Suzette Santori
Suzette Santori (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent California's 53rd Congressional District. She lost in the primary on March 3, 2020.
Santori completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Suzette Santori served in the United States Navy from 1996 to 2016. She earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 2003 and 2005, respectively. Santori's career experience includes working as a freelancer. She has been affiliated with Indivisible, San Diego 350, and the Rock Church.[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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates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'm a proud mother, a veteran who served 20 years in the US Navy, part of the working class, and this is my first time running for office. I'm an immigrant and becoming a U.S. citizen, has been one of the proudest days of my life, and I'd be honored to continue serving my country. As a child, my father used to take our family to NAF El Centro, to watch the "Blue Angels Air Show", and that's how my fascination with aviation started. I obtained an AS degree in Air Traffic Control Operations, in Southwestern College. Years later, got my private pilot certificate in Colorado Springs, CO, and joined the military soon after. While on Active Duty, with three children and as a single parent, I earned my BS and MBA degrees, and I have to admit, it was a great challenge. In the USN, I worked as Air Traffic Controller, Meteorologist and Oceanographer, and once selected for Chief, I was in charged of the Intelligence Department."
This information was current as of the candidate's run for U.S. House California District 53 in 2020.
Campaign themes
2020
Video for Ballotpedia
| Video submitted to Ballotpedia Released January 30, 2020 |
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Suzette Santori completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Santori's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I'm an immigrant and becoming a U.S. citizen, has been one of the proudest days of my life, and I'd be honored to continue serving my country. As a child, my father used to take our family to NAF El Centro, to watch the "Blue Angels Air Show", and that's how my fascination with aviation started. I obtained an AS degree in Air Traffic Control Operations, in Southwestern College. Years later, got my private pilot certificate in Colorado Springs, CO, and joined the military soon after. While on Active Duty, with three children and as a single parent, I earned my BS and MBA degrees, and I have to admit, it was a great challenge.
In the USN, I worked as Air Traffic Controller, Meteorologist and Oceanographer, and once selected for Chief, I was in charged of the Intelligence Department.- Medicare for All is attainable
- Climate Change is real and we must take action.
- Immigration Reform is overdue, we need new policies that are fair and respect human rights.
The majority of people are in favor of taxing polluters, but I propose regular inspections, with a solid plan to eliminate pollution altogether. Inspectors would close a plant, if they don't comply and pay a hefty fine to reopen.
- Medicare for All: I strongly believe that single payer is the best solution, to a for profit health care system. Medicare for All, Bernie Sanders's Bill, is a fair proposal that will provide health care to all people.
No deductibles, no co-payments and no premiums, free at the point of service. Zero out of pocket expenses, no out of network barriers. It'll include dental, hearing aids, eyeglasses and mental health.
- Immigration Reform: Asylum seeking immigrants have requested asylum throughout the years , and even though asylum is a legal process, some people are against it. According to the California Immigrate Policy Center, undocumented immigrants in California alone, contributed $181 Billion to California GDP in 2015. By creating jobs to cover their contributions, policy makers will be more confident to bring policy to a vote
Unfortunately, to this day, discrimination still exists and no reparations have been given to the victims. Discrimination and slavery made an irreparable damage to black people in this country. Reparations will be the minimum, the government can do to barely bring back justice. I'd like to follow his example by raising the alarm in other forms of discrimination on the basis of race, age, religious, national origin, disability, pregnancy, medical background, gender, sexual orientation, etc.
So they continue passing legislation that only favors especial interest groups and oligarchs. While cutting taxes for the rich, or passing bills that will create an imbalance in the budget, they must acknowledge, that the people will have to pay in the long run.
Honesty: to bring transparency in this unclear and confusing political environment, a representative's constituents should be able to communicate without having to guess how their member of Congress really think about any particular issue.
Empathy: in the last 30-40 years the working class has seen the effects of unfair legislation, that created income inequality and billionaires. Empathy is needed more than ever to understand their needs, and bring back justice in all fronts.
First event happened in September 11, 2001, I was on watch at NAS Point Mugu when my supervisor turned the tv on, and we saw the first tower on fire. Soon after, we watched live when the second plane crashed into the second tower. We discussed the event over and over. As a private pilot, I argued that pilot training is necessary to fly a commercial plane, and a simple simulator practice, as he suggested, wouldn't have been enough to execute this mission.
- We must acknowledge that birth rates are decreasing, and funding for senior programs will be a challenge. Entitlements won't be enough to give them the assistance they'll need.
- Money in politics must be eliminated for a more equitable society, so small businesses will have a better opportunity to thrive. Corporations are very powerful right now and that power needs to go back to the people. Government assistance for workers co-ops could be a better alternative, than people losing their jobs without pensions or any benefits.
- Climate Change is an issue that can be reversed, but we must take it seriously. US can become a leader in green technology, abandoning fossil fuels that only create pollution in so many levels, water, air, etc. And jobs from fossil fuels can be easily replace with green jobs. Training and financial aid must be part of the solution, to fully cover people interested.
They're completely out of touch with reality, mainly because they never been poor, or because they've already forgotten about it. A member of Congress makes about 7 times more than someone working for $15/hr. And unfortunately, some corrupt politicians, make even more.
The revolving door for some of those who have retired, must be forever closed. Otherwise, they'll continue pushing their old ways of doing business while lobbying in behalf of corporations.
As a ride-share driver, I've talked to several individuals from all walks of life on a regular basis. This is one of the reason why I'm running for office.
One of my passengers was an older lady, she requested a ride to go to the emergency room of a nearby hospital. She din't speak but was wheezing the entire ride. As a driver, my only concern was to get there safely, and as soon as possible. Nobody should be put in that position, if a patient needs an ambulance, they shouldn't be requesting a Lyft/Uber ride.
A patient in that condition must be monitored by qualified personnel. If the situation gets worse or patient completely stops breathing, they'll know how to treat the patient properly. This isn't an unusual situation for most drivers, and this is exactly what happens when the person either, have no insurance, or have no means to afford the cost of an ambulance.
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
| “ |
MAIN TOPICS Climate Change How do we know that CO2 (carbon dioxide) rises in the atmosphere because of human activity? When we burn fossil fuels or natural gas, we leave fingerprints in the atmosphere called Carbon 14 or Radioactive Carbon that can be measured. Several countries in Europe have been working on solutions to reverse Climate Change, but the clock is ticking. Co2 removal has been successfully performed by channeling it into a greenhouse with some technology or turned into rocks in others (CLIMEWORKS.COM). We can see the most extreme impacts of Climate Change in the Artic, the substantial melting of ice is raising sea levels. In the Permafrost Territory in Alaska, the release of methane gas through the melting of the ice, has caused some concerns. The methane is highly flammable and the gases are far more dangerous than burning fossil fuels, therefore accelerating the process. In California we experience fires and more frequent hurricanes in the east coast. Another producer of CO2 are animal farms. Meat farms are highly toxic, due to minimum regulations in place, to maintain animals clean from their own secreted feces and dead of other animals. The consumption of meat treated with antibiotics, fed with process foods plus adding hormones to increase their size, are all being considered in human diseases. When the animals die and are not immediately removed from the farms, surrounded land and air becomes extremely toxic. The living conditions of such animals also play a big role, in some farms the use of small cages (except in some states that have banned the practice) for chicken and egg production, is not only consider animal cruelty, but decreases the quality of the product. In essence, we could all help by consuming less meat, to reduce their mass production. The Clean Vehicle Rebate Project in California CVRP, has great incentives to purchase or lease eligible electric vehicles, offering up to $7000 tax credit and rebates up to $2500. You can also get a carpool car sticker to ride in the carpool lane with or without passengers. You must apply within 3 months of obtaining the vehicle, until rebate funds are exhausted. https://cleanvehiclerebate.org/eng Under the Trump Administration, the United States has walked away from the Paris Accord, mainly because as a capitalist country, eliminating fossil fuels under the fallacy that Climate Change is a Chinese hoax, is a mistake that will hurt our economy https://climate.nasa.gov In reality, most scientists agree that Climate Change is real and if we don’t reverse course, the results will be irreversible, leaving the planet uninhabitable. All the opposite, a green industry, will create jobs, will help the environment and will strengthen the economy. So far, there are extremely ambitions solutions in a green project by Stanford University that will bring 100% clean energy, wind, water and solar. It’ll cost 73T that will be paid by itself in 7 years. There are 143 countries committed to this project. The roadmap calls for the electrification of all energy sources, electricity, transportation, agriculture, forestry and fishing, building heating and cooling and the military. https://phys.org/news/2019-12-country-green-stanford-paths-countries.html In California, we can adopt planting a determined amount of trees per year, create an agricultural farm, where low income families can purchase organic fruits and vegetables. Without adding additional taxes, volunteers could help maintain the area, some students could also get school credits by helping and learning agriculture traits. So either we believe Climate Change is the result of fossil fuels or not, we must agree that pollution is bad. But the real question is, are we ready to move to a cleaner environment or do we prefer to believe it’s a hoax? Corporations will soon create more propaganda to validate our bias. Let’s commit to a clean environment for us and our future generations. For those who completely dislike the idea of migration, Climate Change will be a legitimate excuse for people to move. Drinking water scarcity, sea level rising, and lack of food, will be the main causes for people to migrate to a better place, and it may include some of us. Immigration Reform One of the biggest issues that our country has is immigration. Undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers are considered a threat to some, and there’s an instant and endless blame to the government for allowing it to happen. We are a country of immigrants, however, that statement is forgotten, especially when people from other countries settle and change the demographics. Revisiting history might give another perspective on why this situation has continue, despite efforts to limit the number of immigrants allowed in the country. For decades, migration has existed, and different administrations have face it in different ways than previous ones. Most undocumented immigrants entered the country legally, and become undocumented at the expiration of their visas. Not a wall or additional border security will help to mitigate this type of migration. In the other hand, it’s more beneficial to increase funding at the southern border, and hire more judges and social workers, speeding up the vetting of those immigrants entering without a visa. We must use fair practices to alleviate the situation, instead of opting to incarcerate them, separate children from their families and violating their human rights, that has caused a lot of controversy in the current administration. The obsession with punishing immigrants is becoming more accepted, as they are considered the cause of Americans lack of jobs and therefore social mobility. Some of those immigrants, are highly educated and even more prepared to start a business, obtaining a job, other than agricultural or service industry, than a born and raised citizen. Their survival skills and determination gives them the perfect attributes necessary to succeed in any environment. With proper training and the necessary tools, they become successful members of society compare to others who unfortunately, have not been able to get ahead, due to lack of mentors and socioeconomic obstacles. Those who were born and raised in this country, who have not obtained a degree, a business and have failed to create a better life for themselves and their families, see those immigrants with disdain. But despite the public outcry, empathy still exists and the sentiment of those who came to this country the same way, persists. The Monroe Doctrine, has dictated the continuation of the American Imperialism, perpetuating the destabilization of many Central and South American countries. For as long as we permit the government to interfere, invade and utilize coup presidents, for regime changes in other countries, we’re contributing to the migration movement. The vast majority of immigrants see no recourse but to abandon their country of origin, due to politically motivated violence, for fear of losing their lives. So far, immigrants have been used as bargaining chips by several administrations. Late President Regan was the last president that gave amnesty to undocumented immigrants who lived in U.S. for more than 10 years. Recently, not even DACA recipients have been given a permanent status. According to California Immigrant Policy Center, “Undocumented immigrants in California alone contribute about $181 billions of California GDP – a figure just about equal to the 2015 GDP for the entire state of Oklahoma.” Medicare for All “I pay less for health insurance as a Congresswoman than as a waitress” AOC Dec 2018. No deductibles No co-payments No premiums Free at the point of service, therefore eliminating private insurance companies. Dental, eyeglasses, hearing aids and mental health are also part of the coverage. Why do people doubt that this system is better than the one we already have? Let’s start by acknowledging that a for profit company exists to make money, provide dividends for their shareholders, and mainly their CEO’s. And they won’t reconsider cutting or denying services to maximize profits. In the first quarter of 2017 the big five for profit insurers, cumulatively collected 4.5 billion dollars in net earnings, in the first three months of the year. CEO’s have been overcompensated at approximately 400 times more than the lowest paid employee. But are we getting better healthcare than other developed countries? We pay double than they do, and service continues to be denied, if the cost exceeds a predetermined amount at the time of enrollment. The myth that people from other countries come to US for better care is unfounded. If someone travels over, adding air/ground travel to their cost, is because they’re affluent and waiting short or long term is not their preference. Yes, we might have state of the art equipment in our ERs, but not everyone benefits from it. Some people wait several days to weeks (depending on their insurance) or months to get certain services or even to schedule a doctor’s appointment. While services are denied if tests are conducted out of network, many doctors are hand tied until they get the necessary test results, to conduct a fair assessment of their patients. Unfortunately, time is of the essence for services that are essential to treat patients, and to avoid further injury. The notion coming from the corporate media, and corporate politicians that you’ll maintain the same doctor, is an insult to injury. There’s no warranty of keeping the same doctor or hospital. When General Motors went on strike, the company decided to take away their health care benefits on the third day of the strike, leaving them in a difficult position, especially to those, who rely on insulin or other medication to stay alive. Employers will offer the same insurance but not if their cost increases, subsequently, you’ll be notified of your new options. Others even reduce full time employment, or adopt a hiring freeze. People will have a better chance to maintain continuity, by opting for a nationwide single payer system, where you choose your doctor and hospital. How about the uninsured? there’s still approximately 45K people who don’t have any coverage. Adding the numbers for the underinsured the statistics get even higher. Health insurance and employment shouldn’t be depended of one another, to avoid hurting the morale of those employees, suppressing them of their dreams to start their own business, switching to a more fulfill job, instead of working for an employer just to receive benefits. As a veteran, we had a good system, if we’re sick, we’ll go to see a doctor and pick up our medications in the way out. No middle man, no long complicated forms, no out of pocket expenses, no enrolment periods. Rideshare drivers, are becoming more and more accustomed to pick up passengers, who should be in an ambulance instead of a Lyft or Uber. An ambulance can cost between $1500 to $3000 depending on location, that most working class people cannot afford. Those patients should be using the correct path, utilizing professional personnel for their care, instead of leaving their faith on drivers. The lack of empathy towards mental health patients, especially homeless, is decreasing. Most are being categorized as drug addicts and are being left on the streets wandering. While a few have gotten a place to stay, they’re being neglected as to their mental state. Cities are not doing enough to eliminate this socio-economic problem, due to lack of funds to cover health insurance. Words as “access, affordable, health care” are utilized to confused, to maintain the same system where shareholders continue to overcharge patients. #MedicareforAll will eliminate worrying about medical costs for good. My personal experience under countless visit to our representative’s office, it’s the challenge to make your point across, when there’s lack of understanding, information and empathy. Transparency is a must, and as your representative, I’ll hold town-hall meetings often, and allow Q&A for people to participate, get their questions answered and removing the fear of the unknown. With all changes, there’s a period of adjustment, so be mindful that this initiative will go into phases. The first year, coverage age requirement will be dropped to 55yrs, second year to 45yrs and third year 35yrs and under. Townhalls will be a place to brainstorm, and bring your best ideas to the table, this is your community and you’ll have a say. Let’s make this a reality, and move forward to an easier system that’ll cover all, not some. Money out of Politics[2] |
” |
| —Suzette Santori 2020 campaign website[3] | ||
See also
2020 Elections
External links
- Search Google News for this topic
- Campaign website
- Campaign Facebook page
- Campaign Twitter page
- Personal Facebook page
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on January 31, 2020
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Suzette Santori 2020 campaign website, "Main Topics," accessed February 10, 2020
