
U.S. House of Representatives - District 50
District 50 — U.S. House of Representatives
Get the facts on the California candidates running for election to the District 50 — U.S. House of Representatives
Find out their top 3 priorities, their experience, and who supports them.
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Candidates
- Cost of living, affordable and mid-level housing
- Affordable healthcare, childcare, and universal pre-K
- Taking on corruption and special interests
Darrell Issa
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Carl DeMaio
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Brian W. Jones
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- [This candidate has suspended her campaign.]
- [She will, however, remain on the ballot.]
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- Sanctity of Life
- Traditional Marriage
- 2nd Amendment
- Make housing, healthcare, education and a job constitutionally-guaranteed...
- End US wars and blockades, close US military bases...
- For the earth to live, capitalism must end!
- Out of Control Federal Spending - Includes discretionary...
- Women and Family Rights tied to Equal Rights Amendment,...
- Social Security/Medicare, healthcare, Immigration,...
- UCSA: UNIVERSAL CIVILIAN SERVICE AGREEMENT
- Ending homelessness in 2 years
- Climate Change and revamping theFarm Bill
- Health Care and Insurance Legislation
- National Budget
- Civil Liberties
My Top 3 Priorities
- Cost of living, affordable and mid-level housing
- Affordable healthcare, childcare, and universal pre-K
- Taking on corruption and special interests
Experience
Biography
Born in East San Diego County, Ammar is the son of a working-class Latina mother. From his first job in his Christian church ministry, community organizing for a presidential campaign, serving in the White House, advocating for small businesses in Washington, D.C., supporting underserved veterans, to fighting for the American worker at the U.S. Department of Labor, Ammar has devoted his life to service.
Ammar graduated from San Diego State University, with two Bachelor of Arts degrees in Psychology and Philosophy. During his time at SDSU, he served as Deputy Regional Field Director for the Obama campaign, where he helped oversee Southern California’s grassroots operations, with the primary responsibility of establishing a regional office headquarters in San Diego, CA.
Following the election, Ammar served at the White House in the Executive Office of the President, handling President Obama’s official correspondence sent by American citizens, veterans, world leaders, and CEOs of Fortune 500s. Every day, 10 letters were selected and delivered to President Obama to inform his decisions. Ammar's time at the White House helped him further understand the daily struggles of the American people.
He then worked at the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC) as Communications and Marketing Director, promoting the economic growth of more than 4 million Hispanic-owned small businesses. Following his time at USHCC, he worked at the U.S. Department of Labor, where he led the Office of Public Affairs for the Employment and Training Administration (ETA).
Today, Ammar owns ACN Strategies, a small business that helps other small businesses, and nonprofits with small budgets, compete against their larger counterparts. He is also a course lecturer at SDSU, a paid guest lecturer at UCSD and an Academic Civic Engagement Fellow at UCSD. His full focus now is earning the trust of the voters of District 50.
In running for Congress, Ammar is answering the call to service issued in the president's Farewell Address: “to believe you can make a difference; to hitch your wagon to something bigger than yourselves. This generation coming up – unselfish, altruistic, creative, patriotic… You believe in a fair, just, inclusive America… you are willing to carry this hard work of democracy forward…I am asking you to believe. Not in my ability to bring about change – but in yours.”
Ammar believes, and invites you, to join his people-powered movement.
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Top 3 Priorities
- [This candidate has suspended her campaign.]
- [She will, however, remain on the ballot.]
- [Votes cast for her will still be counted.]
Experience
Biography
The granddaughter of immigrants, an experienced and respected leader in the San Diego business community, and a national advocate for housing and immigration reform, Marisa Calderon is uniquely positioned to deliver results for residents of California’s 50th Congressional District. Marisa knows hardworking families deserve more than partisan rhetoric or unrealistic promises from career politicians — and she is ready with solutions for critical issues such as addressing affordable housing, fixing our immigration system, and creating financial opportunities.
For nearly a decade, Marisa has served as Executive Director of the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals — a nationwide network of more than 30,000 members. Also a board member of the Hispanic Wealth Project, Marisa has spoken as an expert on affordable housing and immigration reform on NPR’s Marketplace and at the Aspen Institute, Mortgage Bankers Association, Consumer Federation of America, the FDIC, and the National Fair Housing Alliance. Professional organizations have named Marisa a “Woman of Influence” and recognized her as a powerful leader in residential real estate.
Marisa is a graduate of Emerge America’s program, which recruits and trains Democratic women to run for office. She earned her BA from the University of California at Berkeley and lives in San Diego County with her husband and their two children.
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My Top 3 Priorities
- Sanctity of Life
- Traditional Marriage
- 2nd Amendment
Experience
Experience
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My Top 3 Priorities
- Make housing, healthcare, education and a job constitutionally-guaranteed human rights
- End US wars and blockades, close US military bases abroad, bring the troops home
- For the earth to live, capitalism must end!
Experience
Biography
Jose Cortes is a socialist revolutionary, proud Chicano and worker who was raised in Lakeside. His father graduated from El Cajon High School and his mom and sister both teach at a school in the 50th district. Cortes himself was working at a school in the 50th district when the murder of unarmed black man Alfred Olango by the El Cajon Police Department and subsequent militarized police response to community protests awakened his political consciousness. During that spontaneous uprising he met organizers with the Party for Socialism and Liberation and decided to join to fight for revolutionary change.
Since 2016, Jose has also become an anti-war organizer with The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism). He was instrumental in rescinding the ban on feeding the homeless in Wells Park in 2018 and also participated in the community defense of historic landmark Chicano Park against white supremacists and neo-nazis who tried to vandalize the murals. Jose has experience in the nonprofit sector with A.C.C.E. (Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment), where he lobbied lawmakers in Sacramento, lead rallies and marches, and canvassed thousands of people in San Diego for rent control and affordable housing. He has achieved positive results for the working class already by organizing in the streets-- if elected, he will be able to take that fight to the halls of congress where rich politicians aren’t typically held accountable.
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Questions & Answers
Questions from League of Women Voters of California (3)
We should close US military bases abroad and bring the troops home, and redirect the massive military budget to fund infrastructure and programs that working-class people need.
Our campaign is pushing for a constitutional amendment that would make housing, healthcare, education and a job a guaranteed human right.
Immigration should immediately be decriminalized and the concentration camps should be shut down. Immigrants should be granted full rights and the border should be demilitarized. The root cause of mass migration from Latin America is US intervention; we need to stop our military destabilizing sovereign countries for profit and political influence if we want to address the root cause of the issue.
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Our platform demands that safe, affordable housing be recognized as a human right that is constitutionally guaranteed. Money for housing, not war!
Jose Cortes speaking at an anti-war rally in San Diego
Our platform demands that free, universal healthcare be recognized as a human right that is constitutionally guaranteed. Money for healthcare, not war!
Candidate Contact Info
My Top 3 Priorities
- Out of Control Federal Spending - Includes discretionary spending, reduction of federal budget (smaller more efficient government) to include Defense spending and improvements to Veteran Services
- Women and Family Rights tied to Equal Rights Amendment, Pregnancy Protection (Employment), Family issues including equal pay and economic opportunties
- Social Security/Medicare, healthcare, Immigration, education, housing. Each of these issues are tied to expenditures, loans and individual payments to the government. Examination of fraud, waste, and abuse in governmental programs.
Experience
Experience
Education
Community Activities
Questions & Answers
Questions from League of Women Voters of California (3)
The short answer is that federal debt reduction is critical to obtain smaller government. Yet the state of the roads and infrastructure requires improvements. Our debt is currently estimated to be $24,057Trillion in 2020. To reduce the debt and resolve infrastructure issues as a nation we must create unique and legal methods of creating advanced infrastructure repair without
Funding infrastructure changes will be financially tricky as we continue to increase our national debt to fund repairs and infrastructure improvements. I would support public-private partnerships; investment instruments; and other innovative methods of obtaining financing beyond simply taxes.
One of the most common method is the use of public bonds that are tied to a fixed income rate through the stock market based upon the bond rating of the selling government agency or firm. These bonds would be a partnership relationship between federal, state and local agencies that are designed to fund and resolve infrastructure issues. A secondary method of funding infrastructure would be through a mixed hybird finance method that would be tied to the infrastructure and utilities stock; as permitted under federal, state and local laws. Infrastructure funding is directly tied, in many situations, to the stock market for publicly traded firms. Bonds and loans form the largest sector of federal infrastructure improvements.
The Organization for International Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) 2019 reports on economic, social and envrionmental challenges of globalization and infrastructure provide key insight into the international aspect of improvements of infrastructure. OECD is an internation consortium of nations that seek answers to common infrastructure and economic issues in various nations.
Through bonds and loans, we have federal contracts and the trick down of funding from the federal to states and down to local governments for direct or indirect payment of projects that are tied to the national debt.
Other methods include mixed asset categories of hybrid loans composed of subordinate loans/bonds and equity listed and unlisted investment instruments that may become part of a larger investment portfolio.
Currently SDG&E, a publicly supervised utility firm and subsidiary of SempraEngery, manages the local electrical grid upto Southern Orange County. SDGE has no major competitors in the management of the electric grid. without major competition other than solar that if fed back into the grid. SempraEnergy is a publicly traded corporation that leverages incomes and assets to improve services to the community.
It is important to note that the US Government is a member nation of the Organisation For Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD. The OECD is an international advisory group that creates a setting where governments can compare policy experiences, seek answers to common problems, and work to coordinate domestic and international policies. The OECD is involved in the development of cross border solutions to key infrastructure issues with our partner nations.
I would support current healthcare laws and regulations while using my background in federal healthcare design and development (part of team that designed Tricare Northeast) to reduce overall healthcare premium costs that would include better services to our community. Currently in our area, healthcare has been reported to be as high as $2500 per month. A program modification would address the premiums while increasing services. Do not support a Medicare for All program since Medicare current costs are $3.6Trillion/yr with only approximately $1.4Trillion in premiiums paid leaving an annual deficit. Medicare also pays approximately 54% of California's MediCal payments that may have been diverted. The State has given away $90M+ in Medi-Cal payments to undocumented illegals. Our priority is first to those authorized to be in our country. It is an unfortunate situation that parents violate international and our federal laws to attempt to live a dream that requires legal documentation to enter our nation. I empathize; yet, we need to fix illegal immigration as stated below.
Congress should shift immigration policy from family reunification to employment-based migration while eliminating the per-country migration cap for future flows of legal immigrants. Expansion of the H-1B High skilled visa program while revamping the existing H-2A and H2B temporary Visa workers programs. Formulate a pathway to earned citizenship for undocumented aliens. Tighten international relationships to stop the 'herd' migrations and illegal immigration into our nation by going after the criminal elements that are involved in the undocumented illegals crossing our border while enhancing the enforcement of immigration laws and policies. This includes fully funding Homeland Security and related agencies involved in the enforcement of federal immigration laws.
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Videos (2)
Introduction to the community with a statement of why Dr. Horvath is running for Congress.
A one hour podcast relating to Horvath's position on key issues in the 50th District.
Candidate Contact Info
My Top 3 Priorities
- UCSA: UNIVERSAL CIVILIAN SERVICE AGREEMENT
- Ending homelessness in 2 years
- Climate Change and revamping theFarm Bill
Questions & Answers
Questions from League of Women Voters of California (3)
UCSA: This program will have an infrastructure aspect to it such as the Army Core of Engineers, Environmental task Force, Homeland security or Forestry Service. Financing will come from reappropriate funds from several existing programs such as but not limited to the Farm Bill, HUD or the new long term treasury Bonds. There should be no need to raise personal income taxes.
Implementation of my “UCSA” Universal Civilian Service Agreement
· Two year commitment for all eligible 18-24 year old civilians
· Open to anyone over 24 years of age Civilian/Military service
· Social benefits eligibilities and incentives
· Healthcare, Education Credits, Small Biz loan, Housing Loan
Immigration 101
Let’s keep it simple it’s not really that hard
Boarder security isn’t only about a WALL it’s about deterring the criminals from exploiting our laws.
The completion and update of any Wall must meet a rational and strategic need. Along with a larger security force and modernizing the technology at the border crossings I will implement a strong deterrent for those already here or those considering entering the US without proper protocol.
First and foremost: criminals should not be above the law or be able to take advantage of our Justice system.
Any undocumented person caught for any crime and prosecuted will receive 2 times the maximum sentencing for first time and immediately deported to home nation once sentence is completed.
If a person returns with criminal record or commits a second crime the punishment will be 5 times the maximum sentence for past crime or current conviction whichever is greater.
Third strike is life without parole in migrant work camps with harsh conditions and restrictions on any outside visitors or information.
Being in the US without proper documentation is not a crime punishable by the above. If caught without documentation and no other crime or record in the US there will be an option for legal status via Universal Civilian Service Agreement for specific circumstances (not citizenship) or the safe return to Home County without any incrassation.
All current DACA status holders will have a pathway to citizenship or legal status via the UCSA and allowed to sponsor eligible non DACA family members via the UCSA
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My Top 3 Priorities
- Health Care and Insurance Legislation
- National Budget
- Civil Liberties