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Karen Schwartz
From Ballotpedia
This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.
Karen Schwartz (Democratic Party) (also known as Kate) ran for election to the California State Assembly to represent District 75. She lost in the general election on November 3, 2020.
Schwartz completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Karen Schwartz was born in Sacramento, California. She earned a bachelor's degree from California State University, Sacramento, and an M.S.S.W. degree in health/mental health from Columbia University. She received her certificate post-graduate training at the University of San Diego. Schwartz's career experience includes working as a licensed behavioral healthcare provider and a clinical supervisor and trainer for behavioral health departments.[1]
Elections
2020
See also: California State Assembly elections, 2020
General election
General election for California State Assembly District 75
Incumbent Marie Waldron defeated Karen Schwartz in the general election for California State Assembly District 75 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Marie Waldron (R) | 54.5 | 128,576 |
 | Karen Schwartz (D)  | 45.5 | 107,170 | |
| Total votes: 235,746 | |||
| = 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 California State Assembly District 75
Incumbent Marie Waldron and Karen Schwartz defeated Roger Garcia in the primary for California State Assembly District 75 on March 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Marie Waldron (R) | 56.3 | 71,217 |
| ✔ | | Karen Schwartz (D) | 37.9 | 47,988 |
| Roger Garcia (D) | 5.8 | 7,327 | ||
| Total votes: 126,532 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Campaign themes
2020
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Karen Schwartz completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Schwartz's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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My name is Kate Schwartz and I am running to become your Assembly representative in Assembly District 75. I am an elected Regional Health District Director. As a licensed healthcare provider, I have been an advocate for patients and families over the past 34 years. I have lived in North County San Diego since 2000, having chosen to work and raise my family here. I am a native Californian, a graduate of California public schools through my undergraduate education, and Columbia University where I received my graduate degree. After completing my graduate and postgraduate training in Boston and New York City, I returned to California with my family. I am prepared to fight for your family values in Sacramento. My top priorities include: addressing the need for affordable housing and our crisis of homelessness, advocating for and supporting our Veterans, investing in our infrastructure and public transit systems to decrease traffic congestion, advocate for access to affordable healthcare for Californians, addressing climate change for our local communities, increasing our renewable energy systems, advocating for a living wage for our hardworking middle class, and investing in our public education pre-K through Community College. I would be honored to serve you in Assembly District 75.
- As a Behavioral Healthcare Provider, I have been advocating for Patients and Families for 35 years, and connecting them to needed resources within our communities of North County San Diego.
- I will be elected and supported by you, my constituents. I will not accept large corporate donations, and will not be obligated to anyone other than my constituents. I serve you and no one else.
- I will advocate to not raise taxes on homeowners and the middle class. Businesses/Industry need to pay their fair share of taxes to support our community services and schools.
Enhancing our quality of life within our district encompasses a number of inter-related issues needing to be addressed. We need to solve traffic congestion and the air quality/climate problems long commutes create, while reducing miles traveled for commuters to work, by both updating our transportation infrastructure and creating 21s century transportation systems, which will include transportation hubs offering a variety of transit options, and encouraging through subsidies increased electric vehicle use and increased availability of EV charging stations throughout both San Diego and Riverside Counties. We need improved and updated mass transit options. We also need to create affordable housing closer to employment areas, with decreased development in outlying unincorporated (and fire prone) areas. The development that should be taking place in our exburbs should be locating large employers to the outlying areas where their workers currently live. Homelessness is a tragic social and health crisis that needs to be solved. I am in a unique position to assist with statewide and regional solutions, as I have dedicated my career to healthcare and social service issues .I served on a start-up team that created a crisis residential treatment center for young adults, aged 18 to 25 years who were facing crises of homelessness and behavioral health conditions. And our healthcare system is in crisis. Few of us can afford both our housing and our healthcare costs.
So many to name! Dr. Martin Luther King and Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Eleanor Roosevelt. All human, not perfect by any means, but all committed to social justice, equality for all, and making our world a more humane, just and better place. These three outstanding Americans always fought and advocated for others, for civil rights and social justice, and demonstrated outstanding courage in doing so at points in our country's history when racism and sexism were accepted and defended as "the natural order." They stood up and questioned this traditional belief system, endured societal ostracism and hostility, and yet persisted in their beliefs and actions despite the opposition. They fought for all of us, and some gave their life to their battle. They rejected hate, ignorance and prejudice. Our country is very fortunate to have had these heroes among us, showing us the way.
I believe characteristics essential for an elected official include: integrity, humility, honesty, a true desire to help others and be a public servant, servicing the needs of our communities. Also a desire to continually learn, a curiosity, and a belief in hard work and gratification from a job well done. An elected official's motivation should not be self aggrandizement or enriching personal wealth, nor a desire to be popular. And of course intelligence and the ability to be a strong problem solver.
I was 7 years old and attending a Catholic school, (My Mother was Catholic and my Father Jewish), and will always remember the day of the JFK assassination. In the afternoon our classroom full of children erupted out onto the playground. We began to notice the nuns were openly weeping, and became irritable with the children who were playing and laughing. One called out to us - "Today is not a day for laughter - our President Kennedy has been shot." As the next several days and weeks became somber, and we watched the funeral procession on our television, I recall John John's final salute to his Father, and the shock I felt that a child would no longer have his Father, nor we our President.
My very first job was when I was 15 years old I obtained a summer job working for Sears in their cafeteria. I had been competitively speed skating for several years, and was then going to venture into the sport of cycling, (bicycle road racing), thus I needed to earn enough in my summer job to purchase my first racing bike. I worked the summer school vacation at the job, approximately 3 months. It was a trying adventure into the world of employment, as I was not built with a great deal of upper body strength, but instead was slender as most endurance athletes are - thus when asked to lift large industrial sized roasting pans with hot foods (and very hot drippings inside) - it was clear I was not capable. Nor did I believe it would be safe to try. In the afternoons around 3 pm I would be asked to refill the sugar jars on all the cafeteria tables. Problem was I couldn't get the tops twisted off, but within a short amount of time a kind employee - a young man - caught on to my dilemma and would take his break at 3 pm and arrive in the cafeteria, and with my supervisors in the back and unknowing, he would remove all the tops off the aged and crusted sugar jars. And I would provide him with an extra cup of coffee. It took the supervisors some time, but eventually, despite my petite build, my strengths became clear to them. One day I sped up the lunch line by whispering in the ear of the cashier the correct amount of change to be given to the employees. Suddenly it became clear to them that I possessed a desirable ability - to easily and quickly calculate in my head the purchase and correct change. My summer job improved for me at that time, and for the Sears employees purchasing their cafeteria lunches. And yes, I purchased my first of many racing bikes that summer, and began the next stage of my athletic career.
So many. To mention one: A Natural History of Water in America by Alice Outwater.
A wonderful discourse on the impact of ecosystem disruption and our fragile water systems.
A wonderful discourse on the impact of ecosystem disruption and our fragile water systems.
I believe it is beneficial for state legislators to have prior leadership experience and public service experience. I have prior experience in community needs assessments, creating programs and resources to address unmet community needs, and advocacy for communities. I believe above all, a seat in government/politics is about public service.
Yes, as a licensed behavioral healthcare provider of 35 years, I would like to be on the Assembly Health Committee, the Housing and Community Development Committee, Human Services Committee and the Transportation Committee..
No I am not interested in another political office. I am committed to working on the tough and challenging issues our state faces within the California State Legislature.
I hear personal and touching stories every day in my role overseeing clinical responsibilities of a Behavioral Healthcare department. I hear from Patients and families every day of their struggles trying to access needed and affordable healthcare, their challenges in managing the costs of their housing and healthcare needs, the costs of their children's college education and/or vocational training. I hear from many single parents struggling on a daily basis, as well as many parents of special needs children also struggling to obtain needed care and support. And I speak with local families about their long commute times as they are able to only afford housing long distances from their employment. I assist my interns and trainees with assisting the homeless, finding scarce available community resources, and providing comfort to those with little hope that their lives will improve. I can put the faces to the policies being discussed at the state level of government to assist Californians with their quality of life.
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.
See also
2020 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on February 18, 2020
Current members of the California State Assembly
Leadership
Majority Leader:Cecilia Aguiar-Curry
Minority Leader:James Gallagher
Representatives
District 1
Heather Hadwick (R)
District 2
Chris Rogers (D)
District 3
James Gallagher (R)
District 4
District 5
Joe Patterson (R)
District 6
Maggy Krell (D)
District 7
Josh Hoover (R)
District 8
David Tangipa (R)
District 9
Heath Flora (R)
District 10
Stephanie Nguyen (D)
District 11
Lori Wilson (D)
District 12
Damon Connolly (D)
District 13
Rhodesia Ransom (D)
District 14
Buffy Wicks (D)
District 15
District 16
District 17
Matt Haney (D)
District 18
Mia Bonta (D)
District 19
District 20
Liz Ortega (D)
District 21
Diane Papan (D)
District 22
Juan Alanis (R)
District 23
Marc Berman (D)
District 24
Alex Lee (D)
District 25
Ash Kalra (D)
District 26
Patrick Ahrens (D)
District 27
Esmeralda Soria (D)
District 28
Gail Pellerin (D)
District 29
Robert Rivas (D)
District 30
Dawn Addis (D)
District 31
Joaquin Arambula (D)
District 32
Stan Ellis (R)
District 33
Alexandra Macedo (R)
District 34
Tom Lackey (R)
District 35
Jasmeet Bains (D)
District 36
Jeff Gonzalez (R)
District 37
Gregg Hart (D)
District 38
Steve Bennett (D)
District 39
Juan Carrillo (D)
District 40
Pilar Schiavo (D)
District 41
John Harabedian (D)
District 42
Jacqui Irwin (D)
District 43
District 44
Nick Schultz (D)
District 45
James Ramos (D)
District 46
Jesse Gabriel (D)
District 47
Greg Wallis (R)
District 48
Blanca Rubio (D)
District 49
Mike Fong (D)
District 50
Robert Garcia (D)
District 51
Rick Zbur (D)
District 52
Jessica Caloza (D)
District 53
District 54
Mark Gonzalez (D)
District 55
Isaac Bryan (D)
District 56
Lisa Calderon (D)
District 57
Sade Elhawary (D)
District 58
Leticia Castillo (R)
District 59
Phillip Chen (R)
District 60
Corey Jackson (D)
District 61
Tina McKinnor (D)
District 62
Jose Solache (D)
District 63
Natasha Johnson (R)
District 64
Blanca Pacheco (D)
District 65
Mike Gipson (D)
District 66
Al Muratsuchi (D)
District 67
District 68
Avelino Valencia (D)
District 69
Josh Lowenthal (D)
District 70
Tri Ta (R)
District 71
Kate Sanchez (R)
District 72
Diane Dixon (R)
District 73
District 74
Laurie Davies (R)
District 75
Carl DeMaio (R)
District 76
Darshana Patel (D)
District 77
Tasha Horvath (D)
District 78
Christopher Ward (D)
District 79
District 80
David Alvarez (D)
Democratic Party (60)
Republican Party (20)
