more kids has been disproven by the World Bank. In fact, many of these behaviors were actually reduced. In the last 50 years, there have been more than 30 cash transfer programs studied. Here are a few of our favorites:
The data is clear – giving people money enables them to live better lives. Since 1998, there have been a total of 461 research papers published on the topic. You can view them all here. How will we pay for a Universal basic income? The following sources would help pay for a Universal Basic Income: Spending reallocation and increased efficiency. Specifically, UBI would be funded by redistributing the money that already exists in the economy into people’s hands and a tax system that targets the wealthy class and large corporations, not regular people and small businesses. Things to consider:
Some studies have shown that $1 to a poor parent will result in as much as $7 in cost-savings and economic growth. New economic growth. Putting money into the hands of American consumers would grow the economy. The Roosevelt Institute projected that the economy would grow by approximately $2.5 trillion and create 4.6 million new jobs after 6 years. This would generate approximately $800 – 900 billion in new revenue from economic growth and activity. Wouldn’t a $1,000/month UBI trigger inflation? No, because the leading theory in monetary economics states that inflation is based on changes in the supply of money. By providing a $1,000/month UBI to every U.S. Citizen, the government would not change the supply of money but instead would redistribute the money supply that is already in the economy. Even if some portion of UBI were to be created through fiscal policy, the Chair of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, has admitted that our economy can sustain a healthy amount of inflation in service of reducing unemployment. Inflation is not an across the board evil; the gains from UBI would outweigh any inflationary costs. Will UBI replace existing welfare programs? UBI will supplement and not replace non-means-tested social safety net programs that cover healthcare, housing assistance, childcare, food, etc. In addition, UBI will also supplement all existing disability benefits, including SSI, since many disabled individuals rely on their SSI eligibility to receive Medicaid and Long Term Services & Supports (LTSS), which cannot be covered by $1000/month alone. UBI will also enhance Social Security retirement benefits, since people pay into these benefits throughout their lives. That money belongs to them. For means-tested (based on income level) social safety net programs, studies have shown that they often trap their recipients in poverty if they wish to continue receiving benefits, and discourage people from earning additional income or finding a job. Thus, means-tested welfare programs that can be replaced by $1000/month should not be included with UBI. By providing every adult with a $1000/month UBI, with the programs listed above, we can provide every American with a financial floor to stand on. This money is given with no strings attached and is not dependent on one’s employment status, empowering each recipient to obtain a job and seek additional income on top of the $1,000/month UBI instead of spending countless hours proving eligibility for means-tested benefits. But wouldn’t providing $1,000/month UBI discourage people from working or finding work? No. In fact, decades of research on cash transfer programs within our nation (e.g. Alaska) and across the world have found that the only people who work fewer hours when given direct cash transfers are new mothers and kids in school. In several studies, high school graduation rates rose. In some cases, people even work more. Quoting a Harvard and MIT study, “we find no effects of [cash] transfers on work behavior.” Well, wouldn’t people spend the $1,000/month UBI on dumb things like drugs and alcohol? No, not according to the decades of research. Decision-making has been shown to improve when people have greater economic security. Giving people resources will enable them to make better decisions to improve their situation. As Dutch philosopher Rutger Bregman puts it, “Poverty is not a lack of character. It’s a lack of cash.” In many of the studies where cash is given to the poor, there has been no increase in drug and alcohol use. Rather, many people used it to try and reduce their alcohol consumption or substance abuse. In Alaska, residents regularly put the petroleum dividend they receive from the state into accounts for their children’s education. The assumption that poor people will be irresponsible with their money and squander it is rooted in biased stereotypes rather than truth. Wouldn’t employers start paying less? No. UBI will actually empower workers, because with consistent, unconditional cash to cover expenses, every U.S. citizen would be able to be more selective about the working conditions they are willing to accept. With an increase in bargaining power, workers would have the leverage across the board to fight for higher wages and benefits and strengthen what has long been a stagnant labor market. Is providing $1,000/month a partisan issue? If you see who has talked about Universal Basic Income in American history, they are leaders on both sides of the aisle. UBI has been championed by people of all political backgrounds. For conservatives, providing UBI means less red tape, less bureaucracy, and less government involvement in people’s lives, because the $1,000/month would be given consistently and without a complicated application process. For liberals, providing UBI means leveling the playing field and providing equal access, opportunity, and assistance to all. So, who’s supported Universal Basic Income before? It was first supported in America by founding father Thomas Payne, who referred to basic income payments as a “natural inheritance.” UBI and similar cash programs began picking up steam in the mid 20th century during the industrial revolution as early as 1918. With developed countries producing more than ever, the idea resurfaced with intensity being backed by numerous Nobel-Prize-winning economists such as Milton Friedman and F.A. Hayek. In the 1960s, Martin Luther King Jr. gave his support, alongside over 1,000 economists from over 125 universities who signed a letter to President Nixon requesting income guarantees. The idea of a guaranteed income floor was proposed in Congress under President Nixon in 1970. It passed in the House of Representatives but stalled in the Senate because Democrats sought a higher guaranteed income. Universal Basic Income is not new – it is an old idea whose time has come. Is providing Universal Basic Income a form of Communism or Socialism? Communism is a revolutionary movement to create a classless, moneyless, and stateless social order built upon shared ownership of production. In contrast, the core principle of socialism is the nationalization of the means of production – i.e. the government seizes Amazon and Google. Providing $1000/month to U.S. citizens is neither of those things -- the government and private corporations will continue to exist. UBI simply gives citizens a base amount of cash to help provide for their essential human needs. The purpose of the government is to provide for and to promote the well-being of its citizens, and the redistribution of funds into UBI payments will accomplish this goal by providing a financial floor for all people to stand on. Shouldn’t job training programs help with automation? They should, but unfortunately not. The goalposts are now moving – by the time someone goes through a retraining program, the job they were retrained for could have changed or been automated. Technology is going to get better and better. It will also be hard to keep track of who merits retraining. If a mall closes, do the retail workers get retrained? How about a call center? The Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program, a Federal program for displaced manufacturing workers, was found to have only 37% of its program members working in the field of work they were retrained for. (Click here.) Michigan’s No Worker Left Behind Program found that one-third of its members remained unemployed after the program, similar to the 40% unemployment rate of their peers who did not enroll. (Click here.) About half of all Michigan workers who left the workforce between 2003 and 2013 went on disability and were not retrained for a new job. Many of the workers who are most at risk for displacement are middle-aged or elderly. Many have health problems. Retraining will be difficult and many employers will prefer to hire younger employees with lower job requirements. Though training programs are a great idea, we should acknowledge that we’re historically very bad at it even when we know displacement is happening. Retraining a massive population over a range of industries is unrealistic and won’t address the displacement caused by new technologies. Why give $1,000/month to the rich as well? Yes, Universal Basic Income will really be universal. By giving everyone $1,000/month, the stigma of accepting cash transfers from the government disappears. Additionally, it removes the incentive for anyone to remain within certain income brackets to receive benefits. However, by implementing progressive taxation in the UBI system, we can ensure that the rich pay taxes like the rest of us do. What about differences in the cost of living for major cities and rural areas? Every eligible recipient of the $1,000/month Universal Basic Income, regardless of location, would receive $1,000 a month. Varying the dollar amount by location would add expensive layers of bureaucracy. Because the UBI payment is given by the federal government equally to all citizens regardless of their state of residence, UBI would actually help many more Americans live where they want to and move freely across the nation. Moving requires a lot of money up-front, and $1,000/month would increase mobility for people and families and improve the dynamism of the labor market as people seek out new environments and opportunities. Since $1,000 a month goes farther in some places than others, providing an equal UBI payment would lead to a revitalization in many communities, because people would be able to move easily to areas with lower costs of living compared to expensive metro areas. What other effect would this $1,000/month basic universal income have on the economy? The Roosevelt Institute found that adopting an annual $12,000 basic income for every adult U.S. citizen over the age of 18 would permanently grow the economy by 12.56-13.10 percent—or about $2.5 trillion by 2025—and it would increase the labor force by 4.5-4.7 million people. (Click here.) Putting money in people’s hands grows the economy, particularly when those people need the money and will spend it. In our district alone, UBI payments of $1,000/month would bring an extra $500,000,000+/month of additional income into the community, most of which would be spent locally. Then imagine that situation playing out in every community across the country, big and small. Districts all over America will have more vibrant local economies, creating more jobs and leading to new businesses.
✓ Pass a Green New Deal ✓ Civilian Climate Corps ✓ Shifting Away from Dirty Energy ✓ Just Transition ✓ Environmental Justice Green New Deal Congress must pass a Green New Deal in order to transform our energy system to 100% renewable energy and create 20 million thriving wage, union jobs to transition the U.S. economy from dirty energy and boost our economy. The Green New Deal must prioritize communities disproportionately affected by climate change, including under-resourced groups, communities of color, indigenous, people with disabilities, children and the elderly. Adapting to climate change requires us to heavily invest in infrastructure such as weatherization, high-speed rail and electrified public transportation. The Green New Deal should provide full, permanent and entitlement funding for water and sanitation infrastructure across the country, including Tribal lands and reservations. Civilian Climate Corps The addition of a Civilian Climate Corps (CCC) would employ hundreds of thousands of people with living-wage jobs in conservation and climate resiliency efforts, such as forest management and green infrastructure. While the new CCC was promised by the federal government, it has yet to become a reality. We need a Civilian Climate Corps to address the existential threat of the climate crisis and facilitate lasting change. Shifting Away from Dirty Energy Ensuring a habitable planet for future generations requires that we stop investing in new dirty energy projects altogether, especially on indigenous and protected lands, and shift to clean, renewable energy projects. Although the current administration vowed to take bold climate action, it recently approved 3,091 new oil drilling permits. All federal oil and gas tax subsidies should end and be diverted to subsidizing clean energy solutions. Fossil fuel companies must be held accountable for the pollution they create, and the government must divest from the fossil fuel industry. Just Transition The transition to a clean energy future must empower the communities most affected by pollution and ensure that workers have unionized, thriving-wage jobs. No one should be left behind. A just transition is based on the principle that workers, communities and Indigenous Peoples have a fundamental human right to clean air, water, land, and food in their workplaces, homes, schools, and environment. A just transition requires a significant investment in education and job training. The costs of achieving sustainable development, a healthy economy and a clean environment should not be borne by current or future victims of environmental and economic injustices and unfair free trade policies. Environmental Justice Communities of color are disproportionately affected by environmental toxins produced by the fossil fuel industry. Los Angeles remains the largest urban oil field in the country; about 580,000 LA county residents live less than a quarter-mile from an active oil well, and even more live close to an abandoned oil well. Many of these oil wells sit in close proximity to Black and Latine neighborhoods. As a result, LA residents experience air, water, and soil pollution from these toxins that have detrimental, life-threatening effects on their health. It is crucial to address the harmful consequences that vulnerable communities face through supporting justice initiatives that put people over profit and guarantee all residents access to clean, water, and soil. We’re running out of time. Due to the failure of governments to curb carbon emissions, the world is experiencing record high temperatures, more extreme weather events, and an unprecedented number of climate disasters. The newly-published 2021 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report warned of the urgent need to significantly reduce our carbon footprint in order to prevent severe climate impacts. Despite this current reality, our leaders continue to put profits of the fossil fuel industry over people and the planet. LA residents are highly vulnerable to extreme heat, wildfires, drought, and sea level rise due to the failure of leaders to listen to the science and take bold climate action. The lack of action on environmental issues impacts Angelenos in the following ways:
Despite knowing these harmful consequences of climate change for decades, the dirty energy industry runs climate disinformation campaigns, lobbies to preserve tax breaks and subsidies, and pours money into political campaigns — all for the sake of maximizing profits at the expense of people and the environment. Studies have shown that failing to take the necessary climate action now will actually cost us far more than taking climate action now. I’m running for Congress because we need bold leadership to break free from dirty energy pushed by corporations and to heal our communities and the planet. Let’s put us first, together.
We must champion for Medicare for All: a single-payer national health insurance program that will provide comprehensive healthcare for every American. Coverage will be free at the point of care and guarantee:
Medicare for All is the best way to provide universal healthcare to cover the costs of essential treatments to all Americans, regardless of status or employment. Why Medicare For All? It’s simple: Health care is a human right. During the COVID-19 pandemic, roughly 1 out of 3 COVID-19-related deaths have been linked to health insurance gaps. Over 30 million Americans have no health insurance and millions more have delayed getting the medical attention they need due to high co-pays and deductibles. With the Omicron variant accounting for over 70% of new COVID-19 cases, and with many in jeopardy of employer-based healthcare coverage, it is more important than ever to implement Medicare for All. Our current healthcare system is broken. Our frontline workers are overworked, our hospitals are understaffed, and many patients aren’t getting the care they need. Yet two years into a global pandemic, the healthcare sector continues to operate as a business prioritizing profits over people. America is the only wealthy nation that does not have a universal healthcare system. Despite spending the most money on healthcare, we have low life expectancy, high infant mortality, maternal mortality, and rates of chronic disease. Americans are one medical emergency away from bankruptcy. Healthcare-related debt is the largest cause of family bankruptcy in the nation. Even seniors are falling into medical debt because our current Medicare system is failing to meet their needs. Currently, the healthcare industry continues to pour millions of dollars of dark money into political campaigns and lobbies policymakers in order to continue maximizing profits at our expense. In fact, the health insurance industry lobbied over $8 million to politicians in 2021, and more than two-thirds of Congressmembers took money from Big Pharma during the 2020 campaign cycle, including many Democrats. We can only have the healthcare system we need by electing true champions of Medicare For All. Frequently Asked Questions How will the government pay for Medicare for All? Medicare for All is projected to cost less than our current spending according to studies from Yale University and University of California. Even the Mercatus Center, a libertarian think tank, projects that Medicare For all will cost our government $3.2 trillion while providing comprehensive healthcare for all Americans, unlike our current system which costs over $4 trillion a year. Medicare For All will save taxpayers money. It will cut administrative costs which make up nearly a third of our healthcare dollars. Costs will be further reduced by putting a greater focus on preventing sickness rather than only treating disease. How is Medicare for All different from Obamacare? Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act (ACA), focused on providing health insurance for people who could not obtain insurance through their job or existing federal programs. Medicare for All, on the other hand, goes even further in providing healthcare to Americans who are unemployed. Additionally, supporters of Medicare for All find deductibles still too high to pay, despite this amount being capped under the ACA. Structural Health Care Reform In conjunction with Medicare for All, Congress must overhaul the way our current healthcare system functions and operates. I will:
Help us improve health outcomes for all, and join the movement.
Our district is incredibly diverse. Approximately, 65% of our district identifies as Hispanic/Latine, 20% as AAPI, 5% Black, and 33% as some other race. Approximately 10% of our residents are disabled and 2% are Veterans. We are a patchwork — a model of what America should look like at its best — people from all walks of life living in harmony. Or at least, that’s what we should be. For too long, our community’s unique needs have been ignored by the representatives who are supposed to serve us. Achieving financial security is a challenge for everyone, but communities of color have been hit hard, especially by the spread of high-end housing development. Undocumented persons are at greater risk of seeing their hard-earned wages stolen from them by their employers, often forced to work in horrible conditions, and subjected to verbal, mental, and emotional abuse, because they are considered “replaceable.” In addition, almost 40% of deaths in the United States are attributable to preventable health behaviors. One of our most urgent needs is to address nutrition inequities in low-income neighborhoods and neighborhoods with “food deserts.” Americans currently lack widespread access to mental health and substance abuse harm reduction programs, which would help prevent countless comorbidities, save billions of dollars in reactive treatment costs in the process, and allow our society to fulfill its potential. Some estimate that community-based social interventions could save $5 for every $1 invested, simultaneously optimizing our tax dollars while ensuring healthy outcomes. Lastly, proximity to violence severely impacts the health and wellbeing of our communities. Over a million Americans have been shot in the last decade. 1 in 4 women and 1 in 10 men have experienced domestic violence. We need to address these problems not from a punitive perspective, but from a preventative one, starting with nationwide gun control legislation. How We Plan to Do It End Bigotry and Ensure Proper Representation:
Family and Mental Health:
Address Social Determinants of Public Health:
Nutrition Equity and Access:
Prevent Gun Violence:
Research has shown us that everything from education to poverty to access to fresh food can make a massive difference for the well-being of our communities and families. By actively listening to the unique needs of each community in our district, we can ensure all people can lead more active, caring, and fulfilling lives. Help us put our communities first, and join the movement.
Many of our proudest moments in America’s history came from brave activists and organizers who fought to promote equality and inclusion for women, the LGBTQIA+ community, and people of color. Because of their tireless dedication to putting our communities first, we’ve benefited from their efforts such as The Woman Suffrage Procession, Stonewall, Obergefell v. Hodges, Selma, Roe v. Wade, and the Civil Rights Act – just to name a few. However, we are now facing a potential reality where hard-fought victories such as women’s reproductive rights and human rights for people from LGBTQIA+ groups may be overturned, which will disproportionately affect BIPOC, low-income, and LGBTQIA+ communities throughout the country. If past and current events have taught us anything, we only have each other to lift each other up and we came too far to go back to an unequal America. Now, more than ever, we must put ourselves and our communities first. Our Goals
We are stronger when we stand together. For a long time, the fight for equality and inclusion has fallen to women, the LGBTQIA+ community, and people of color. Their intersectional needs have led to powerful allegiances working together to move mountains and enact real change that benefits everyone, especially in underserved populations. Despite progress made, we still have a long way to go to truly create a society that works for all of us. For instance, women’s needs are still vastly overlooked on issues from employment to healthcare. Women in the US do an average of 242 minutes of unpaid work every day, compared to 148 minutes for men, and only earn 84% compared to men in similar jobs. And that doesn’t account for racial wage gaps. In healthcare, the needs of women, especially women of color, are often dismissed. In particular, our country is in a maternal mortality crisis that exists squarely at the intersection of race and gender: black and indigenous mothers are three times as likely to die from pregnancy-related causes. This is a problem at the core of our healthcare system and is one that cannot wait to be addressed. As for the LGBTQIA+ community, here are some recent statistics:
Inequality affects more than quality of life – it affects life itself. This must change. Biological sex or assigned gender should never be a barrier to anything. How We Plan to Do It Civil Rights and Protections:
Families and Children:
Healthcare:
Housing is a human right, but it’s too often treated as a for-profit business. And every choice must be made keeping this in mind. In Los Angeles County, according to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), over 66,000 people in Los Angeles County are houseless - the second highest rate in the nation. In some parts of our district, the median income for a family of four is approximately $37,000 while the average monthly rent for a 1-bedroom apartment is well over $1800. When you do the math, you wonder how a family of four could live with this kind of income. They can’t. So many of us live with another family in the same unit; live on debt, with credit cards and loans; work 2-3 jobs; move out of town and/or struggle until we end up getting evicted and then experience houselessness for some time. Due to greater systemic issues of all sorts interplaying with each other, this experience is common to many of us. This is unacceptable. Housing is a human right — no human being should ever have to worry day in and day out about whether they’ll be able to eat, have a roof to sleep under, have access to good healthcare and education, or be able to pay for their basic living expenses and costs. Human value comes before economic value, and we must ensure that every American is able to have access to affordable housing. Most low-income households pay more than half of their income on rent. This is wrong. 21 million households, disproportionately people of color, spend over 30% of their income on housing. This is wrong. Only 1 in 5 households that qualify for federal housing assistance actually receive it. This is wrong. We need to care for our people and ensure that all have the equal ability to pursue a happy life. This starts with directly addressing and responding to America’s systemically racialized housing emergency. Additionally, with a shortage of 500,000+ units for low income renters in Los Angeles County alone and underproduced housing of 7.3 million homes from 2000 to 2015 federally, per Up for Growth’s Housing Underproduction in the U.S. report (HR 4351 YIMBY Act), we are in a housing crisis. And we aren’t even talking about the 3 million people experiencing homelessness in our country, or the 7,000 unhoused brothers and sisters on Skid Row in our district, or the 60,000+ unhoused neighbors living in LA County. Even with the public housing that our country does have, existing public housing units require over $70 billion for physical improvements to account for dilapidation and poor conditions, with 66% of public housing residents being people of color. In Los Angeles, we have less than 10,000 units available compared to counties like New York, which has over 175,000 public housing units. This utter failure to fully address these issues further deepens housing inequality and adds to the decades of redlining and institutionalized racism for many more years to come. The time for change is long overdue. Federal funding for housing assistance has stagnated in recent decades despite the need skyrocketing. In the $1.4 trillion omnibus Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 appropriations package Congress passed in December 2020, only $49.6 billion - or 3.5% - was for the Department of Housing and Urban Development. As a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), federal housing assistance has dropped from a high of 1.4% of GDP in 1978 to 0.23% of GDP in 2018. According to the Urban Institute, housing needs for low income renters increased by 24% from 2005 to 2015, while the number of households receiving HUD assistance increased by only 7% during the same time period. When adjusted for inflation, federal funding for housing support dropped by nearly 8% across most programs including housing choice vouchers, housing for the elderly and disabled, public housing and public-private housing partnership programs. We must pass big, bold policies and reforms including a federal Homes Guarantee. We have the ability to build 12 million new social/publicly funded housing units over the next 10 years with the goal of providing homes to the nearly 12 million renter households who are extremely cost burdened (paying over 50% of their income to rent) and to the millions experiencing homelessness. Rent would be charged according to real costs-based or income-based formulas (i.e., no more than 30% of one’s income), and as social/publicly funded housing would be permanently off the private market, we would eliminate the profiteering and short-term maximization of profits that come at the expense of the people. It’s critical that we increase the supply of homes to all. We have the power to recommit to public housing, beginning with repealing the Faircloth Amendment — which prohibits new public housing construction — as well as reinvesting into and fully funding the repair and maintenance costs of existing public housing through green, energy efficient improvements and improving the quality of such of existing affordable housing. We can pass a national tenant bill of rights that is needed to protect tenants all across the country and especially during times like the recent COVID-19 pandemic. These rights would include, among others:
We can pay reparations for centuries of racist land and housing policies. We can end land and real estate speculation while also serving to de-commodify housing. We can make federal housing assistance an entitlement, not a lottery, by providing full, permanent, entitled-based funding for public housing agencies (PHAs), housing voucher programs and Native American and Native Hawaiian housing programs, thus eliminating backlogs of millions of people on waitlist for housing and honoring our promises to Indigenous Peoples, while also eliminating all legal barriers to federal housing assistance eligibility for undocumented immigrants. We can support and strongly incentivize equitable zoning by requiring state and local govt access too to adopt such practices in order to access federal funds, while banning laws that criminalize homelessness and banning exclusionary zoning that have worsened racial wealth and housing gaps for generations by allowing local govts to only authorize construction of single-family homes in certain neighborhoods, impose minimum square footage or building height requirements, and other ordinances that limit the construction of multi-family units and other forms of affordable housing such, as micro homes. We can provide a universal basic income of $1,000 monthly for every American - documented or undocumented - a necessary tool for economic revitalization and eradication of racial wealth dispairites and poverty. Too many families are on the verge of economic ruin by virtue of a single major expenses, and have to decide between food security and paying rent. UBI would give struggling individuals and families a leg up to live with dignity and improve their quality of life. We can provide a tax break to renters paying over 30% of income to rent. We can establish and fully fund a new federal housing program for the formerly incarcerated and eliminate all eligibility barriers for federal housing assistance. We can eliminate all legal barriers to federal housing assistance eligibility for undocumented immigrants. A Homes Guarantee will provide a roof over everyone’s head, improve education, health and employment prospects for tens of millions of people, and will provide a meaningful step in equalizing disparities across racial lines. A Homes Guarantee will also play a critical role in the environment and reversing climate change, as every housing intervention within the Homes Guarantee must also be a climate intervention, be it from upgrading the existing building stock and making it carbon neutral, or ensuring that everyone has equal, sufficient access to efficient and affordable energy in their homes, not disadvantaging any community or group of people because of their race or socio-economic status. In the world’s wealthiest country, we can and we must guarantee safe, accessible, sustainable and permanently affordable housing for everyone.
Our current punitive systems of public safety are failing us — this is the unified message that millions across the country and globe took to the streets to convey in 2020, following the murder of George Floyd. Our heavy reliance on police departments and the carceral system to keep us safe has failed to make our communities any safer, and only created the world’s largest prison population. Americans make up 5 percent of the world’s population, but the U.S. has one-quarter of the world’s prisoners. Our current criminal justice system puts an ever-growing burden on taxpayers and exacts a tremendous social cost on our communities, particularly BIPOC and lower-income communities. Law enforcement has historically targeted Black and Latine people disproportionately and continues to do so today. We see examples of this from the LAPD using improper force at peaceful protests, shooting people in mental distress, and LA sheriff’s deputies profiling Black and Latine bicyclists, drivers, and pedestrians. All too often, police escalate violence instead of de-escalating situations they enter. The 2020 Police Violence Report showed that most killings by police occurred after officers responded to nonviolent offenses or cases where no crime was reported. Over 900 people have been shot by police in 2021. Los Angeles shamefully has the largest jail system in the United States. Those trapped in our criminal justice system face a cycle of over-policing, dehumanizing incarceration, fines, asset forfeiture, lack of rehabilitation services, housing and employment discrimination, and disenfranchisement. It’s no wonder that 62% of California’s inmates released in 2018 were assessed as being at-risk for recidivism. In order to create the safe and healthy communities we want, we must effectively address the root causes of crime — poverty, untreated mental illness, substance abuse, homelessness, a failing education system, and a growing divide between the haves and the have-nots – by investing in our communities, implementing crisis response systems that are proven to be effective, and reforming criminal laws that disproportionately impact marginalized communities. Through the establishment of systems of care that address the fundamental needs of our communities, we can begin to heal and transform our communities. Our Priorities
Reimagine Public Safety
Healing our Communities
End Mass Incarceration
Police Accountability
What’s clear is that our current approach to public safety is failing us. By shifting to proven community-led safety strategies, police demilitarization, robust mental health and rehabilitative services and more, we can establish a comprehensive system of human-centered care that addresses root causes of crime. We can then begin to heal our communities, families, and people from the harm of a system that tears loved ones and families apart in the name of justice and order. I’m running for Congress because it’s clear that the status quo isn’t working. Our punitive systems of public safety are failing to keep us all safe and far too often disproportionately punish those who need community support and wrap-around social services. It’s time we make our neighbors and families truly safe by putting us first, together.
As an immigration attorney representing and defending undocumented individuals and families in immigration court, I know all too well the injustices and failures of our immigration system that our leaders fail to passionately fight against and correct. Almost 45% of our district’s residents are immigrants, but the American immigration system is a dream foreclosed. We build private prisons to cage immigrant children. We subject millions of people to living in fear every day, not knowing whether they can continue to live in our country, to make a livelihood, and to have the legal means and access to resources and jobs to even live here. Our inhumane immigration system, including its quotas, is stuck in the past from an era that no longer fits. Its exclusionary, racist policies and enforcement from the past (i.e., Naturalization Act of 1790, Asian Exclusion Act of 1875, Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the Asiatic Barred Zone Act of 197 and the National Origins Act of 1924), along with the couched mentality of keeping “the other” or foreigner out, is something that continues to hurt and restrict America’s own livelihood, morals and strength as a nation and people. To make matters worse, inefficient administration has led to a system that makes immigration near impossible, with too many examples to provide such as family-sponsored immigrants receiving green cards this year from applications filed in 1997. In addition, we’ve trusted a problematic group to help interpret and enforce the exclusionary, racist policies and political rhetoric of the system. Anyone who claims “immigration happened definitely in my day” is correct: they didn’t have to deal with ICE, which began in the early 2000s as part of the reaction to the President Bush-era’s “war on terror” and is an experiment that has failed beyond expectation. We’re long overdue for a change that brings us back to the moral, immigrant centered country we have always been. As an immigration attorney, I know exactly where we can improve. Undocumented immigrants have paid over $27 billion in federal, state and local taxes in 2017, with a total spending power of $200 billion. Yet, despite paying into our system and our economy, our undocumented immigrants are shut out of accessing the same government services as taxpayers who are citizens. No nation found on the principles of liberty and justice can claim that any human being is illegal without ever providing the adequate, efficient and humane pathway to citizenship they deserve. We must establish human-centered and inclusionary immigration policy that respects, celebrates and helps continue the essential role of immigrants in our nation’s past, present and future by first repealing:
We must
And we must fully fund and move jurisdiction of immigration and asylum courts from the DOJ, which is under the Executive Branch, to the independent Judiciary, to help empower our immigration judges to make decisions on a case by case basis. This would reduce the politicization of our immigration system as anti-immigration federal officials can easily stifle proceedings within immigration and asylum courts, create backlogs and easily replace judges with political cronies like President Trump did. We must hire more immigration judges to reduce backlog as well. Furthermore, we must enact a just pathway to citizenship for all 11 million undocumented immigrants in our country. We must increase protections and naturalization opportunities for all undocumented immigrants who were brought here as children, regardless of current age. We must abolish ICE and redistribute its necessary functions to the appropriate agencies, creating humane and responsible immigration enforcement. We must end mass deportation and mass immigrant detention by permanently abolishing and outlawing private and for-profit prisons and detention centers. We must decriminalize immigration by making improper entry and reentry a civil, and not criminal, issue. We must abolish and outlaw the use of DNA testing and facial recognition technology by immigration and border enforcement officials, and federal, state and local police departments. We must permit all deported Veterans who were honorably discharged to return to the U.S. and cease the practice of Veteran deportation, and we must automatically grant the option of full citizenship for any who serve in our armed forces. By establishing a human-centered and inclusionary immigration policy, we can continue to celebrate and protect the essential role of immigrants in our nation’s past, present and future, which makes our country great — in numbers, strength, diversity, economy and community. We can also make sure that our country continues to be one grounded in dignity, justice and equity. Immigrants create a win-win situation for us all — visibly reflected in a robust economy with everyone having equal access to live, work, and pursue the American Dream. These values, love, and heart for the people make our nation great. By empowering and ensuring that immigrants and non-immigrants thrive in our country, we are doing the same for us, our communities, and nation. Click here to find immigration legal resources on assisting Afghans in the U.S.
The Current Reality Year after year, small businesses consistently make up over 99% of all businesses in America. In 2016, small businesses employed approximately 48% of the total workforce and created 1.8 million new jobs – 1.2 million of which were jobs in businesses with fewer than 20 employees. Although large and wealthy corporations dominate the news and control our current politicians, in reality, small businesses are the core of communities like CA-34. Small businesses empower immigrants and people of color to realize the American dream just as David and his parents and family members were able to, be it through being employed by a small business or owning one. Thus, as an employee and a previous small business owner, David is all too familiar with the setbacks encountered when running a small business and the lack of direct helpful support for small businesses all around. The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) offers various funding and advisory programs for small businesses, but they are often difficult to access and require a complicated application process. The federal government does not do enough to help individuals launch small businesses and instead has prioritized cutting taxes for the rich and giving bailouts to irresponsible banks and large corporations. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that Congress can provide better, direct assistance to small businesses, such as the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and related disaster assistance funding. These federal programs should not only be available during times of crisis but be available to help small businesses across the nation prosper at all times. What Needs To Be Done Increase SBA Funding and Expand Programs:
Create Small Business Financing and Loan Programs Under a Public Bank:
Encourage Investment in Local Communities:
What This Will Do For Us We need members of Congress that will prioritize the prosperity of all rather than the prosperity of the few. Help us create prosperity for all and join the movement.
Our government is in crisis. We know all too well that the voices of the people are drowned out by big money — corporate PACs, super PACs, dark money, lobbyists, and politicians lining their own pockets at our expense. Currently, big donors (those who donate more than $200) account for 71% of campaign contributions, despite being only 1% of the population. Studies have shown that political donations actively affect senators’ voting records. Weapons makers, fossil fuel, and healthcare companies are buying lawmakers’ votes against essential bills like Medicare For All, Build Back Better, and decreasing military spending. Our government needs to reflect the will of the people. Our elections must abide by the principle of “one person, one vote.” A voter in Wyoming should not have three times more impact than a voter in California. We need a true democracy in which every citizen, not corporations or billionaires, has equal say in government. I’m running for Congress because too many of our leaders have been corrupted by big money and special interests for too long. My campaign is a 100% people-powered, corporate-free, grassroots campaign so that I can remain accountable to the people of 34th Congressional District. It’s high time for a democracy that’s truly for the people and powered by the people. Clean Campaign Finance
Voting Rights
Journalism for the Information Age
Holding Elected Officials Accountable
A citizen-powered democracy will allow the voices of the people to be properly represented in the Capitol and ensure that politicians answer to their constituents instead of large donors. When landmark legislation to usher our country into a sustainable and prosperous future is blocked by politicians who protect their personal investments, we must demand a government that works for us. When a presidential candidate who receives the most popular votes doesn’t win an election, it’s a clear signal our system needs fixing. Help us create a citizen-powered democracy and join the movement.
From the start, our nation’s history with indigenous groups has been filled with bloodshed and cruel acts of injustice – from European colonists wiping out communities to the American government forcing men, women, and children out of their ancestral homes. Although the federal government has signed numerous treaties with Native tribes to promote peace and acknowledge their sovereignties, it broke many of these treaties in the name of land exploitation and expansion. Because of these past transgressions and broken promises, indigenous communities today face multiple hardships, from high poverty rates and inadequate healthcare services to substandard housing, and more. With the recent voter suppression attempts after the 2018 midterms in North Dakota and the Tongva people’s struggle to access federal rescue funds due to lack of federal recognition, the list of challenges is, unfortunately, escalating. Although it’s no easy task, our federal government must step up to atone and make amends for the cumulative offenses of U.S. policies. We need to right past wrongs and find remedies for the issues caused by these previous misdeeds. After all, according to the Friends Committee on National Legislation, “The federal government should provide adequate funding for the essentials of life, not as a gift or as charity, but as the fulfillment of commitments made at the founding and throughout the expansion of this nation.” Respect Tribal Sovereignty
Help Strengthen Infrastructure on Tribal Lands
Improve Social Services for Native American Communities
Things didn’t have to be this way. If the European colonists and the U.S. government had not treated indigenous communities inhumanely, the current situation could have been dramatically different. Especially as we increase our historical understanding and gradual cultural awakening, I will work tirelessly to put our communities first and mend old wounds, to write a new chapter of our American story. Help us honor those who were here before us, and join the movement.
The Current Reality More than 21,000 children are removed from their families in Los Angeles County by DCFS each year. The vast majority of cases do not involve allegations of actual child abuse but instead are a result of “neglect,” a vague term that often is a direct result of poverty. Children are routinely removed from their families for parents being a survivor of domestic violence, being unable to afford childcare, and being unable to afford mental health treatment. After being removed from the families they have known their entire lives, children are then placed in foster care with a stranger and often have no idea if, or when, they will return home to their parents. It is time for the United States to change the child welfare system to prioritize keeping families together instead of ripping families apart and putting children in the abusive foster care system. Though states have the primary role in making child welfare policy, Congress can and should provide crucial support and resources to fix the system. The current child welfare system is racist. The statistics are clear: Black, Latine, and Native American children are removed from their families at much higher rates than white and Asian children. In Los Angeles County, only 7% of children in Los Angeles County are Black, yet 24% of children removed from their families by DCFS were Black. Further, two-thirds of all children removed from their homes in Los Angeles in 2020 were Latino. Even worse, state and local child protection agencies have immense power and often operate under the cover of confidentiality. States and local governments lack the resources to have sufficient oversight of these agencies and to hold them accountable for their failure to protect children without violating Constitutional rights. What Needs To Be Done Keep Families Together:
Prioritize Community-Based Services:
Equity in the Child Welfare System:
What This Will Do For Us Our government has a responsibility to ensure that our nation’s children grow up in an environment free from abuse and neglect. Most children do not want to go into the foster care system. Yet, child protection agencies routinely force them into foster homes while trampling on parents’ constitutional rights. Instead of treating families in poverty facing difficult personal issues as criminals, we need to support them by providing a floor to stand on. Help us protect our families and join the movement.
Our Goals
Our Priorities Diplomacy, Not War:
Stand for Human Rights, Here and Abroad:
Promote Global Economic Justice and Sustainability:
Country Policies Afghanistan
Armenia
Central America
China
Iran
Iraq
Israel
Mexico
North & South Korea
Yemen and Saudi Arabia
Syria
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” |
| —David Kim's campaign website (2022)[7] | ||
2020
Note: Kim submitted the above survey responses to Ballotpedia on July 29, 2020.
Note: Kim submitted the above survey responses to Ballotpedia on October 13, 2020.
Ballotpedia biographical submission form
The candidate completed Ballotpedia's biographical information submission form:
| “ | What is your political philosophy?
Masses of our people are suffering financially in our country and district, and it's time that we give our people bootstraps to pull themselves up with and financially unshackle them from the effects of a 30-year wage stagnation, a 30-year income disparity, decreasing rate of unionization and prioritization of corporate interests and short-term profits over the interests and lives of our people and that's why I am running to push for Universal Basic Income, Financial Freedom, Love & Justice for All, which all look like something: Giving every American a $1000/month Freedom Dividend; Tuition-free public college; Single Payer Universal Medicare, Mass Decarceration, Abolishing ICE; and more. We also must STOP electing officials like the current Congressman who pocket corporate money from Big Banks, Big Pharma, student debt collectors, etc.. We can't afford to have elected officials who preach Universal Medicare but pocket Big Pharma money. We can't afford to have elected officials who preach tuition-free public college but pocket money from student debt collectors. Enough is enough.[5] |
” |
| —David Kim[1] | ||
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
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Candidate U.S. House California District 34 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Information submitted on Ballotpedia’s biographical information submission form on August 30, 2019
- ↑ Information submitted on Ballotpedia’s biographical information submission form on March 11, 2022
- ↑ Ballotpedia's Elections Team, “Email communication with David Kim," October 17, 2022
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on January 23, 2024
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ David Kim for Congress, “Platform,” accessed February 8, 2024
- ↑ David Kim for Congress CD34 2022, “Home,” accessed June 11, 2022
