WELLS, JACOB CLASH IN FIERY 51ST CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT CANDIDATE FORUM
By Miriam Raftery
October 13, 2024 (San Diego) – Congresswoman Sara Jacobs, a Democrat, and El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells, a Republican, gave sharply divergent responses on a host of issues during a 51st Congressional District candidate forum. The event, held at Temple Emanuel last week, was moderated by CBS 8 journalist Heather Myers with questions posed by the audience, plus in a twist, one question posed by each candidate to their opponent.
Wells sought to blame Democrats’ “radical left” policies for problems ranging from inflation to rising homelessness and crime, repeatedly criticizing immigrants while downplaying concerns over abortion. Jacobs sought to portray Wells as out of touch with women’s concerns over losing their reproductive freedoms if Republicans ban abortion at the national level and she denounced immigrant bashing as “dangerous” to Jews as well as immigrants.
Both voiced strong support for the Israeli people, but differed sharply in their views on how to defuse tensions and violence across the Mideast. Wells chided Jacobs for focusing more on reproductive freedoms than economic issues, while Jacobs slammed Wells’ refusal to acknowledge that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. She fired back that such “lies” led to the Capitol attack in which insurrections wearing “team Auschwitz” t-shirts burst into the House Chamber moments before Jacobs, a Jew, was evacuated.“
Introductions
Jacobs opened by addressing violence in the Middle East, one year after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas. While commemorating Rosh Hashanah, she recalled the thousands killed, injured or taken hostage by Hamas, the “horrific” rise in anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. “I support Israel’s right to defend itself,” she said, including from new attacks by Iran and Hezbollah. She also voiced concerns that Israel’s conduct of the conflict has led to thousands of civilian lives lost in Gaza and now threat of a regional war “that won’t make anyone safer,” including her aunt, uncle and cousins in Tel Aviv.
The incumbent Congressional member said she is “incredibly proud” of bills she has authored and supported that were passed, including measures to improve food security, housing, support military members and their families, the largest-ever investment in clean energy to address climate change, the first gun violence measure in decades, and a major infrastructure bill.
Wells emphasized his local roots, born and raised in the Rolando area, later raising his own family here,along with his wife. A mental healthcare provider with a masters’ and PhD is psychology, he said, “My whole life has been about taking care of and serving people,” a commitment that began when a police officer knocked on his door when Wells was 8 years old “to tell me that my father had taken his own life.”
He has served as a planning commissioner and El Cajon Councilman before being elected mayor in 2014. As mayor, he said he has faced many challenges including “a black lives matter situation; it turned out we didn’t have anything burn down and nobody got killed,” he said. He voiced pride in his decision to order police not to enforce county shut-down regulations on businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Economy
Inflation is the most important issue to many voters, according to polls, since households are spending around $12,000 more for items such as food, gas and energy than in January 2021. Candidates were asked how they would reduce inflation and its consequences.
Wells called the economy “a mess” and noted that inflation peaked at 9.8% after Trump left office, when inflation was 1.9%. Some items have risen more; according to Wells, such as mortgage costs, food, and gas. ”Regular people are having a great deal of difficulty,” he said. He blamed inflation on “radical left policies...specifically our energy policies” that he claimed are “destroying our economy” and making the U.S. unable to compete with other nations. He wants to import more natural gas, “look again at nuclear power” and “bring manufacturing jobs back,” adding that he would not oppose tariffs on goods from nations such as C China.
Jacobs agreed that the cost of living needs to be address, and noted that San Diego was recently ranked the most expensive California city to live in. But she noted that compared to other major developed countries, the U.S. has lower rates of inflation and unemployment than other nations; inflation is coming down though here in San Diego, families are struggling with housing and childcare costs that have risen more than the inflation rate. In her next term, she wants to make lowering childcare costs a top priority, since young couples are spending nearly all of their income on childcare plus rents or mortgage payments. “Our GDP (gross domestic product) loses $100 billion a year because parents can’t reenter the workforce, because they can’t afford the cost of childcare,” she said. “For every dollar that we invest in high-quality early childhood programs, we actually save the federal government $6.”
Housing affordability
With housing affordability a major issue, the moderator noted that the Trump campaign claims millions of illegal immigrants have driven up housing costs; Trump proposes mass deportation as a solution, as well as opening federal lands up to build homes, along with zoning reforms. Kamala Harris has proposed giving $25,000 to eligible first-time homebuyers, building three million homes in four years, and building homes on federal lands. Canddates were asked what policies they support federally to deal with the housing crisis.
Jacobs said while most solutions are at the state or local level, there is “a lot we can do at the federal level” but that we should not be “demonizing immigrants who power our construction industry” and who help make it more affordable to build homes. She supports increasing the supply of housing and making changes to military housing locally. As a member of the House Armed Services, she has pushed for the Dept. of Defense to “build more housing on military land” since currently, only 10% of military members live in military housing on bases in San Diego, the largest military community in the U.S. The other 90% get a stipend to live off-base, which puts pressure on the local housing market and reduces readiness by forcing service members to commute long distances. Jacob has authored a bipartisan bill to do this, as well as to assure that privatized military housing is high quality for our service menbers.
Wells insisted that 20 million people coming into the U.S. as immigrants are competing for housing.”We’re spending over $8,000 per person to put people up in hotels,” he said, adding that this money could be spent instead to help “young families and people like my kids, who can’t afford a home.” He also faulted “radical environmental policies” in California and claimed his opponent wants people to live in urbanized areas and not drive cars.
Jacobs, in a rebuttal, said while housing is undeniably unaffordable locally, regulations that Wells complained about are mainly state regulations.”If he wants to run for State Assembly, I’d welcome that,” she quipped, then mentioned housing issues that Congress can address. “We can look at federal mortgages,” as well as use federal lands to build housing and pass bills such as one she’s coauthored with Rep. Scott Peters to incentivize housing near transit.
Immigration
The moderator said she spoke with Customs and Immigration recently and that since Biden signed an executive action in June that restricts asylum seekers crossing the border, “many cities are seeing a drop” in people crossing the border. “The exception is San Diego,” she said, adding that so far in San Diego County this fiscal year, there have been nearly 311,000 encounters with Border Patrol. Most migrants were single adults, but 6,700 were unaccompanied minors, she added, then asked candidates their thoughts on immigration.
Wells claimed without citing any source that a half million immigrants are “criminals committing murders and theft” and that 300,000 missing children must be involved in sex trafficking. He faulted Jacobs for voting against several measures including one aimed at preventing noncitizens from voting. Wells said that in the past, immigrants came in an orderly fashion through Ellis Island. He wants to require people seeking asylum to go to the nearest country to their homeland and apply there, so the U.S. can “looking into their background and see if they are a good fit” to come here. He also wants immigrants to “assimilate” and “be proud of being an American.”
Jacobs said the policies proposed by Wells are dangerous. The laws that Wells wants to abolish were created after Jews fleeing the Holocaust and trying to come to the U.S. were turned away. Citing her Jewish background, Jacobs said, “We, each of us, were one strangers and it is our job to welcome the stranger.” She said she visits the border quarterly and that what’s needed to restore order is to expand humane pathways for immigrants. “We haven’t had comprehensive reform since before I was born,” she said, calling for more case officers and judges to speed up asylum hearings, and technology at the border to detect fentanyl.
Wells, on rebuttal, said he wasn’t talking about Jewish immigrants. “We have an immigration problem from Central America, from China, from countries that want to kill us,” he said, claiming that Venezuelan gangs are taking over apartment complexes. He said this is different than the Irish coming to America in the 1800s.”We need to wake up and take care of this, or a lot of us are going to lose our lives,” he insisted.
Fentanyl
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has called fentanyl the leading cause of death in Americans ages 18 to 49, the moderator said, then asked how candidates would address the crisis of fentanyl crossing the border.
Jacobs first pushed back on Well’s immigration remarks. “It sounds like my opponent is saying we only want white immigrants in this country, and that is deeply offensive.”Many immigrants today are fleeing persecution just as “my ancestors did when they came to Ellis Island due to being persecuted for being Jews.” As for fentanyl, she said that 99% enters the U.S. through legal points of entry smuggled in by U.S. citizens, not immigrants. As evidence of this, she noted that in 2020-2021 when asylum was restricted due to COVID, “we actually saw increased levels of fentanyl” crossing the border. She supports more technology to detect fentanyl at the border, an item that was part of the comprehensive bipartisan immigration bill that House Republicans backed off supporting at Trump’s request.
Wells said he’s not demonizing immigrants.”Who I’m demonizing is far left radical Democrats like Joe Biden, who she (Jacobs) supported even though she knew he had dementia,” he claimed. He voiced concerns over kids going to parties in college and having a higher chance of dying from fentanyl than from being shot. “I think this is a direct result of immigration,” he said, then accused Democrats of “playing footsies with cartels.”
Jacobs on rebuttal pointed out that “everybody who comes into this country including asylum seekers receive rigorous vetting” including those apprehended at the border. But she warned that “rhetoric is dangerous to our immigrant communities. We are seeing the consequences in Springfield Ohio” after Trump claimed Haitian immigrants were eating cats and dogs, prompting bomb threats and evacuations of schools and hospitals there. Anti-immigrant rhetoric “is also dangerous to our Jewish community,” said Jacobs, citing the manifesto written by the mass shooter at the Tree of Life Synagogue, who believed Jews were bringing in immigrants.”This demonizes all of us and the safety of everyone in our community,” Jacobs said.
Crime
California’s proposition 47 reduced some felonies to misdemeanors, resulting in an increase in some crimes such as retail theft. Now Prop 36 seeks to undo parts of Prop 47. Candidates were asked their views on Props 47 and 36.
Wells called Prop 47 an “experiment of leftism that has failed us” and blamed it for contributing to rising homelessness and increased crime. He noted that California has far more homeless than other large states and suggested they come here because they can “steal up to $950 a day, use and sell drugs...have sex with an unconscious person...with impunity.” People arrested are often released soon after for crimes such as theft and drug offenses, and that there is little a city can do. “We’re told we have to let people live and die on the streets. It’s not compassionat to have people living that way.”
Jacobs countered, “At the federal level, we have done none of the things Mayor Wells is alleging. One thing I’m proud of is we gave more support to small police departments like El Cajon and La Mesa so that they would have resources they need.” She said it’s untrue that people move to California to be homeless, noting that multiple studies including a recent University of California study found that the majority of people experiencing homelessness in San Diego County are from here and that the majority became homeless due to lack of income. Addressing poverty is the most important action to address homelessness, she added. “In my first term we passed a bill that actually cut childhood poverty in California in half. Criminalizing homelessness doesn’t solve the problem. It just moves it somewhere else.” She then faulted her opponent for criminalizing feeding the homeless, noting that is not in her religious book, or any religious book.” She called for investing in housing and a safety net, not “demonizing people because it’s too expensive to live here in San Diego.”
Wells on rebuttal explained that his ban on feeding homeless people in a city park happened during a Hepatitis A outbreak. “People were dying. The epicenter was at a park, so I closed it to feeding people because there was poop on ground...There were 11 other places where you could still get food.” He added that he’s spent years doing psychiatric evaluations at a hospital emergency room. “I’ve worked with thousands of homeless people. The number one problem (of those he has interacted with) is drug and alcohol addiction....They come here to get benefits and so they won’t be hassled by police here,” he reiterated.
POLICING
The moderator posed separate policing questions for each candidate. Jacobs was asked if she supports defunding or militarizing police, and the moderator noted that in a 2020 article, she was quoted as suggesting some San Diego Police Dept. funds be redirected toward mental health services.
Jacobs said she has talked with police and they told her they don’t want to deal with people in a mental health crisis or homeless individuals. “They will tell you we do need more investment in homeless outreach and mental health, so we are not criminalizing the problem, but actually solving it,” she said. “I made sure we are getting funding from the federal level” to support local police departments and keep communities safe, she added. The Congresswoman noted that a lot of crimes involve guns. Of gun violence, “the number one cause of it is domestic and intimate partner violence,” she said, noting that she visited a shelter earlier on the day of the forum. A loophole in the law had prevented women from getting restraining orders against boyfriends. Jacobs supported the bipartisan Safer Communities Act to close the “boyfriend loophole.” Since its passage, she revealed, “We saw a 13 percent drop in homicides nationwide.”
The moderator asked Wells if police should be responsible for thousands of people calling in about mental health situations, and his views on defunding police.
.Wells said it’s “wrong to defund the police” and that this has not happened in El Cajon. He said Jacobs voted against measures to condemn efforts to defund police, protect communities from DUI drivers,and deport aliens who assault police. He insisted the streets are more dangerous under the Biden administration.
Jacobs in a rebuttal stated, “When I was sworn into Congress I swore an oath to Constitution” that “guarantees all of us due process. I vote against bills that infringe upon due process and punish people before they have access to legal services...that will continue to be my guiding light on this issue or any other.”
HOMELESSNESS
The moderator stated that according to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development; 181,399 homeless are in California, which is 28% of nation’s homeless population. That’s nearly 40% increase from five yrs ago. She asked candidates to share their thoughts on the homelessness issue.
Wells said, ”Homelessness is the worst problem we’ve ever had, and the reason is we’re treating it the wrong way.” The housing-first policy doesn’t treat addiction or mental health issues, which he views as the cause of rising homelessness. Solving homelessness requires “political courage” in his view to invest in building more treatment facilities, mandate treatment to those who need it and jail for people who refuse to get help when offered. Wells says the “homeless industrial complex” has no financial incentive to fix the problem.
Jacobs agreed with Wells on the need to invest more in mental health services, but disagreed on the primary cause of homelessness, which is lack of income, according to a University of California study. Jacobs said San Diego isn’t getting as much money as it deserves because of a HUD formula, which she and Congressman Scott Peters are working to change. Second, Jacobs says she’s proud of her bill to increase housing resources and care for veterans to reduce homelessness among vets. She has coauthored a bill with Congressman Adam Schiff to create housing navigators to help families with children access housing resources, since homeless families are the fasting growing homeless sector, often losing homes due to an unexpected medical expense or job loss. She is also working to get money to school districts “to very quickly help a lot of people experiencing homelessness in our community.”
ABORTION
Candidates were asked where they stand on abortion since the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade, allowing states to go back to regulating or criminalizing abortion.
Jacobs stated, “As a 35-year-old woman, reproductive care is my healthcare.” Talking with friends who are making choices on whether they want to have children or can afford to do so, Jacobs recalled that when the Dobbs decision eliminating legal abortion nationwide was announced, “I was shaking with fear” and angry that the aging male justices in the majority thought women shouldn’t be able to make decisions about their own bodies. “This is a kitchen table issue,” she said, noting that there are health and economic consequences of letting states restrict abortion. “Amanda Dexter should be alive,” she said of a young woman who died after she was refused treatment at a hospital from rare complications of abortion pills. Other women have died after being denied life-saving medical care after an incomplete miscarriage caused infection. “I do not believe any politician or government should be able to make that decision,” she said, adding that a woman and her doctor should have those choices. ”That to me is what real freedom means.”
Wells sought to downplay the impacts on women’s health and freedoms. Noting that California has abortion rights written into its Constitution, he said, ”You can have all the abortions that you want” up to the ninth month, he added. “That ship has sailed. You don’t have to worry about that right now.” He accused politicians like Jacobs of using the abortion issue to create division. He added, “I am pro life, but 75% of nations believe there should be some kind of abortion law,” noting that France and Spain have bans around 14 weeks. He blamed Dexter’s death from sepsis on malpractice since doctors waited 20 hours to treat her (since doctors feared prosecution under Georgia law).
Jacobs said, “It’s very convenient to tell women they are being hysterical when they are telling you their rights are being taken away,” noting that some called it hysterical when women warned that conservative justices would overturn Roe. V. Wade. “Let’s talk about what Republicans want to do,” she stated. “My colleagues in Congress have introduced a federal abortion ban and the majority of the Republican conference members have signed on. A federal abortion ban would override any protections we have here in California, including constitutional protections.Let’s be clear: our abortion rights are on the line.”
U.S. SUPPORT FOR ISRAEL
A year after the Hamas attacks in Israel, with some hostages still held and tensions ratcheting up including Hezbollah firing rockets at Israel, the moderator asked candidates their positions on supplying or withholding money and weapons to Israel.
Wells affirmed, “I absolutely 100 percent believe that we have an obligation to Israel and to ourselves to support Israel every way that we can. They are the only democracy that we have in the Middle East.” He said America has been patient with Hamas, Hezbolla and Iran, but that “we should know by now that there is no two-state solution. The only solution enemies of Israel will accept is total annihilation of the Jews.” He believes America should stand up to Iran, which “wants to kill us.” After the Oct. 5 massacre of Jewish civilians, he believes, “Israel has an obligation to eradicate Hamas, eradicate Hezbollah, and perhaps eradicate Iran.”
Jacobs spoke of her connections to her Jewish roots, with relatives in Israel and many visits to Israel as well as Gaza and the West Bank. As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, she said it’s important to think through the consequences of actions. “The only way to be sure that there is a safe and secure Israel,” she said, “is to make sure that there is a state where Palestinians can have dignity and autonomy.” She added, “I will always stand with Israel’s defense, noting that she has repeatedly voted to fund providing high-altitude missile defense and the iron dome to protect Israel among other things. But she said even many Israelis, including thousands who marched last week to protest in Israel, “do not believe the policies of Netanyahu are making Israel safer...The most successful way to get our hostages back is diplomacy...and to make sure we don’t end up in catastrophic regional war that will put my family more at risk,” she concluded.
CEASE FIRE
A question from the audience noted that an open letter from the Jewish Institute for National Security of America think tank indicates 85 military leaders have called for US support of Israel and for no cease fire until citizens can live in peace and stability. Candidates were asked if they advocate for a cease fire.
Jacobs said she speaks with U.S. military leaders often and has frequent briefings. “The best advice of our U.S. military is that a cease fire is the only way to deescalate tension and get our hostages back, as well as get humanitarian aid into Gaza, “and that the way (Israel Prime Minister) Netanyahu’s government has prosecuted this conflict has not made Israel safer...That’s not my opinion. That’s the opinion of the U.S. military that they have shared with the Israeli military, and it’s the opinion of many Israeli leaders who have public spoken out, including the minister of defense, who have said Netanyahu does not have a real strategy.” She added that regime change has been tried before in places such as Libya, but rarely works.
Wells said, “I’m all for a cease fire...once Hamas is eradicated and Hezbollah is eradicated; and Iran has been defanged.” He said Iran is not only coming after Israel, but is also a threat to the U.S. “I’m all for Israel going in and destroying their ability to have nuclear weapon.” He also criticized Jacobs for refusing to attend when Netanyahu addressed Congress. He believes that when a leader comes to America in wartime, whether you agree with his policies or not, “you show up and you listen to what he has to say.”
Jacobs fired back, “If I thought there was a military solution to this problem, I would happily entertain that idea. But there have bene almost no instances of violent extremism being eradicated by military solutions. I have worked at the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Resolution in the State Department,” including on issues in Nigeria during the Boko Haram terrorism. “We need to address the root of problem, in this case, lack of self-determination for Palestinian people. Netanyahu believes he can do whatever he wants to in the West Bank.” As for Netanyahu’s visit here, she said, “We were asked by Israeli leaders not to attend his appearance,” adding that she stands by an editorial piece she wrote on this matter.
ANTI-SEMITISM
The candidates were next asked what they would say to Jewish students on campuses who don’t feel safe, and what should Congress be doing about anti-Semitism.
Jacobs said she is deeply concerned has been a target of anti-Semitism, including in the House chamber during the Jan. 6 2021 capitol attack when “people wearing Team Auschwitz t-shirts were coming to kill me.” She’s had conversations on college campuses and with the Anti-Defamation League recently .”We need to fully fund a national strategy to combat anti-Semitism” including full funding for the office of civil rights, as well as education for young people to understand the Holocaust. “We need federal grants that support police departments to investigate and solve hate crimes,” noting that her opponent has said he won’t support such grants in California until crime and homelessness are under control, she stated.
Wells said the U.S. government should use its strength to support protections for everyone, including Jewish students going to school or places of worship. “Colleges turning a blind eye to this should lose their federal funding” he said. “If African-American students were being threatened to come on campus, threatened with their lives, we would not put up with that for one second.” He said he believes in free speech, but not when “lines are being crossed.”
The moderator asked Jacobs why she voted against the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act.
Jacobs noted that the Constitution protects free speech, even hate speech, courts have ruled, however hate crimes are not protected. Under Title VII, universities have the right to restrain protests to a specific time and place, however. As for the bill in question, she noted that the Jewish community does not have consensus on the language that would have been codified into law. But she said the main reason for her vote against it was fears voiced by scholars that the law would be challenged as restraining free speech and ultimately being heard by the Supreme Court. That meant a “real risk of the Supreme Court overturning all of our civil rights protections... the very things we think will protect us as Jewish community are very things that can be used to go after us in the future.” She added,” I do support the Protecting Students on Campus Act” and other measures, including fully funding the civil rights office at the office of education to get civil rights complaints investigated and adjudicated quickly.
Wells said, “I would certainly have voted to protect Jewish students. I condemn anti-Semitism. “ (Jacob interjected,”I also condemn anti-Semitism). Wells continued, “I am an Evangelical Christian. Evangelicals all over the U.S. care about you and are praying for you.” He criticized Jacob’s response as an “overly intellectualized answer..” We protect Jews,gays, blacks and Christians on campus and we stop people from doing bad things,” he concluded. “I don’t think it’s that hard.”
Non-citizens voting
Each candidate was next asked a question posed by their opponent. The Wells’ campaign asked Jacobs to explain her rationale for supporting non-citizens’ right to vote in elections.
Jacobs voted against the SAVE Act , which would have imposed stiff penalties on anyone who registers a non-citizen to vote and required proof of citizenship for all voters. She explained, “It is already illegal for any noncitizen to vote in a federal election. Here is what the Save Act will do. How many of you changed your name when got married? The Save Act would make it harder for you to vote—because your driver’s license and birth certificate don’t match.” She added that the .FBI, CIA, and “every intelligence agency is saying that the U.S. has one of lowest rates of fraud; our elections have almost no fraud.”
Wells said he thought fraud was “really a big problem.” He said the consequences of 20 million people coming to the U.S. are significant even if they don’t vote, since they are counted in the Census which can change Congressional districts to give more representation to “big blue cities” such as Chicago and Los Angeles. “If we don’t step up and stop it right now, you’re going to lose the country,” he contended.
Jacobs responded, “This rhetoric, this language is so incredibly dangerous.” She said such rhetoric motivated the Tree of Life Synagogue mass shooting. “Replacement theory is deeply anti-Semitic, rooted in all of the anti-Semitic tropes,” suggesting Jews are masterminding bringng people over to replace votes of white people. Jewish members have signed a letter calling out this rhetoric as dangerous, Jacobs continued. “That is what makes us less safe, and it is disheartening to hear this rhetoric here in a synagogue, the day after the Oct 7 anniversary.”
Did Trump lose the 2020 election?
The Jacob’s campaign posed this question to Wells: “Do you believe Donald Trump lost in 2020?”
Wells sought to deflect answering. “I don’t know.It doesn’t matter; he’s going to win in a couple of weeks.” He said this question, like the abortion issue, was designed to “get you....I’m not going to fall for that. I’m talking about real issues like whether your kids will die of fentanyl... whether you can afford to make your mortgage payment...,I’m bothered that she’s focused on reproduction rights. As a Congresswoman,” he said to Jacobs, “You should be concentrating on making my life better, not reproductive rights...Iknow Donald Trump is not popular here.... but I am not Donald Trump and this is not a referendum on Donald Trump.”
Jacobs retorted, “In the words of Tim Walz, that is a very damning non-answer. I was elected in 2020. My fourth day in office was January 6th. I didn’t even know where the bathroom was, and suddenly I was hiding under my seat, putting a gas mask on. ..I.later found out it was .30 seconds from when I was pulled across to hallway to when insurrectionists got there wearing shirts that said `Camp Auschwitz’ and `6 million deaths not enough’...They were there to kill me because of lies like the ones that my opponent would not condemn and would not say was a lie.” Her parents, hearing of a woman dead in the House, didn’t know for hours if Jacobs was safe, she added, “because of the lies that my opponent refuses to say was a lie. Every agency that has looked at it has said there was no fraud,” she noted (judges in 63 court cases also found no evidence of fraud in Biden’s election.) Jacobs added, “Let’s be clear. Joe Biden won the election.”
On abortion, she shot back, ”I’m sorry if my opponent, a 60-year-old man, doesn’t think about reproductive healthcare very often. But those of us who are young women whose reproductive healthcare is our healthcare, yes it is something that is top of mind and it is kitchen table issue because the decision when, where and how to have a child is one of the biggest decisions you will make in your life, and will have huge consequences for your future including your economic future so I will not apologize for thinking about reproductive healthcare as the economic issue that it is.”
Wells quipped, “I have to apologize for being old and a guy.,” the pivoted to other issues. ”Seventy-five percent of people in this district say the country is going in the wrong direction...We’ve got to make a change. Her group, far left radicals, have had the reins.” He said Democrats have screwed up the economy, the border, homelessness. And more. “t doesn’t make any sense to keep doing the same things over and over again ...I‘ve been a very successful mayor. One of my elections I won by 84%.
CLOSING STATEMENTS
Wells repeated, “It’s time to make a change. We’ve tried this experiment for quite a while, and it doesn’t seem to be working. We’ve brought up the specter of abortion, the specter of Donald Trump.” He said his history as Mayor of El Cajon has been successful, and that he has been accessible to people. “I’m a doctor. I wanted to help people,” he says. If elected to Congress, he adds, “I’m going to do the right thing, no matter what, and if that means standing up and doing something unpopular, I’ll do that,” unlike others focused on winning political points, he concluded. “We have to take the reins and do the right things, not only for our country--for the world and for ourselves.”
Jacobs stated, “It’s very clear that we need a new generation of leaders in Washington.” She said she is proud at her accomplishment as one of the youngest leaders in Congress, “even amid chaos and dysfunction” while Democrats are in the House minority and not in charge this term, “I’ve been able to get things done from housing to childcare to food security. Those are real things impacting real people’s lives...I’ve been able to bring home millions of dollars in constitutent casework, millions of dollars making sure that our community gets federal grants it needs, and billions of dollars in infrastructure money that presidents in both parties have been talking about for decades. That’s the kind of record I’ve been able to do in my four yrs in Congress.” She added that as a third-generation San Diegan, “I am deeply honored by the trust you’ve put in me, and I would be truly honored to earn your vote to serve another term in Congress.”