Joaquín Vázquez

Joaquín Vázquez (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent California's 52nd Congressional District. He lost in the primary on June 7, 2022.

Vázquez completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Joaquin Vazquez was born in San Diego, California. He earned an associate degree from San Diego City College in 2012, a bachelor's degree in political science and international relations from the University of California at Davis in 2015, and a master's degree in public policy and administration from Northwestern University in 2018.^[1] Vazquez's career experience includes founding Organizing For Progress and working as its executive director, as an analyst with the Housing Rights Center, as a financial regulatory compliance consultant, in public policy with the Obama Administration, and as a community engagement director at Border Angels.^[1]^[2] Vazquez has been affiliated with Organizing For Progress; Obama's Organizing For Action, and the National Democratic Redistricting Committee.^[3]

Elections

2022

General election

General election for U.S. House California District 52

Incumbent Juan Vargas defeated Tyler Geffeney in the general election for U.S. House California District 52 on November 8, 2022.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Juan Vargas (D)	66.7	100,686
	Tyler Geffeney (R)	33.3	50,330

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 151,016
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for U.S. House California District 52

Incumbent Juan Vargas and Tyler Geffeney defeated Joaquín Vázquez in the primary for U.S. House California District 52 on June 7, 2022.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Juan Vargas (D)	59.1	56,827
✔	Tyler Geffeney (R)	30.5	29,348
	Joaquín Vázquez (D)	10.4	9,965

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 96,140
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Endorsements

To view Vazquez's endorsements in the 2022 election, please click here.

2020

General election

General election for U.S. House California District 53

Sara Jacobs defeated Georgette Gómez in the general election for U.S. House California District 53 on November 3, 2020.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Sara Jacobs (D)	59.5	199,244
	Georgette Gómez (D)	40.5	135,614

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 334,858
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for U.S. House California District 53

The following candidates ran in the primary for U.S. House California District 53 on March 3, 2020.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Sara Jacobs (D)	29.1	58,312
✔	Georgette Gómez (D)	20.0	39,962
	Chris Stoddard (R)	13.0	25,962
	Janessa Goldbeck (D)	8.5	17,041
	Famela Ramos (R)	7.5	15,005
	Michael Oristian (R)	7.4	14,807
	Tom Wong (D) (Unofficially withdrew)	3.6	7,265
	Annette Meza (D)	2.2	4,446
	Joseph Fountain (D)	2.0	4,041
	Jose Caballero (D)	1.6	3,226
	Joaquín Vázquez (D)	1.5	3,078
	John Brooks (D)	1.4	2,820
	Fernando Garcia (Independent)	0.9	1,832
	Suzette Santori (D)	0.8	1,625
	Eric Kutner (D)	0.4	734

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 200,156
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Campaign themes

2022

Video for Ballotpedia

Video submitted to Ballotpedia Released May 28, 2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

Joaquín Vázquez completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Vázquez's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I’m a son of working-class Mexican immigrants, born and raised in City Heights, San Diego. I overcame childhood family separation and homelessness after my father’s deportation, which led to my family’s eviction. I have lived a transborder life since then, crossing often between San Diego and Tijuana to be close to my parents. My life experience is what has driven me to give back to the community as an organizer, empowering working-class and marginalized families to be civically engaged.

I served in the federal government in Washington, DC during the Obama Administration, working on economic, labor, and environmental policy within the Department of Commerce and then the Executive Office of the President.

Internationally, I served the UN Refugee Agency, and worked on development policy in Geneva for the UN Conference on Trade and Development, helping least developed countries get a seat at the table at the United Nations & World Trade Organization. I hold a Bachelor's in Political Science & International Relations focused on Poverty & Economics from UC Davis and a Master’s in Public Policy & Administration from Northwestern University.

During COVID-19, I founded Organizing For Progress, a national nonprofit dedicated to building civically engaged grassroots leaders, assisted governments via the Housing Rights Center to provide emergency rental assistance funds to impacted tenants and landlords, and helped migrants as Border Angels' Community Engagement Director.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

We need policies like a Green New Deal and Medicare For All to transform the economy into a just one, leveling the playing field to guarantee economic opportunity for all, fight the climate crisis, and a federal jobs guarantee that secures good paying jobs with livable wages for everyone.
I am fighting to end homelessness through enacting a national homes guarantee. I am fighting for immigration reform to ensure that we finally provide a pathway to citizenship for the more than 11 million undocumented immigrants in America,. I am also fighting to pass sensible gun laws to protect our communities, keep children safe, and ensure that we end the gun violence epidemic the avoidable massacres we've seen at schools no longer happen.
Protect Democracy: We must get greed and corrupt money out of politics through campaign finance reform , and establish term limits so that politicians work for the people and not their corporate donors and special interests in Washington, while they sit in these seats of power for a life time once elected.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

The economy, immigration, healthcare, gun laws, environment, jobs, small businesses, education, criminal justice, equality, ending corruption, protecting voters and democracy, justice for veterans, mass transit, financial systems reform and ensuring the wealthiest of our country pay their fair share of taxes.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

I believe that this country is still failing at delivering on the promise of liberty and justice for all. We are still in a system that punishes people for being poor, that concentrates efforts first on bailing out the rich and corporate America, and systemic racism is still infecting every part of government and society. More black and brown people end up in prison or killed by police, on top of having to work twice as hard to get the same job opportunities and pay compared to white Americans. the working class is still just picking up crumbs from what is left after policies focus on the country's wealthiest during recessions and global crises like COVID-19. We must protect democracy by getting corporate money out of politics so that representatives are accountable to the people, not Washington's special interests. We must center the working class, and empower communities of color, to ensure that this country's society is fair and to make good on the promise of liberty and justice for all.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

Representation. To best carry out that responsibility, one has to listen to their constituencies, engage with them and work with them in order to know what their needs are and what we must work hard for in Congress.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

My first job is something I can never forget. My father had just been deported, my family was evicted, and we had just moved to Mexico where we were searching for him. We were in dire financial need and I along with some of my brothers were able to get a job at a bakery in Guanajuato, Mexico. We started work at 5 in the morning, baked bread for 3 hours, and were out the door with full baskets over our heads at 8 am sharp to sell them to people on the street all across town. I held that job for the fall of the year 2000, and worked several jobs after it, including at restaurants, construction, and car washes, before landing a college job helping refugees and asylum seekers at the United Nations and working for the Obama administration on economic, labor, and environmental policy after graduating college.

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

Imagine.

What qualities does the U.S. House of Representatives possess that makes it unique as an institution?

It has the power of the purse and can decide what to fund. Second, it is the best representation of how diverse our country is, and being able to go there to work with people from different backgrounds to find ways to improve life for the people in our country and abroad is something that I find quite motivating.

Do you believe that it's beneficial for representatives to have previous experience in government or politics?

To some extent, yes, but also must acknowledge that while I come with government experience at the local, state, federal, and even international levels, not everyone has such opportunities, and we cannot fully get to the bottom of certain issues if we do not have people in office that come from backgrounds that the typical old rich white male elected official does not have.

What do you perceive to be the United States’ greatest challenges as a nation over the next decade?

The climate crisis is here and it is very real. we need to put an end to it, as well as guarantee every person housing, healthcare and a job with a livable wage, while we also address the gun violence epidemic that is ravaging our communities and schools.

If you are not a current representative, are there certain committees that you would want to be a part of?

I have great interest in joining any of the following committees:

Appropriations, Budget, Education and Labor, Energy and Commerce, Financial Services, Foreign Affairs, Oversight and Reform, Transportation and Infrastructure, Ways and Means, Joint Economic Committee, Joint Committee on Taxation.

Do you believe that two years is the right term length for representatives?

For the House of Representatives, yes, and believe it should be limited to no more than three two year terms.

What are your thoughts on term limits?

I support term limits. Politicians in Congress currently have the luxury of seating in their seats for almost a lifetime once elected, which is facilitated by the way we fund elections and their ability to be bought by corporate donors who spend millions to ensure they keep having politicians making their bidding and not fighting for the people.

Is there a particular representative, past or present, whom you want to model yourself after?

Cori Bush and Alexandra Ocasio Cortez are great inspirations to me, and would model myself in part after them.

Both sitting representatives and candidates for office hear many personal stories from the residents of their district. Is there a story that you’ve heard that you found particularly touching, memorable, or impactful?

As a son of immigrants, and having had my father deported, I was moved when a white male told me the story of his family struggling to find his nephew who had just been deported to Mexico, a country where he had not been since birth. He told me that he was always against immigration reform and that it wasn't until his family faced the cruelty of our immigration laws that he understood why we fight so hard for reform to keep our families together.

Do you believe that compromise is necessary or desirable for policymaking?

Yes, but to a certain degree. We must acknowledge that we are dealing with people's lives, and I cannot compromise on policies that will be favoring the rich and privileged over the most vulnerable middle-and-working-class people, or our unhoused communities.

The Constitution says that all bills for raising revenue must originate in the House. What role would this power play in your priorities if elected?

This is what excites me the most, because our district is the main working-class district in San Diego, and our community clinics, schools, and infrastructure are quite underfunded. We are in dire need of help and I am excited for the opportunity to go to Congress and fight to bring federal dollars and the resources our families and small businesses need to thrive,

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

Vazquez's campaign website stated the following:

“

Education for All

We are fighting to reform our public education system, to ensure equity in education.

Knowledge is power and education is the best path for people in poverty to grow out of it. As a first generation Mexican-American, Joaquín was the first in his family to graduate high school and the only one in his family to receive a Bachelor's and a Master's degree. Access to education was integral to his ability to pursue a career in public service and to support his family. Your zip code should not determine the quality of education you receive. It is time to fund public education equitably. Students throughout San Diego County should be receiving the same high-quality education regardless of their neighborhood or school district.

To reform our public education system, we are fighting to:

Make sure that equitable education from K-12 is given the resources and attention that it deserves with better funding for classroom materials and during and after school programs.
Employ more counselors in schools instead of police officers.
Provide fair and livable wages for teachers.
Make public colleges and universities tuition free.
Forgive student loan debt so that graduates don't have to spend their hard-earned money paying back loans at high interest rates for decades, rather they can put their money back into their families and the economy.

Medicare for All

We are fighting for equitable, quality healthcare for all Americans because healthcare is a human right, not a commodity to be profited off of.

Americans are paying more than every other major country in the world for poorer quality healthcare. Our health outcomes in life expectancy, infant mortality, and chronic conditions (among others) are lagging far behind other wealthy nations. Families are breaking the bank to pay for insulin, PrEP, and other life-saving medications. Overall the US pays almost double per person for prescriptions than the average spent per person in ten other high-income countries. Twenty percent of San Diegans were uninsured for all or part of 2011-2012, and 20% of adults in the County were uninsured for all or part of 2014-2016. The Affordable Care Act, a good first step, still left many Americans without coverage or struggling to afford their new coverage.

Every other major developed nation has a government-run universal healthcare system (or strict regulations on private insurers) that prevents health insurers from profiting off of people's health. It is time for the richest economy in the world to catch up and cover every American through a single-payer, public system. Medicare for All will be comprised of:

Comprehensive coverage, including maternal healthcare and mental healthcare.
Equal access to all medical services and treatments.
Freedom to choose your own doctor.
No cost at the point of service with no premiums, no copays or deductibles, and no additional fees.
A transition that includes a jobs and severance guarantee to cover those employees affected by the transition away from the current for-profit, private insurance system.

In addition, we will fight for a healthcare system that emphasizes healthcare quality, equity, and respect by taking substantial measures to reduce healthcare provider burnout and to address inequalities in patient treatment, especially those experienced by women of color, LGBTQIA+ persons, and the elderly. We're fighting for a system that is oriented to prevention and education, which emphasizes mental health care, prevention of chronic diseases, and increased funding for health research for cancer, obesity, dementia, Parkinson's, diabetes, autism, an HIV vaccine, and other health areas.

Finally, while the Veterans Health Administration and Indian Health Service will remain in place, individuals who qualify for these services will have the option to use the VA and IHS systems or the same services as the general public. Regardless of an individual's choice in healthcare services, it will be covered under the Medicare for All system. In addition, adequate attention and funding will be given to reduce the amount of administrative burden and red tape in these systems, to support providers and administrators, and to ensure patients, especially female and trans persons, are treated fairly and have their medical needs fully covered.

Green New Deal

Our time on Earth is precious. We need to make sure that our actions today are focused on preserving the environment and building a sustainable economy for future generations to enjoy our planet. Our movement will work toward the goals outlined in the Green New Deal (GND), which provides a road-map to revamp our economy, fight inequality, and reverse the effects of climate change.

The GND resolves to mobilize public resources to transition our economy from one built on worker exploitation, corporate greed, and fossil fuels to one focused on clean renewable energy sources and dignified, good-paying jobs with livable wages and benefits.

We will fight for the GND to ensure that people can succeed in an ever-changing labor market by staying ahead of technological advances with a proactive approach to job creation, and protecting the environment through polices highlighting sustainability and closing the inequality gap.

Immigration Reform

We are fighting to reform our unfair immigration system from one that treats immigrants like criminals to one that treats humans like humans. Immigrants have been model citizens and strong pillars for the nation's economic growth and well-being. It is time we start treating people like people.

Families have been separated long before this administration took office. It happened to Joaquín when he was a child. Immigrants should not be treated as criminals. They are our fathers, mothers, siblings and neighbors. They are all of us. Our current immigration system is focused on enforcement and criminalization and needs to be refocused on humanizing immigrants and asylum seekers to preserve the American dream.

To achieve this, we are fighting to:

Create a pathway to citizenship and work permits for undocumented immigrants, veterans, farm workers and DACA recipients.
Restore Advance Parole for DACA recipients so that Dreamers are no longer prevented from going abroad temporarily, citizenship .
End Title 42, an obscure 75-year-old law that the Trump and Biden administrations, in conflict with U.S. and international law, have used to make more than 1.1 million expulsions of migrant asylum seekers at U.S. borders over the past 18 months, without due process. Migrants are fleeing violence and persecution seek safety, and U.S. Border Patrol should not be allowed to forcibly remove people from the U.S. without the opportunity to seek asylum or refuge.
Abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and re-purpose Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to focus on customs and its business and trade-related responsibilities.
Create an independent federal immigration agency that takes a humane approach to immigration to protect the American dream; the agency will be outside of presidential control and staffed through the merit promotion system.
Shut down the migrant concentration camps and return every child to their parents.
Restore Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for thousands of legal immigrants from countries that are still facing economic devastation from wars and natural disasters, and establish a pathway for citizenship for long-residing TPS recipients and those with US-born children.
End public funding for all privately owned prisons and other companies banking on our unjust immigration system.
Remove the "public charge" rules, especially the newer, more restrictive rules that discourage green card applicants (and even green card holders and their U.S. citizen children) from receiving support through public assistance programs.
Restrict immigration authorities to operate only within the confines of the border and their respective federal agencies and only where their presence is required by law or allowed by a warrant.

Justice For All

We are fighting to reform the country's broken criminal justice system.

The failures of the current system enable prison overcrowding and private prison companies bank on it. On top of that, it is infected by systemic racism and policies that place a disproportionately higher number of black and brown people behind bars. It is no secret that most people who have been incarcerated come from disadvantaged and underrepresented communities of color. It's time to put an end to it, stop the school to prison pipeline, and stop letting corporations profit out of this unjust system. Money needs to be flowing into communities to fund schools, clinics, and job training programs, not incarcerating people for profit. Additionally, preventing people with felony convictions from voting is one of many disgraceful voter suppression tactics. They too are fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters. They should have a say in how policy affects their families and their future. Without this, the rich and powerful will continue to enjoy and benefit from lower voter turnout. Disenfranchisement of the most vulnerable communities must stop. It's time to be smart on crime, not tough on crime.

It's time for a Justice For All Act that ensures a criminal justice system that operates fairly and equitably for everyone.

Our Justice for All approach proposes a package of reforms that will:

Ban private prisons and detention centers, and stop prison expansion and labor exploitation
Do away with the cash money bail system
Implement fair sentencing laws, lowering the population of jailed, detained, and incarcerated juveniles and adults by reducing nonviolent felony convictions to misdemeanors and prioritizing rehabilitation and treatment
End the death penalty
Institute a mandatory training of police and law enforcement across all levels of government to end the unfair treatment and killings of people of color and the poor, while requiring more stringent and transparent monitoring of their actions through body cameras and making it illegal to turn them off during police encounters with people
Allow people with felony convictions to vote, because it is their constitutional right and their voices matter just as those of everyone else in this country
Hold prosecutors accountable and accelerate prosecution reform, including ending incentives fueling mass incarceration to stop unnecessary prosecutions
Decriminalizing poverty, immigration, marijuana, and ensure schools focus on student counseling and intervention rather than arrests and criminalization
Stop anti-black, anti-brown, anti-immigrant violence and vigilantes, legally prohibit racial profiling and the treatment of youth as adults prior to the age of 18 in the criminal justice system
H.R. 40 Reparations: Slavery still exists until this day in society, and did not stop in 1865. The through the school to prison pipeline, continued instances of racism, and several other economic disadvantages, African American people continue to experience slavery. The effects of Jim Crow laws and redlining still impact the ability of the Black community to have the power to rise and build wealth and a better future for their families. It is because of these issues that I stand in support of H.R. 40 - Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African -Americans Act. This bill will provide the opportunity for African American communities across our nation to begin to heal and rebuild.

With the hate being spread across the country towards people of color, police killing Black adults and youth, using excessive force, and monitoring every move made, we have to go beyond fighting for what is owed. We need to bring federal dollars to our marginalized communities that have been left out for too long, we need to get the police out of our schools and bring counselors and teachers with cultural competence, and that starts with the people that understand the needs of the community having a seat at the table. That starts with putting people first and not catering to special interests.

Fair Economy

Our movement will put labor rights, higher wages, better benefits, safer work conditions, public banking, and a federal jobs guarantee at the very top of the national agenda.

Even though labor unions have been very effective in correcting issues to create safe workplaces for employees and ensuring job security, there is still a long way to go to create a level playing field for workers and put their well-being before corporate profits. As companies seek to keep up with the pace of technological advancement, they continue to reduce the number of their employees and their reliance on certain employees, making these workers less competitive in the job market. The government's focus should be on ensuring that the economy works for the people. One job should be enough. While serving under the Obama administration, Joaquín's priorities were fighting to ensure higher labor standards in economic policy in order to protect our workers and jobs.

To continue this fight, we will work to:

Raise the minimum wage to $15 and ensure jobs offer livable wages.
Create training programs for people to work in new technologies, emerging industries, and green/renewable energies for them keep up with societal advancements and changes.
Protect labor unions, strengthen workers’ rights, and protect collective bargaining.
Defend employee pensions, wages, and jobs in order to protect them from scrutiny.
Ensure equal pay for women.
Establish a federal jobs guarantee program.
Stop protectionist trade policies like high tariffs that end up being paid by consumers and hinder our economy instead of growing it.
Create a public bank option that operates in the public interest to effectively reduce taxes by returning profits to the institution's general fund and reduces public project costs for government agencies by not charging interest.
Encourage employers to retain hard working employees and fight against layoffs and terminations in order to ensure long-term job stability.
Implement a permanent universal basic income program to ensure no family ever has to struggle with making ends meet. As well as providing $2000 monthly checks while the country recovers from the impacts of the pandemic that has not yet ended.

Homelessness & Housing

I fundamentally believe that housing is a human right.

The need for housing is undeniable. We have a housing crisis, a homelessness crisis, and a rental affordability crisis. In Washington, we will fight to ensure that everyone is guaranteed a home to live in, without having to spend nearly all of their income on rent and utility bills.

The poor and working-class work hard to ensure that the rest of the country can live a comfortable life, be financially worry-free, and even enjoy luxury. Guaranteed housing is their right, because they've earned it.

Across the country, an approach of consciousness is severely missing. There is no time to waste by catering only to developers and corporate landlords in the fight to end homelessness. We must ensure that people at risk can stay in their rental homes and have the resources they need to take steps to purchasing a home if they chose to take that route at some point. For the increasingly high homeless population, the answer is housing first. What is certain is that development and rent control are not issues that are at odds. Local governments must ensure that zoning laws are appropriate for the continued development of low-income housing.

If we are serious about housing and ending homelessness, we must focus on preventing and ending homelessness. That means that new housing developments must ensure that the most vulnerable can qualify and afford the units, and provide comprehensive wraparound services in-building.

We can't stop there. Truly progressive housing policy also comes with a large emphasis on rent control. I am fighting for a national annual rent increase capped at 3%, with special attention at regions like San Diego where even lower figures are more effective, from an emergency freeze to as high as 2%.

In Washington, Joaquin will fight for a national housing guarantee so that San Diego has the funding that ensures housing for all, because everyone deserves to live a dignified life.

Equality

Our movement will ensure that women, the LGBTQIA+ community, and people of color have the same rights as everyone else, free from discrimination and unequal treatment in housing, healthcare, employment and all aspects of society.

Equal rights means:

Defending Roe v. Wade and reproductive rights from conservative judges and state legislatures seeking to infringe on women's autonomy over their bodies. Your state and socioeconomic status should not determine your ability to exercise your right to choose.
Ensuring women get equal pay for equal work. It's time to close the wage gap once and for all, especially for women of color who face an even larger wage gap.
Protecting voters from various overt and covert voter suppression tactics.
Covering all of the reproductive health needs of transgender individuals under the Veterans Health Administration and Medicare for All.
Funding mental health services for LGBTQIA+ individuals, especially youth, and combating in-school and online bullying.
Condemning hate speech directed at any group based on any aspect of their identity.
Respecting elderly persons and integrating, not relegating them, in our society.

We should all be able to enjoy a life with equal rights, freedom of expression, and association with any group and/or religion, without discrimination at schools, workplaces or anywhere else.

Campaign Finance

It's time to get big money out of politics.

Money from corporations and their PACs’ dominate elections and cast a shadow over the American democracy. Special interests such as pharmaceutical companies, oil companies, the NRA, and defense contractors have a disproportionate power over the actions of our congresspeople. In addition, powerful individuals like Trump who run self-funded campaigns end up working for themselves and their own interests. Their values are frequently at odds with the will of the American people who want to see affordable healthcare and prescriptions, safety from gun violence, clean air and water, and an end to our endless wars. In order for government to truly represent the people, the Citizens United Supreme Court decision must be overturned and candidates need to commit to running clean money campaigns.

Joaquín is putting people over profits and standing up against powerful corporate interests, starting by taking zero corporate or corporate PAC campaign donations. This is a movement funded by the people, not corporations or wealthy individuals. As your congressperson, Joaquín will work for the people, not for himself or special interest groups.

As we fight to get money out of politics, your support and donations are essential to growing our grassroots movement. It is time to take the power back from big money and give it to the people to finally have a real democracy with a government that is of the people, by the people, for the people. Let's start putting people first.

Protect Voters & Democracy

Voting rights are under attack nationwide. Through voter suppression laws and tactics that put certain voters at a disadvantage, the rich and powerful remain in office. These tactics violate our constitutional right to choose our own representatives. If we are going to succeed as a democracy and have a fighting chance to address all the issues above, we need to level the playing field by protecting our voters.

We are fighting to:

Put an end to partisan gerrymandering and create fair congressional districts.
Ensure that the Census is not used as a tool to disenfranchise voters so that everyone is counted.
Create a fund for voting centers to foster civic engagement and enhance access to the vote.
Expand early voting and online voter registration, and fight against all tactics that hinder voters' right to vote, including voter photo ID laws, last-minute Election Day and voter registration process barriers.
Lower the voting age to 16.
Ensure that people with felony convictions can exercise their constitutional right to vote.

Stop Gun Violence

Gun violence is an epidemic that we must stop, as it claims nearly 40,000 lives every year. We need big bold progressive solutions for this, not half measures. At the end of the day, it's about saving lives.

In Congress, I will continue to fight to:

Establish a universal background checks system
Create national licensing and gun registry
Ban assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines
Establish a mandatory gun buyback program for assault-style weapons, a voluntary buyback program for other firearms, and limit persons to one firearm purchase per month
Establish a national director of gun violence prevention who would report directly to the White House
Raise the minimum age to purchase guns from 18 to 21
Establish a new multi-step gun licensing system that includes in-person interviews and a 10-day wait before gun purchases are approved, with licenses to be renewed annually
Establish a Peace Corps-style program that pays young people to work on gun violence prevention for a year in communities and in nonprofit groups around the country

Justice for Veterans

Our country has been in constant war for almost its entire history, building up the military complex, while recruiting people with the promise of a full ride to college, healthcare benefits, and everything that service-members, veterans and military families will ever need. We do an outstanding job in training them and deploying them, but when they come home, they are left to struggle at making ends meet and just barely getting by.

Veterans are having a hard time finding a job and getting their basic mental and health care needs met. Roughly 40,000 veterans are homeless, and many who were promised citizenship have been deported and discarded by our government. To make things worse, we lose 17 veterans per day to suicide, due to the harsh realities and the lack of care when they come home from war.

It is time to end this and focus on a peace economy that cares for our veteran women and men who have served our country in the armed forces, and their families.

We must reduce the military industrial complex and redirect funds to ensure that we are putting veterans first.

I am fighting to:

Guarantee veteran jobs with livable wages, citizenship, affordable housing, and fully paid education and career training
Streamline compensation claims to ensure veterans receive timely care services
Fully fund and expand the VA through Medicare For All for fully paid health/dental/vision care, counseling and mental health services without delays or excuses
Increase pay for active duty service members, increase federal funding for apprenticeship and job-training programs to cover all veterans and service members transitioning to civilian life
Fully fund college education, guarantee housing for all veterans and expand their healthcare coverage to include military families
Increase federal funding for grants and loans for veterans seeking to start small businesses small, and extend them to military spouses, and former spouses of service members
For active military service members, we need to strengthen protections to crack down on and eliminate military sexual assault and harassment so that we do not have any more service women facing danger at the hands of their fellow service members, as in Fort Hood, TX where Vanessa Guillen was killed
As well as protecting our service members who are part of the LGBTQIA+ and gender non-conforming communities to uphold equal treatment and rights for everyone

Transit for All

Everyone, regardless of income, has the right to enjoy our country’s public spaces. Fare-free public and expanded transit would make it possible for even low-income families who would otherwise not be able to afford a bus or train ride, to enjoy their right to experience a public park, library or museum.

For too long those of us in marginalized communities, primarily poor and people of color, the ones who depend most on and pay for the public transit system, keep getting the short end of the stick. The poor and working-class people are the ones who work hard to ensure that the more affluent can enjoy a higher standard of living, yet are having a hard time making ends meet or even to pay for a transit ticket. Our people are the first ones getting harassed, ticketed and arrested by transit officers, ever contributing to the prison pipeline.

Picture how hard it is to get to work when you cannot afford to pay, or to get a job when you have several tickets that you can't also pay adding up misdemeanors.

The benefits go far beyond collective economic, environmental and social justice, it takes us closer to a sustainable, equitable and democratic government that offers a higher standard of living to everyone. It encourages transit ridership, which eases traffic congestion and furthers our climate action goals. It is cheaper in the long run, as shown by roughly 200 cities around the world that have implemented free transit policies, with 27 small towns and colleges in the United States that have fare-free systems — where the cost of fare collection outpaces the revenue it raises.

This country focuses more on fighting wars for special interests instead of finding ways to actually improve quality of life and ensure that everyone can move around their cities and contribute to the overall prosperity of everyone. We must ensure that money going into the military and fossil fuel industries is diverted to help close the inequality gap and boost the economy.

I am fighting for fare-free and expanded public transportation: Transit For All. If we are serious about transportation justice, let's stop playing games and make Transit For All a top social justice policy priority .

Media Justice

It is time to ensure accurate and fair representation of diverse communities in media.

If we are serious about achieving meaningful, inclusive and safe spaces for diverse communities, we must end inaccurate and racially biased coverage in news outlets, films, TV, radio and online sources. This includes in front and behind the scenes. To get there, we must ensure that teams are built with a diverse group of people, from all socio-economic classes, as well as gender, sexual orientation and race.

To effectively combat police brutality, gun violence, employment inequality, and economic inequality, it is necessary to reform the criminal justice, education, and immigration systems that disproportionately and negatively affect people of color, portraying them as criminals on screen, on paper and online. Media justice is imperative.

For centuries in our society, mass media has legitimized inequalities in class and race relations through the reproduction of the ideological hegemony of the dominant white culture. It is no surprise that media is structured to harbor and communicate messaging that meets the needs of one dominant culture, that of the upper middle-class and above white-anglo community, our country's ruling class. As this continues, white working families and lower middle-class families struggles also get swept under the rug, while pitting them against POC.

We are fighting to boldly advance a mass media future where everyone has sustained and universal access to open and democratic media coverage, to include fighting for fact based, unbiased information distribution via all technology platforms. I am fighting for a Communications Bill of Rights that emphasizes access, and power for communities that have been historically harmed, disadvantaged and marginalized by persistent dehumanization, discrimination and unfair treatment.

In 2020, we are putting a stop to this, and the ruling class will hear the people's voices. Voices from all communities, regardless of color, gender, sexual orientation, ability, disability, or socio-economic class. Their times of ruling, and their politics of divide and conquer are over. We, the people, are taking Washington and this country back!

Financial Systems Reform

Our country is in dire need of a complete transformation of our financial system into one that is safe for middle-and-working-class families to participate in, without predatory financial entities, and where the people can hold financial institutions and the big banks accountable. We need a financial system that is truly designed to serve all of us, not just corporations and the 1%.

At the core of a new reform there must come a public banking system, to have an option for everyday people to bank without being at the mercy of the big banks who continue to add fee after fee for miscellaneous reasons just to keep finding ways to profit from holding the money of hard working Americans. Public banking would prioritize widening access to everyday banking services and finally put an end to lending discrimination for working families to be able to purchase homes and vehicles sooner in their lives.

We must break up the big banks deemed "too big to fail," that make high risk investments while knowing fully well that taxpayers will be fronting the bill and bailing them out. Breaking the largest banks will also breakdown monopolies that are close to breaking anti-trust laws.

We must reinstate Glass-Steagall, to separate commercial banking from investment banking, and protect the financial system from risky big banks investments, which could lead us to the next financial recession.

We must change the tax code to place a tax on Wall Street speculation, to discourage high risk short-term speculation gambling and promote long-term investing.

I am also supporting Senator Sanders' Fair Banking for All plan to cap interest rates at 15%.

To ease pressure on regulatory bodies, big banks must also be required to significantly increase capital carried, to reach leverage rations above 10% with risk-weighted buffers above it, effectively would providing a crucial secondary layer of protection and solvency for the entire financial system.

Across the board, when it comes to financial regulatory policy, we need stricter enforcement to protect taxpayers and hold major financial institutions accountable in instances of regulatory and compliance violations.

Lastly, we must TAX THE RICH, to ensure that the 1% of the wealthiest people in America pay their fair share of taxes like everyone else outside of that bracket is doing already. It is appalling and unjust that while virtually everyone else has taken a big financial hit during the COVID-19 pandemic, the 1% has only seen historic profits.

What we do in Washington, DC must champion Main St, not just be focused on protecting Wall Street gains.^[4]

”

—Joaquin Vasquez's campaign website (2022)^[5]

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

Joaquín Vázquez completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Vázquez's responses.

What would be your top three priorities, if elected?

There are no top three priorities, when everything is important, and everything is at stake, we cannot put one issue above the other: - Green New Deal - Expanding Voter Protections - Getting Money Out of Politics - Equality - Women's, People of Color and LGTBQIA rights - Medicare for All - Gun Control - Immigration Reform - Criminal Justice Reform - Education for All - Affordable Housing

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

- Education - Immigration - Enviornmental - Criminal Justice Reform

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

I look up to my father and siblings. They have all been tested throughout life, and they are still here after many roadblocks. The strength that they have shown throughout my life has set an amazing example to me of perseverance, strength and strong work ethic.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Humanity. Courage. Compassion. Integrity. Service. Duty. Respect. Protect.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

Combined lived and professional experience, my ability to sense and take action on foundational issues and my conviction and inability to accept corporate or corporate PAC money.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

At the age of 10, I worked as a bread maker and seller in Mexico.

What happened on your most awkward date?

At the age of 14, I went to the movies and it was one of those times that "items were not sold separately", so, the best friend of my date came along to see how things would go, and sat right in between me and my date.

What is your favorite holiday? Why?

Halloween. Its a day for me to spend with my family, get dressed up and we usually have the best haunted house and throw the biggest parties.

What is your favorite book? Why?

The Power - Naomi Alderman.

If you could be any fictional character, who would you want to be?

Robin Hood

What is your favorite thing in your home or apartment? Why?

Ceramic Turtle. Turtles are wise, kind and provide me with peace.

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

Prayer of the Refugee - Rise Against

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

Being a person of color, being poor, not being able to have my family all in one place.

What process do you favor for redistricting?

A nonpartisan process, removing the politicians from the process, allowing for citizens from the respective districts to redraw the lines, so that democracy reflects the will of the people.

What qualities does the U.S. House of Representatives possess that makes it unique as an institution?

Since there is no other option to give everyone a seat at the table, this allows us to have a version of it. It allows a balance. The House of Representatives has the power of the purse. They decide who and what gets funded. They also decide if we go to war, and having people in those positions that have certain convictions and can get the job done, for the people, is what we do.

Do you believe that it's beneficial for representatives to have previous experience in government or politics?

Yes, experience or working knowledge of the office that you are seeking should be required.

What do you perceive to be the United States’ greatest challenges as a nation over the next decade?

Everything that continues to keep the citizens of our country from participating in all that it has to offer, things such as gerrymandering, unfair representation, voter suppression, a criminal justice system that is still broken, inequality, and ensuring that we have a fair democratic system and the ability for the people to access it.

If you are not a current representative, are there certain committees that you would want to be a part of?

Yes, I would be a part of the ways and means, education and labor, appropriations, energy and commerce, financial services, oversight and government reform.

Do you believe that two years is the right term length for representatives?

Yes.

What are your thoughts on term limits?

I think 6-8 years at the most is sufficient for House of Representatives. I think that once a member of congress gets a point to where they are no longer making change, that they should leave those positions.

If you are not currently a member of your party’s leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives, would you be interested in joining the leadership? If so, in what role?

Yes. The Speaker of the House

Is there a particular representative, past or present, whom you want to model yourself after?

Shirley Chisholm

Both sitting representatives and candidates for office hear many personal stories from the residents of their district. Is there a story that you’ve heard that you found particularly touching, memorable, or impactful?

I once had a conversation with an elderly couple about their current issues with medical insurance and a grave medical issue that would not be covered. The couple had been married for 36 years to a Physician and he usually takes care of his wife, because they can't afford it. The husband in turn ends up taking a lot of time off to take care of his wife. What really broke my heart was that after I ended the conversation with this couple, the only option that they believed they had in order to get some relief, was to get a divorce. This was the only option, even after they discussed the wife attempt at getting a job in her grave state.

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.

Ballotpedia biographical submission form

The candidate completed Ballotpedia's biographical information submission form:

“	What is your political philosophy? Put people over profits; get money out of politics; stand up for underrepresented communities; reform criminal justice system; reform immigration laws; reform public education system; reverse effects of global warming and climate change; increase government accountability; gun control to stop gun violence; affordable housing; end gerrymandering.^[4]	”
—Joaquin Vazquez^[2]

Campaign website

“

Issues & What's At Stake

Everyone deserves a fair chance to succeed. Our nation’s success is built on the founding principles of unlimited opportunity, quality education, commitment to hard work, and the freedom to pursue our dreams. Joaquín Vázquez fights each and every day to ensure that the community is advancing towards meeting these founding principles. Read on to learn about the issues at hand, and what is being done to combat them.

Education For All

We are fighting to reform our public education system, to ensure equity in education.

Knowledge is power and education is the best path for people in poverty to grow out of it. As a first generation Mexican-American, Joaquín was the first in his family to graduate high school and the only one in his family to receive a Bachelor's and a Master's degree. Access to education was integral to his ability to pursue a career in public service and to support his family. Your zip code should not determine the quality of education you receive. It is time to fund public education equitably. Students throughout San Diego County should be receiving the same high-quality education regardless of their neighborhood or school district.

To reform our public education system, we are fighting to:

Make sure that equitable education from K-12 is given the resources and attention that it deserves with better funding for classroom materials and during and after school programs.

Employ more counselors in schools instead of police officers.

Provide fair and livable wages for teachers.

Make public colleges and universities tuition free.

Forgive student loan debt so that graduates don't have to spend their hard-earned money paying back loans at high interest rates for decades, rather they can put their money back into their families and the economy.

Medicare For All

We are fighting for equitable, quality healthcare for all Americans because healthcare is a human right, not a commodity to be profited off of.

Americans are paying more than every other major country in the world for poorer quality healthcare. Our health outcomes in life expectancy, infant mortality, and chronic conditions (among others) are lagging far behind other wealthy nations. Families are breaking the bank to pay for insulin, PrEP, and other life-saving medications. Overall the US pays almost double per person for prescriptions than the average spent per person in ten other high-income countries. Twenty percent of CA-53 residents were uninsured for all or part of 2011-2012, and 20% of adults in San Diego County were uninsured for all or part of 2014-2016. The Affordable Care Act, a good first step, still left many Americans without coverage or struggling afford their new coverage.

Every other major developed nation has a government-run universal healthcare system (or strict regulations on private insurers) that prevents health insurers from profiting off of people's health. It is time for the richest economy in the world to catch up and cover every American through a single-payer, public system. Medicare for All will be comprised of:

Comprehensive coverage, including maternal healthcare and mental healthcare.

Equal access to all medical services and treatments.

Freedom to choose your own doctor.

No cost at the point of service with no premiums, no copays or deductibles, and no additional fees.

A transition that includes a jobs and severance guarantee to cover those employees affected by the transition away from the current for-profit, private insurance system.

In addition, we will fight for a healthcare system that emphasizes healthcare quality, equity, and respect by taking substantial measures to reduce healthcare provider burnout and to address inequalities in patient treatment, especially those experienced by women of color, LGBTQIA+ persons, and the elderly. We're fighting for a system that is oriented to prevention and education, which emphasizes mental health care, prevention of chronic diseases, and increased funding for health research for cancer, obesity, dementia, Parkinson's, diabetes, autism, an HIV vaccine, and other health areas.

Finally, while the Veterans Health Administration and Indian Health Service will remain in place, individuals who qualify for these services will have the option to use the VA and IHS systems or the same services as the general public. Regardless of an individual's choice in healthcare services, it will be covered under the Medicare for All system. In addition, adequate attention and funding will be given to reduce the amount of administrative burden and red tape in these systems, to support providers and administrators, and to ensure patients, especially female and trans persons, are treated fairly and have their medical needs fully covered.

Green New Deal

Our time on Earth is precious. We need to make sure that our actions today are focused on preserving the environment and building a sustainable economy for future generations to enjoy our planet. Our movement will work toward the goals outlined in the Green New Deal (GND), which provides a road-map to revamp our economy, fight inequality, and reverse the effects of climate change.

The GND resolves to mobilize public resources to transition our economy from one built on worker exploitation, corporate greed, and fossil fuels to one focused on clean renewable energy sources and dignified, good-paying jobs with livable wages and benefits.

We will fight for the GND to ensure that people can succeed in an ever-changing labor market by staying ahead of technological advances with a proactive approach to job creation, and protecting the environment through polices highlighting sustainability and closing the inequality gap.

Immigration Reform Abolish ICE

We are fighting to reform our unfair immigration system from one that treats immigrants like criminals to one that treats humans like humans. Immigrants have been model citizens and strong pillars for the nation's economic growth and well-being. It is time we start treating people like people.

Families have been separated long before this administration took office. It happened to Joaquín when he was a child. Immigrants should not be treated as criminals. They are our fathers, mothers, siblings and neighbors. They are all of us. Our current immigration system is focused on enforcement and criminalization and needs to be refocused on humanizing immigrants and asylum seekers to preserve the American dream.

To achieve this, we are fighting to:

Create a pathway to citizenship and work permits for undocumented immigrants, veterans, farm workers and DACA recipients.

Restore Advance Parole for DACA recipients so that Dreamers are no longer prevented from going abroad temporarily, citizenship .

Abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and re-purpose Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to focus on customs and its business and trade-related responsibilities.

Create an independent federal immigration agency that takes a humane approach to immigration to protect the American dream; the agency will be outside of presidential control and staffed through the merit promotion system.

Shut down the migrant concentration camps and return every child to their parents.

Restore Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for thousands of legal immigrants from countries that are still facing economic devastation from wars and natural disasters, and establish a pathway for citizenship for long-residing TPS recipients and those with US-born children.

End public funding for all privately owned prisons and other companies banking on our unjust immigration system.

Remove the "public charge" rules, especially the newer, more restrictive rules that discourage green card applicants (and even green card holders and their U.S. citizen children) from receiving support through public assistance programs.

Restrict immigration authorities to operate only within the confines of the border and their respective federal agencies and only where their presence is required by law or allowed by a warrant.

Justice For All

We are fighting to reform the country's broken criminal justice system.

The failures of the current system enable prison overcrowding and private prison companies bank on it. On top of that, it is infected by systemic racism and policies that place a disproportionately higher number of black and brown people behind bars. It is no secret that most people who have been incarcerated come from disadvantaged and underrepresented communities of color. It's time to put an end to it, stop the school to prison pipeline, and stop letting corporations profit out of this unjust system. Money needs to be flowing into communities to fund schools, clinics, and job training programs, not incarcerating people for profit. Additionally, preventing people with felony convictions from voting is one of many disgraceful voter suppression tactics. They too are fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters. They should have a say in how policy affects their families and their future. Without this, the rich and powerful will continue to enjoy and benefit from lower voter turnout. Disenfranchisement of the most vulnerable communities must stop. It's time to be smart on crime, not tough on crime.

It's time for a Justice For All Act that ensures a criminal justice system that operates fairly and equitably for everyone.

Our Justice for All approach proposes a package of reforms that will:

Ban private prisons and detention centers, and stop prison expansion and labor exploitation

Do away with the cash money bail system

Implement fair sentencing laws, lowering the population of jailed, detained, and incarcerated juveniles and adults by reducing nonviolent felony convictions to misdemeanors and prioritizing rehabilitation and treatment

End the death penalty

Institute a mandatory training of police and law enforcement across all levels of government to end the unfair treatment and killings of people of color and the poor, while requiring more stringent and transparent monitoring of their actions through body cameras and making it illegal to turn them off during police encounters with people

Allow people with felony convictions to vote, because it is their constitutional right and their voices matter just as those of everyone else in this country

Hold prosecutors accountable and accelerate prosecution reform, including ending incentives fueling mass incarceration to stop unnecessary prosecutions

Decriminalizing poverty, immigration, marijuana, and ensure schools focus on student counseling and intervention rather than arrests and criminalization

Stop anti-black, anti-brown, anti-immigrant violence and vigilantes, legally prohibit racial profiling and the treatment of youth as adults prior to the age of 18 in the criminal justice system

H.R. 40 Reparations: Slavery still exists until this day in society, and did not stop in 1865. The through the school to prison pipeline, continued instances of racism, and several other economic disadvantages, African American people continue to experience slavery. The effects of Jim Crow laws and redlining still impact the ability of the Black community to have the power to rise and build wealth and a better future for their families. It is because of these issues that I stand in support of H.R. 40 - Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act. This bill will provide the opportunity for African American communities across our nation to begin to heal and rebuild.

With the hate being spread across the country towards people of color, police killing Black adults and youth, using excessive force, and monitoring every move made, we have to go beyond fighting for what is owed. We need to bring federal dollars to our marginalized communities that have been left out for too long, we need to get the police out of our schools and bring counselors and teachers with cultural competence, and that starts with the people that understand the needs of the community having a seat at the table. That starts with putting people first and not catering to special interests.

Economic Justice

Our movement will put labor rights, higher wages, better benefits, safer work conditions, public banking, and a federal jobs guarantee at the very top of the national agenda.

Even though labor unions have been very effective in correcting issues to create safe workplaces for employees and ensuring job security, there is still a long way to go to create a level playing field for workers and put their well-being before corporate profits. As companies seek to keep up with the pace of technological advancement, they continue to reduce the number of their employees and their reliance on certain employees, making these workers less competitive in the job market. The government's focus should be on ensuring that the economy works for the people. One job should be enough. While serving under the Obama administration, Joaquín's priorities were fighting to ensure higher labor standards in economic policy in order to protect our workers and jobs.

To continue this fight, we will work to:

Raise the minimum wage and ensure jobs offer livable wages.

Create training programs for people to work in new technologies, emerging industries, and green/renewable energies for them keep up with societal advancements and changes.

Protect labor unions, strengthen workers’ rights, and protect collective bargaining.

Defend employee pensions, wages, and jobs in order to protect them from scrutiny.

Ensure equal pay for women.

Establish a federal jobs guarantee program.

Stop protectionist trade policies like high tariffs that end up being paid by consumers and hinder our economy instead of growing it.

Create a public bank option that operates in the public interest to effectively reduce taxes by returning profits to the institution's general fund and reduces public project costs for government agencies by not charging interest.

Encourage employers to retain hard working employees and fight against layoffs and terminations in order to ensure longterm job stability.

Housing For All

I fundamentally believe that housing is a human right.

The need for affordable, low-income housing is undeniable. We have a housing crisis, a homelessness crisis, and a rental affordability crisis. In Washington, we will fight to ensure that everyone is able to afford a decent place to live without having to spend nearly all of their income on rent and utility bills.

The working-class works hard to ensure that the rest of the country can live a comfortable life, full of luxury and be financially worry-free, and has earned guaranteed housing.

Across the country, an approach of consciousness is severely missing. There is no time to waste by catering only to developers and corporate landlords in the fight to end homelessness. We must ensure that people at risk can stay in their rental homes and have the resources they need to take steps to purchasing a home if they chose to take that route at some point. For the increasingly high homeless population, the answer is housing first. What is certain is that development and rent control are not issues that are at odds. Local governments must ensure that zoning laws are appropriate for the continued development of low-income housing.

If we are serious about housing and ending homelessness, we must focus on preventing and ending homelessness. That means that new housing developments must ensure that the most vulnerable can qualify and afford the units, and provide comprehensive wraparound services in-building.

We can't stop there. Truly progressive housing policy also comes with a large emphasis on rent control. I am fighting for a national annual rent increase capped at 3%, with special attention at regions like San Diego where even lower figures are more effective, from an emergency freeze to as high as 2%.

In Washington, Joaquin will fight for a national housing guarantee so that San Diego has the funding that ensures housing for all, because everyone deserves to live a dignified life.

Equality

Our movement will ensure that women, the LGBTQIA+ community, and people of color have the same rights as everyone else, free from discrimination and unequal treatment in housing, healthcare, employment and all aspects of society.

Equal rights means:

Defending Roe v. Wade and reproductive rights from conservative judges and state legislatures seeking to infringe on women's autonomy over their bodies. Your state and socioeconomic status should not determine your ability to exercise your right to choose.

Ensuring women get equal pay for equal work. It's time to close the wage gap once and for all, especially for women of color who face an even larger wage gap.

Protecting voters from various overt and covert voter suppression tactics.

Covering all of the reproductive health needs of transgender individuals under the Veterans Health Administration and Medicare for All.

Funding mental health services for LGBTQIA+ individuals, especially youth, and combating in-school and online bullying.

Condemning hate speech directed at any group based on any aspect of their identity.

Respecting elderly persons and integrating, not relegating them, in our society.

We should all be able to enjoy a life with equal rights, freedom of expression, and association with any group and/or religion, without discrimination at schools, workplaces or anywhere else.

Money Out of Politics

It's time to get big money out of politics.

Money from corporations and their PACs’ dominate elections and cast a shadow over the American democracy. Special interests such as pharmaceutical companies, oil companies, the NRA, and defense contractors have a disproportionate power over the actions of our congresspeople. In addition, powerful individuals like Trump who run self-funded campaigns end up working for themselves and their own interests. Their values are frequently at odds with the will of the American people who want to see affordable healthcare and prescriptions, safety from gun violence, clean air and water, and an end to our endless wars. In order for government to truly represent the people, the Citizens United Supreme Court decision must be overturned and candidates need to commit to running clean money campaigns.

Joaquín is putting people over profits and standing up against powerful corporate interests, starting by taking zero corporate or corporate PAC campaign donations. This is a movement funded by the people, not corporations or wealthy individuals. As your congressperson, Joaquín will work for the people, not for himself or special interest groups.

As we fight to get money out of politics, your support and donations are essential to growing our grassroots movement. It is time to take the power back from big money and give it to the people to finally have a real democracy with a government that is of the people, by the people, for the people. Let's start putting people first.

Protect Voters & Democracy

Voting rights are under attack nationwide. Through voter suppression laws and tactics that put certain voters at a disadvantage, the rich and powerful remain in office. These tactics violate our constitutional right to choose our own representatives. If we are going to succeed as a democracy and have a fighting chance to address all the issues above, we need to level the playing field by protecting our voters.

We are fighting to:

Put an end to partisan gerrymandering and create fair congressional districts.

Ensure that the Census is not used as a tool to disenfranchise voters so that everyone is counted.

Create a fund for voting centers to foster civic engagement and enhance access to the vote.

Expand early voting and online voter registration, and fight against all tactics that hinder voters' right to vote, including voter photo ID laws, last-minute Election Day and voter registration process barriers.

Lower the voting age to 16.

Ensure that people with felony convictions can exercise their constitutional right to vote.

Gun Control

Gun violence is an epidemic that we must stop, as it claims nearly 40,000 lives every year. We need big bold progressive solutions for this, not half measures. At the end of the day, it's about saving lives.

In Congress, I will continue to fight to:

Establish a universal background checks system

Create national licensing and gun registry

Ban assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines

Establish a mandatory gun buyback program for assault-style weapons, a voluntary buyback program for other firearms, and limit persons to one firearm purchase per month

Establish a national director of gun violence prevention who would report directly to the White House

Raise the minimum age to purchase guns from 18 to 21

Establish a new multi-step gun licensing system that includes in-person interviews and a 10-day wait before gun purchases are approved, with licenses to be renewed annually

Establish a Peace Corps-style program that pays young people to work on gun violence prevention for a year in communities and in nonprofit groups around the country

Justice For Veterans

Our country has been in constant war for almost its entire history, building up the military complex, while recruiting people with the promise of a full ride to college, healthcare benefits, and everything that service-members, veterans and military families will ever need. We do an outstanding job in training them and deploying them, but when they come home, they are left to struggle at making ends meet and just barely getting by.

Veterans are having a hard time finding a job and getting their basic mental and health care needs met. Roughly 40,000 veterans are homeless, and many who were promised citizenship have been deported and discarded by our government. To make things worse, we lose 17 veterans per day to suicide, due to the harsh realities and the lack of care when they come home from war.

It is time to end this and focus on a peace economy that cares for our veteran women and men who have served our country in the armed forces, and their families.

We must reduce the military industrial complex and redirect funds to ensure that we are putting veterans first.

I am fighting to:

Guarantee veteran jobs with livable wages, citizenship, affordable housing, and fully paid education and career training

Streamline compensation claims to ensure veterans receive timely care services

Fully fund and expand the VA through Medicare For All for fully paid health/dental/vision care, counseling and mental health services without delays or excuses

Increase pay for active duty service members, increase federal funding for apprenticeship and job-training programs to cover all veterans and service members transitioning to civilian life

Fully fund college education, guarantee housing for all veterans and expand their healthcare coverage to include military families

Increase federal funding for grants and loans for veterans seeking to start small businesses small, and extend them to military spouses, and former spouses of service members

Transit For All

Our country has been in constant war for almost its entire history, building up the military complex, while recruiting people with the promise of a full ride to college, healthcare benefits, and everything that service-members, veterans and military families will ever need. We do an outstanding job in training them and deploying them, but when they come home, they are left to struggle at making ends meet and just barely getting by.

Veterans are having a hard time finding a job and getting their basic mental and health care needs met. Roughly 40,000 veterans are homeless, and many who were promised citizenship have been deported and discarded by our government. To make things worse, we lose 17 veterans per day to suicide, due to the harsh realities and the lack of care when they come home from war.

It is time to end this and focus on a peace economy that cares for our veteran women and men who have served our country in the armed forces, and their families.

We must reduce the military industrial complex and redirect funds to ensure that we are putting veterans first.

I am fighting to:

Guarantee veteran jobs with livable wages, citizenship, affordable housing, and fully paid education and career training

Streamline compensation claims to ensure veterans receive timely care services

Fully fund and expand the VA through Medicare For All for fully paid health/dental/vision care, counseling and mental health services without delays or excuses

Increase pay for active duty service members, increase federal funding for apprenticeship and job-training programs to cover all veterans and service members transitioning to civilian life

Fully fund college education, guarantee housing for all veterans and expand their healthcare coverage to include military families

Increase federal funding for grants and loans for veterans seeking to start small businesses small, and extend them to military spouses, and former spouses of service members

Media Justice

It is time to ensure accurate and fair representation of diverse communities in media.

If we are serious about achieving meaningful, inclusive and safe spaces for diverse communities, we must end inaccurate and racially biased coverage in news outlets, films, TV, radio and online sources. This includes in front and behind the scenes. To get there, we must ensure that teams are built with a diverse group of people, from all socio-economic classes, as well as gender, sexual orientation and race.

To effectively combat police brutality, gun violence, employment inequality, and economic inequality, it is necessary to reform the criminal justice, education, and immigration systems that disproportionately and negatively affect people of color, portraying them as criminals on screen, on paper and online. Media justice is imperative.

For centuries in our society, mass media has legitimized inequalities in class and race relations through the reproduction of the ideological hegemony of the dominant white culture. It is no surprise that media is structured to harbor and communicate messaging that meets the needs of one dominant culture, that of the upper middle-class and above white-anglo community, our country's ruling class. As this continues, white working families and lower middle-class families struggles also get swept under the rug, while pitting them against POC.

We are fighting to boldly advance a mass media future where everyone has sustained and universal access to open and democratic media coverage, to include fighting for fact based, unbiased information distribution via all technology platforms. I am fighting for a Communications Bill of Rights that emphasizes access, and power for communities that have been historically harmed, disadvantaged and marginalized by persistent dehumanization, discrimination and unfair treatment.

In 2020, we are putting a stop to this, and the ruling class will hear the people's voices. Voices from all communities, regardless of color, gender, sexual orientation, ability, disability, or socio-economic class. Their times of ruling, and their politics of divide and conquer are over. We, the people, are taking Washington and this country back!

Financial System Reform

Check back for more information on this issue.^[4]

”

—Joaquin Vazquez 2020 campaign website^[6]

External links

Search Google News for this topic

Candidate

U.S. House California District 52

Personal

Footnotes

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 LinkedIn, "Joaquín Vázquez, MPPA," accessed May 27, 2022
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 Information submitted on Ballotpedia’s biographical information submission form on July 18, 2019
↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on May 28, 2022
↑ ^4.0 ^4.1 ^4.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
↑ Joaquín Vázquez, “Home,” accessed May 19, 2022
↑ Joaquin Vazquez 2020 campaign website, "Issues and What's at Stake," accessed February 10, 2020

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California's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Alex Padilla (D)

Adam Schiff (D)

Representatives

District 1

Doug LaMalfa (R)

District 2

Jared Huffman (D)

District 3

Kevin Kiley (R)

District 4

Mike Thompson (D)

District 5

Tom McClintock (R)

District 6

Ami Bera (D)

District 7

Doris Matsui (D)

District 8

John Garamendi (D)

District 9

Josh Harder (D)

District 10

Mark DeSaulnier (D)

District 11

Nancy Pelosi (D)

District 12

Lateefah Simon (D)

District 13

Adam Gray (D)

District 14

Eric Swalwell (D)

District 15

Kevin Mullin (D)

District 16

Sam Liccardo (D)

District 17

Ro Khanna (D)

District 18

Zoe Lofgren (D)

District 19

Jimmy Panetta (D)

District 20

Vince Fong (R)

District 21

Jim Costa (D)

District 22

David Valadao (R)

District 23

Jay Obernolte (R)

District 24

Salud Carbajal (D)

District 25

Raul Ruiz (D)

District 26

Julia Brownley (D)

District 27

George Whitesides (D)

District 28

Judy Chu (D)

District 29

Luz Rivas (D)

District 30

Laura Friedman (D)

District 31

Gil Cisneros (D)

District 32

Brad Sherman (D)

District 33

Pete Aguilar (D)

District 34

Jimmy Gomez (D)

District 35

Norma Torres (D)

District 36

Ted Lieu (D)

District 37

Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D)

District 38

Linda Sánchez (D)

District 39

Mark Takano (D)

District 40

Young Kim (R)

District 41

Ken Calvert (R)

District 42

Robert Garcia (D)

District 43

Maxine Waters (D)

District 44

Nanette Barragán (D)

District 45

Derek Tran (D)

District 46

Lou Correa (D)

District 47

Dave Min (D)

District 48

Darrell Issa (R)

District 49

Mike Levin (D)

District 50

Scott Peters (D)

District 51

Sara Jacobs (D)

District 52

Juan Vargas (D)

Democratic Party (45)

Republican Party (9)

[bio2-1] 1.0 ^1.1 LinkedIn, "Joaquín Vázquez, MPPA," accessed May 27, 2022

[bio-2] 2.0 ^2.1 Information submitted on Ballotpedia’s biographical information submission form on July 18, 2019

[bio3-3] Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on May 28, 2022

[quotedisclaimer-4] 4.0 ^4.1 ^4.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.

[5] Joaquín Vázquez, “Home,” accessed May 19, 2022

[6] Joaquin Vazquez 2020 campaign website, "Issues and What's at Stake," accessed February 10, 2020

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Joaquín Vázquez

Contents

Biography

Elections

2022

General election

General election for U.S. House California District 52

Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for U.S. House California District 52

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Endorsements

2020

General election

General election for U.S. House California District 53

Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for U.S. House California District 53

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Campaign themes

2022

Video for Ballotpedia

Ballotpedia survey responses

Campaign website

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

Ballotpedia biographical submission form

Campaign website

See also

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Footnotes

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