California has joined the political revolution and we are already seeing a surge of progressive candidates running for office throughout the state. Here are the candidates running for office who don’t take contributions form corporate PACs or from law enforcement unions If you know of others, please leave a comment.
Note: These are not official endorsements. These are simply candidates that share our values of opposing corporate money and who support a progressive human rights based agenda.
US Senate: David Hildebrand
David Hildebrand is an unapologetic Pro-Labor Democratic Socialist running to represent the residents of the State of California. The son of a union carpenter, and a member of a union himself, he knows the value of organizing.
David has a BA in Government from CSU Sacramento. He volunteered for Bernie for Sacramento, phone banking, canvassing, and eventually as the Staging Location Director for California’s 6th Congressional District. If successful in the upcoming elections, he will lead the charge for progressive policies at the federal level, and defend California against a Congress and Presidency determined to cut the social, economic, and environmental programs that American workers rely on.
Hildebrand will be running against incumbent corporate Democrat Dianne Feinstein. Follow David on Facebook and on Twitter.
Dotty Nygard is an emergency room nurse, a former Riverbank City Council member, a patient advocate, a mother and a grandmother. She is a strong advocate of getting corporate money out of politics and of instituting universal healthcare. She is running to restore the values of care, compassion and community to politics and confront the , business-as-usual culture in Washington and our Political establishment.
The CD 10 seat is currently held by Republican Trump supporter Jeff Denham, who won the seat by less than 5 points. Nygard will also be facing corporate Democrat opponents in the open primary. Follow Nygard on Facebook and on Twitter.
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Stephen Jaffe, an employment rights lawyer and ardent progressive, is running against Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Pelosi has not had a serious Democratic challenger in decades. While Jaffe’s campaign is robust and growing, Pelosi’s practice is to ignore her challengers and seek to have mainstream media to do the same. She will have a difficult time doing that this time. In just eight weeks, Jaffe has over 1,100 individual donors – mostly small, Bernie-esque in nature – from all over the US. He has raised close to $40,000. He has been interviewed on national network news, mentioned in the LA Times, Washington Post and Chicago Tribune. For Pelosi, he is becoming the elephant in the room and impossible to ignore.
Follow Stephen Jaffe on Facebook and on Twitter and contribute here.
Angelica Duenas is a community activist, a Green party organizer, a Bernie Sanders delegate to the DNC and a mother of five. She is running a clean money campaign against incumbent corporate Democrat Tony Cardenas, who is funded by Big Pharma and the medical industry.
Angela wants to implement single payer universal healthcare and humane Immigration reform policies that treat hard-working people and their families with compassion and fairness. Her platform includes ending homelessness in the greater Los Angeles County area, incentivizing job creation and affordable housing construction, while simultaneously ensuring that vital social service programs receive full federal funding. She is committed to pass federal electoral reform legislation and will advocate for a humane foreign policy that is based on the fundamentals of human dignity and peace.
Follow Angelica on Facebook.
CD 39: Julio Castañeda
Julio Castañeda is a progressive activist that has taken Bernie Sanders call to make a difference and run for office. A former Army and Air Force vet, Julio was a supervolunteer for the Bernie Sanders campaign and works as a Business Systems Analyst. He is running on a universal healthcare, renewable energy and education platform.
Julio is facing incumbent Republican Ed Royce, who was re-elected by almost 15 points in a district that Clinton won by 8.5 points. He is also facing fellow Berniecrat Phil Janowicz (see below) and a corporate Democrat from outside the district. Follow Julio on Facebook .
Phil Janowicz is an MIT graduate, a former Chemistry professor and now works as a consultant on breaching the achievement gap in education. He is a Bernie Sanders supporter and is running on social justice platform which also emphasizes science education. We have not yet confirmed that he will not accept corporate PAC money.
Phil is facing incumbent Republican Ed Royce, who was re-elected by almost 15 points in a district that Clinton won by 8.5 points. He is also facing fellow Berniecrat Julio Castañeda (see above) and a corporate Democrat from outside the district. Follow Phil on Facebook and Twitter.
Julia Peacock is a public school teacher, wife, and mother of two who believes in educational opportunity, civil and human rights, and empowering all members of our society to live the lives they deserve. She is running on an anti-dirty money platform, believes healthcare should be treated as a right, not a privilege, that immigrants make communities stronger, that we cannot militarize the police and expect that crime will go down or communities will feel safer and that Black Lives Matter. She supports Planned Parenthood, gay marriage and not-for-profit K-12 education.
She is running against 25-year incumbent Republican Ken Calvert who last won re-election by 17 points. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.
CD 43: Miguel Zuñiga
Miguel Zuñiga is a former Bernie Sanders volunteer and delegate that after experiencing the Democratic Party’s undemocratic shenanigans during the 2016 election left the Party disgusted and became a green. He is running on a platform of Single Payer, $15 minimum, Renewable Energy, Immigration Reform, No Fracking, No Pipelines, No more unjust wars, No more Prisons for Profits, Money out of Politics, Police Brutality Reform and Free College Tuition.
Miguel is running against Democratic incumbent Maxine Waters. Follow Miguel on Twitter.
Coronel Doug Applegate is a retired Marine Colonel and civilian trial attorney. He is running on a very progressive platform of ending Wall Street’s domination of Congress, stopping endless wars, establishing single payer, honoring the social contract and restoring integrity to politics.
Applegate ran against incumbent Republican Darrell Issa and came within a point of winning the race in 2016. He now also faces Mike Levin, corporate Democrat pretending to be a progressive. Follow him on Facebook and on Twitter.
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Pierre “Pete” Beauregard is a Vietnam vet and anti-war activist. He has worked with Kucinich to try to establish a Department of Peace and was active in Occupy Wall Street/San Diego and other progressive causes. He was a Bernie delegate to the Democratic Convention.
Pete is facing Republican incumbent Duncan D. Hunter who won re-election in November by 28 points. Follow him on Facebook and on Twitter.
Justin J. Stewart IV, a young African American Berniecrat and #BlackLivesMatter activist, is in jail in Charlotte, North Carolina. Please take a moment to write to send him a card or a letter and let him know that you are thinking of him.
