Election Denier vs. Doctor: Congressional Race Contrast Could Not Be Greater
Our votes are important in the CD 3 race. For years our congressional district was a Republican ‘safe’ district with the outcome obvious. Redistricting still favors Republicans but only slightly. The primary, where Democrat Dr. Kermit Jones was the top vote getter in five of the ten counties attracted national attention. Both parties recognize that this open seat is one of the few nationally where they can pick up a seat and are pouring in money and help.
We are still trip over the Sierra away from most of the action since Placer County has the largest number of voters, but in a close race we count.
Republican Kevin Kiley is favored because he is an experienced ambitious politician, and this is the first time Jones has run for any office. Kiley has been elected to the state legislature twice, but from one of the few ‘safe’ Republican districts where his major effort was in defeating his Republican rivals in the primary. Kiley secured Trump’s endorsement to seal this year’s primary victory. To do so he, like 123 other Republican congressional candidates (according to Fivethirtyeight) has shown his fealty to Trump echoing his election results denials.
Being an election denier only appeals to the diehard Trumpers, but Kiley’s other notoriety was his run against Governor Newsom in the recall. He was fifth and accumulated fans on right wing talk radio, spending his time attacking mask mandates and disparaging vaccinations. Since he is running against a medical doctor this time who worked to save patients from Covid while Kiley’s messaging was putting his vulnerable supporters at risk, and his website is still dominated by his press releases about Covid, it is a dubious start.
While Kiley is still attacking
Democrats over Covid Jones is running on addressing what most voters are concerned about, the cost of medical care. As a young intern to the Secretary of Health and Human Services he was involved in the beginnings of legislation to lower prescription costs. As a candidate, and even though Democrats have already lowered it for those on Medicare, he puts lowering it for all high on his list. He wants to address the shortage of doctors in rural areas like ours. Kiley on the cost of prescriptions and improving our medical system, mum.
A dominant concern, nationally as well as in this district, is the fallout of the Supreme Court reversal of Roe-wade. The California Legislature entertained 13 bills that protect the privacy of women’s reproductive medical care, especially for those traveling from other states where abortion has been banned. Jones is a strong advocate for women’s reproductive rights. Kiley voted against the bills.
With a major fire in the district, a major drought and concern about global warming Jones prioritizes dealing with fires and protecting our fragile environment. The new district’s boundaries define an area where tourism dominates the economy and most of California’s ski areas threatened by global warming are located. The Environmental
Justice Score Card for Kiley is “F”.kiley scored an “A” from the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers association. He got 10 out of 21 from Health Access California, 0 out of 8 from the Sierra Club, 20 percent from Planned Parenthood, ‘F’ from the California Teachers Association and a 0% from the California Labor Federation.
Deciphering what Kiley is for, (he is mostly against things) what he thinks he would do for voters in this district, is hard to discern from his website. ‘Blog’ is the only section that presents his views with 53 posts. You would think he was still running against Newsome as most of them are about Newsom. In his bio section he does say he is a major advocate for school choice legislation, the Republican dream beginning with the Christian Right whose intention was to restore segregated schools. Reading several of his attacks about Newsom’s ego and ambitions it is almost comical that instead of having an issues section, like most candidates, Kiley has a section that is entirely uncaptioned pictures of himself.
On Jones’ website, after noting that he is a veteran who served as a flight surgeon in Iraq, he lists his major issues and specific ways to address them. He begins with healthcare, since he is a practicing doctor. Jones says, “I’m running for Congress because too many people are struggling with the skyrocketing cost of care and prescription drugs.” He has a section on infrastructure noting the lack of high-speed internet in the rural areas and how that decreases job opportunities, and he proposes a federal fire insurance program. He has ideas for education and jobs. His best pitch, “Families in California’s 3rd Congressional District deserve a representative who will put us first, not more partisan politicians (my underlining not his).”
The contrast between candidates could not be greater.