Joseph Fountain (California)
Joseph Fountain (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent California's 53rd Congressional District. He lost in the primary on March 3, 2020.
Fountain completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Joseph Fountain was born in Holyoke, Massachusetts. He earned a bachelor's degree in political science and history from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst; a master's degree in special education from Westfield State University; and a Ph.D. in education from Walden University. Fountain's career experience includes working as a special education teacher.[1]
Elections
2020
See also: California's 53rd Congressional District election, 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 | |
| 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 | |
| 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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Devorah Ann Fox (D)
- Zack Fields (D)
- Peter Sharma (D)
- Ashur Gabriel (R)
- Daniel Phillip Ferrara (D)
Candidate profile
Party: Democratic Party
Incumbent: No
Political Office: None
Submitted Biography: "I am running for Congress because I want to be a voice for people who go hungry and not fed. For people who are cold and not kept warm. I am running for those who have no voice, who work day in and day out and are told to wait their turn. While people who control the power structure deny there is anything wrong with the system. They make endless promises and at the end of the day, they always win. They always get the lion's share of any gotten gains."
This information was current as of the candidate's run for U.S. House California District 53 in 2020.
Campaign themes
2020
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Joseph Fountain completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Fountain's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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- Eliminate federal income taxes on incomes below 75K a year and provide an additional income of up to 20K a year for those making less than 30K a year.
- Complete legalization of marijuana federally with federal licensing of growers and retailers. 35% of all licences will go to African Americans and Hispanics.
- Education, healthcare, food security and housing are universal human rights. We can make sure no person goes without.
Drug abuse is not an individual's fault, it is the failure of the healthcare system.
Crime, much of it is caused by a lack of opportunities and systemic racism in our society and the race to the bottom of the barrel. It is the goal of too many corporations to exploit the needs of the marginalized and create scapegoats where a purely capitalist system fails.
My responsibility as your congressman will be to fight for the weakest in our society.
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
| “ |
Complete Federal Legalization of Recreational Marijuana The war on marijuana and the mass incarceration of people of color has gone on for too long. Any person who is "woke" knows we need to end the wasteful war on people and begin to heal.
Non-Violent Individuals who are incarcerated today, shall be released. There are thousands of people who are incarcerated today for victimless crimes. When Marijuana is completely legal, these individuals could still be incarcerated for offenses that are now legal. We need to release them, and give them opportunities to participate in the industry that caused them to be locked up. African -Americans and Hispanics should be a prime beneficiary of the changes in the law, and again, they shall reap the benefit by being granted at least 35% of all licences. Taxes reaped from the sale of legal marijuana will go to the USDA and the SBA, and these agencies shall help minority owned cooperative companies form and operate as for-profit cooperatives. The majority of the ownership in each of these companies shall be formerly incarcerated persons of color. Intellectuals such as Noam Chomsky, and Richard Wolfe shall be asked to formulate the articles of incorporation of these cooperatives. A 10% tax on this new industry should created 5 billion dollars in revenue in federal taxes. Of which 90% shall go toward reparations and the remaining 10% to the USDA, SBA and CDC. Immigration-No Person is Illegal Social Security, Federal and State Income Taxes and local sales taxes all benefit from the mistreatment of undocumented workers.
Simple Solutions Give amnesty to all workers who can show they have paid into social security and federal income taxes for greater than 2 years. Ensure they have full access to these monies. Penalize the companies that have abused these workers with a fine of no less than $5,000 per employee and ensure the employee is allowed to keep their job. In industries in which there are labor unions: provide for an instrument in which that company will become a unionized job site or risk being shut down. Another option is to form a cooperative business. The undocumented worker shall have a fast track to US citizenship. All undocumented workers will be encouraged to come forward and report their employers. There will be a limited amnesty period for workers and they will be protected from employer abuse and attack. Deportations will stop. If Melania Trump can become a US citizen after lying on her visa application, and her mother and father can benefit from chain migration then everyone needs to be treated the same. When undocumented workers pay billions of dollars in taxes and social security they will never never benefit and veterans who wore the uniform and served our nation can get deported. While Jeff Bezos can make 11 Billion dollars and pay $0 in federal income taxes. We need to support the immigrant like Jesus said, and deport Bezos. Who is the real parasite? End Federal With holding of Income Taxes We need to abolish income taxes on income below 70K a year and stop with holding of income taxes on incomes in which there will be no federal liability.
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” |
| —Joseph Fountain 2020 campaign website[3] | ||
See also
2020 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on February 2, 2020
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Joseph Fountain 2020 campaign website, "Issues," accessed February 7, 2020
