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ECM breaks down their focuses, qualifications, and endorsements
By Jessyka Heredia and Miriam Raftery
March 2, 2024 (East County) – There are three candidates vying for the 51st Congressional seat that serves several areas in the city of San Diego as well as La Mesa, Lemon Grove, El Cajon, Spring Valley and Rancho San Diego in East County. View map.
The seat is held by Congresswoman Sara Jacobs, a Democrat. The challengers are El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells, a Republican, and small business owner Stan Caplan, an independent.
Sara Jacobs
“Like many women running all across the country, this isn’t the path I had envisioned for myself. But this is the path that this moment demands. Because our future depends on it," says incumbent Sara Jacobs on her reelection campaign site.
Noting that San Diego is one of the most expensive places to live in the nation, she said in an interview with the San Diego Union-Tribune, “That’s why I’ve made addressing the high cost of living my top priority, leading efforts to address youth, family and veteran homelessness, provide relief to renters, expand the housing supply and address the child care crisis.”
In Congress, she has been a strong advocate for protecting women’s rights and freedoms, as well as advocating for children, military members and their families. She has fought successfully to bring federal infrastructure dollars to our region, and most recently, successfully lobbied the Biden administration to provide federal disaster relief for flood victims in San Diego County. Her Military Housing Readiness Council Act helps guarantee safe, high-quality housing for military members and expand access to it. Another measure by Jacobs helps assure food security for military families.
Jacobs has a long list of achievements and qualifications. She has served in Congress since 2021. House Committee on Foreign Affairs, the House Armed Services Committee, and the House Select Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in Growth.She is a member of the House Armed Services and Foreign Affairs committees, also serving on subcommittees that address global health, human rights, intelligence and special operations, Africa, and quality of life. She is vice chair of a working group on artificial intelligence and cochairs the Protection of Civilians in Conflict Caucus. She is the third youngest member of Congress.
She has served in “policy positions at the U.S. State Department during the Obama Administration, UNICEF, and the United Nations, and as a Scholar in Residence at the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies at the University of San Diego. She served as a policy advisor to Secretary Hillary Clinton during her 2016 campaign for president.
Jacobs is also the founding chair of San Diego for Every Child: The Coalition to End Child Poverty which has grown into a coalition working to halve childhood poverty in our region by 2030. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, San Diego for Every Child started the COVID-19 Children’s Fund, helping to mobilize millions of dollars in philanthropic and government funding to support child care for essential workers and equitable distance learning for students throughout San Diego County. She has also served as the founding CEO of Project Connect, an education non-profit dedicated to closing the opportunity gap for students around the world by mapping and connecting schools to the Internet. According to her website, the project was so successful that it is now a flagship part of UNICEF’s work around the world.
In Congress, she has proposed $28 million in earmarks for local projects, including investing in UCSD’s wildfire technology, upgrading the San Carlos Library, and providing public safety renovations for community colleges.
She introduced the “My Body, My Data Act” to ensure oversight and accountability on safe housing conditions for service members and military families, legislation to guarantee the right to contraception, a d successfully advanced five amendments during floor consideration of the FY 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 7900). Schools in her district have received more than $15.1 million over the past year from the Federal Communications Commission to improve internet connectivity, according to her campaign site.
On immigration, she says San Diego is on the front lines of the nation’s failure to pass comprehensive immigration reform, which Republicans in Congress have blocked. Most recently, the Republican House Speaker refused to allow a vote on a comprehensive immigration reform bill that included funds to strengthen border security as well as humane treatment of immigrants, which President Biden had said he would sign and which had strong bipartisan support. Jacobs did secure $70 million for local nonprofits to care for migrants and asylum seekers locally but says, “I will keep working to pass permanent reform to relieve the strain on our border.”
Jacobs, though Jewish, has called on the Biden administration to urge Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to work toward diplomatic solution including a permanent cease fire, release of all hostages and a two-state solution. “A ground invasion of Rafah would be catastrophic,” she said, voicing concerns over refugees with no safe haven. “Months of dropping tens of thousands of bombs, munitions, and shells on Gaza have failed to eliminate Hamas – and a ground invasion in a densely packed city would lead to even more civilian casualties, worsen Israel’s reputation on the world stage, and fail to make Israel any safer,” she says.
Raised in San Diego, she attended local schools and later obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and a Master of International Affairs degree in International Security Policy and Conflict Resolution, both from Columbia University.
Sara Jacobs endorsements include the California Democratic Party, California Young Democrats, California Labor Federation, San Diego Regional East County Chamber of Commerce, San Diego County Democratic Party, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Moms Demand Action, Equal Rights Coalition, End Citizens United/Let America Vote, National Nurses United, Association of Flight Attendants, National Latino Peace Officers Association-Advocacy, Sierra Club, Councilmember Vivian Moreno (San Diego City Council, State Assembly District 79 Dr. Akilah Weber, Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Vice Chair, San Diego County Supervisor Nora Vargas, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla, Secretary of State Dr. Shirley Weber, and Governor Gavin Newsom just to name a few.
Bill Wells
"I have spent my entire life serving this community, and I am eager to bring that same level of dedication and passion to Congress," Wells told NBC 7 when he announced his candidacy. "The residents of the 51st Congressional District deserve a representative who will fight tirelessly to strengthen our economy and our national security and I am committed to being that representative."
Wells goals if elected included addresses the “catastrophe” of homelessness and untreated mental illness, the “degradation of the American dream,” violent crime, and strengthening border security to stem the migrant surge.
Wells has served as El Cajon’s Mayor since 2013. He previously served on City Council and as a planning commissioner, totaling two decades of public service. Dr. Wells is also a mental health professional with 30 years of experience as a Doctor of Clinical Psychology and a Registered Nurse.
Mayor Wells has played a pivotal in maintaining El Cajon’s balanced budget and a substantial $67 million reserve.” On his watch, the city successfully attracted new businesses including hotels and luxury car dealerships, boosting tax revenues. The city also reopened the performing arts center now known as The Magnolia. Also a musician, he has headlined concerts at the Magnolia to raise funds for the East County Transitional Living Center helping the homeless.
A Republican, he has been a frequent speaker on conservative talk shows locally and nationally. He has called for a shutdown of the border
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mayor Wells defied public health shut-down orders for businesses, taking a stand against what he called “overreaching restrictions.” He expanded the city’s police force, hiring officers let go from other jurisdictions due to go COVID vaccine requirements.
Bill Wells lists these endorsements: California Republican Party, Republican Party of San Diego County, El Cajon Police Officers Association, Heartland Professional Firefighters Association, Deputy Sheriffs Association of San Diego County, San Diego East County Chamber of Commerce, New Majority (San Diego), Lincoln Club (San Diego & Orange County), San Diego Off-Road Coalition, Neighborhood Market Association (NMA), Congressman Darrell Issa, Former Congressman Brian Bilbray, Former Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, Chula Vista Mayor John McCann, Coronado Mayor Richard Bailey, Escondido Mayor Dane White, Poway Mayor Steve *Vaus, ReOpen San Diego Co-Founder Amy Reichert, Pastor Kevin Miller - Foothills Church, Pastor Jurgen Matthesius - Awaken Church, Pastor Bryan Snow - Shadow Mountain Church, and more.
Stan Caplan
Stan Caplan, an independent business owner, state on his website, “With 36 years of experience as a small business owner, I will develop economic policies that reduce inflation, lower taxes, grow the economy, and allow small businesses to compete fairly with large corporations.
Stan Caplan has many bills listed on his website that he is proposing if elected to Congress. These include, “No income taxes on first $50,000 of earned income, colleges to provide graduates relevant employment opportunities or refund tuition, enforce existing immigration laws, accountability for politicians who break the law, fully support law enforcement and hold criminals accountable to reduce crime, eliminate the drug cartels, fentanyl, and human trafficking, reallocate welfare from undocumented immigrants to needy Americans, level the playing field between large corporations and small businesses, professional treatment centers for the homeless until they are self-sufficient, parents deserve a voice in their children's education, prohibit biological males from competing in women's sports.“
Caplan’s Website claims that if elected, on his first day in Congress he will introduce a bill to “require Congress to get rid of homeless, illegals and criminals by facilitating coordinating and expediting the removal of the homeless, illegals and criminals from the 51st Congressional District.”
Caplan has no endorsements currently listed on his website.
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