Elections 2024: Rep. Robert Garcia faces 3 challengers for Congressional District 42

Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia, who became the first openly LGBTQ immigrant in U.S. House of Reprentatives last year, will begin his bid to retain California’s 42nd Congressional District seat by coming out on top — or at least the top two — in the March 5 primary election against three other candidates.

Garcia rose to the national spotlight in 2022 after serving as the first Latino and first openly gay mayor in Long Beach’s history, will face two Democrats, Joaquin Beltran and Nicole Lopez, and Republican John Briscoe — who will likely be his main adversary.

The top two vote-getters, regardless of party affiliation, will advance to the Nov. 5 general election.

Garcia is an overwhelming favorite in the primary race, with Briscoe likely to come second, based on results from the 2022 primary and general election. Briscoe surprised political observers with 26% of the vote in that primary.

Beltran and Lopez, the latter of whom did not respond to requests for comment, also competed in the 2022 primary — though they finished with single-digit percentages.

Garcia also has more campaign cash on hand than his opponents. He had about $541,109 at the end of 2023, according to the Federal Elections Commission. Briscoe had nearly $250,000 in cash, but that sum was a personal loan from him to his campaign.

Lopez had 1,231 in cash on hand at the end of the year, according to the FEC, while Beltran did not have any campaign finance documents available.

The 42nd Congressional District includes Downey, Long Beach, Lakewood, Commerce, Bell Gardens, Bell, Huntington Park, Florence, Cudahy, Maywood, Bellflower, Lakewood, Walnut Park, Signal Hill and Avalon.

The district had 399,277 registered voters as of Jan. 5, according to the California Secretary of State’s office. Of those, about 54% were registered Democrats, compared to about 17% Republicans. About 21.5% had no party preference. The rest were registered with smaller political parties.

Rep. Robert Garcia

Garcia, in a phone interview on Thursday, Feb. 1, said his first year as a congressmember has been a great one. He said he’s honored to represent the same communities he’s worked with regionally for a long time, particularily in the southeast portion of Los Angeles County.

“Being mayor of one of the largest cities in Califonia has been absolutely beneficial,” Garcia said. “I understand how government works. I feel I know what the community needs and what neighborhoods need.”

Safety, climate change and infrastructure are some of the most important issues in District 42, Garcia said.

He’s particularly proud of securing $238 million in federal funds for the Port of Long Beach, which will help create jobs, enhance rail operations and reduce pollution.

As co-chair of the Congressional Ports Opportunity, Renewal, Trade, and Security Caucus, he’s made the twin ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles a priority, Garcia said.

Protecting democracy, meanwhile, is high on Garcia’s list of priorities should he win a second term.

“I’ve taken on some of the most extreme voices in (Washington), D.C.,” Garcia said.

Garcia was a key leader in expelling George Santos from Congress late last year, after an ethics report revealed the Republican used campaign donations for personal use.

And in his role as president of the 36 Democratic freshmen congressmembers, Garcia said, he’s also been able to demonstrate his leadership skills.

He’s a coalition builder, Garcia said, and leadership skills translate to whether you are guiding peers in Washington, D.C., or working with constitiuents.

“I believe in being honest and in justice for all people,” Garcia said. “The responsibility of government is to help people and people who need help the most.”

Many people in his district and throughout the country, Garcia said, are still feeling the impacts of a slowly improving economy. Inflation is a factor and the cost of housing is still incredibly high.

There’s a lot of work left to do, he said, but there is definitely good momemtum in those areas.

Other priorities for Garcia are continuing to bring back money for health care, pandemic prevention, LGBTQ rights and strenghtening the economy.

Overall, Garcia said, he loves the opportunity to represent his hometown in Congress.

“We’re working hard every day to get as much federal support as possible,” Garcia said. “I’m driven by that every day.”

John Briscoe

Briscoe, a Republican business owner and youth advocate, described himself as the “antithesis” of Garcia in a phone interview on Tuesday, Jan. 30.

The incumbent, Briscoe said, is syncophatic toward President Joe Biden and doesn’t veer from the Democratic party line.

Briscoe is running again because prices are too high, he said, pointing to gas and food costs, though the former has gone down in recent weeks.

“The real costs are up 30% over the last three years,” Briscoe said. “Nobody got pay increases by that much.”

Inflation, Briscoe said, is “a nasty, stick the federal finger in your pocketbook and pluck the money out” proposition.

The Republican challenger is also keen on protecting parental rights, he said. It’s horrible, Briscoe said, that some parents don’t know specifics about what their children are learning in school. And, the longtime Huntington Beach-area school board member said, he believes in public school choice. No matter where you live, he said, you have the right to send children to a school in a good district.

“All of our teachers are good,” Briscoe said, “all of our schools are good, but they’re not all the same.”

Briscoe, if elected, would also advocate for family safety, he said. That, he said, “means the homeless problem.”

“I look over the cesspool of people who are in just deep, dire need of help,” he said of his Long Beach office window, which overlooks people experiencing homelessness.

To solve the issue, Briscoe said, he would “make an affirmative effort to identify people who are under the influence and go through and do a sweep.” People would be given three choices, he said: pay a $300 fine, go to jail or go to a rehabilitation facility.

The problem, Briscoe said, is that when President Ronald Reagan reduced funding for mental health institutions in 1981 and “turned everyone out on the street, the money didn’t follow them to give them treatment.”

Something dramatic has to be done to help people, Briscoe said.

Briscoe said he’ll focus his campaign on the northern portion of District 42, which includes cities such as Downey, Bellflower and Cudahy.

His path to victory, he said, is the family man.

“If it’s true that Hispanic voters are listening a little harder,” Briscoe said, “then my messaging will be heard loudly by those people.”

The Republican challenger was also characteristically critical of the current Congress, calling them “feckless and spineless” and saying they are “spending like a drunken soldier.”

Joaquin Beltran

Beltran is a software and community organizer who said Congress should be funding food, gas, rent and health care instead of financing overseas conflicts.

He’s running again, he said during a Wednesday, Jan. 31, phone interview, because “there is such urgency to making sure that our future is better than the current politicians are making it out to be.”

It’s important, he said, for politicians to be direct, have a vision and to have leadership where “people aren’t playing games.”

Beltran advocated beginning in May 2023 for LA County to bring masks back into health care settings, he said. And in December, the public health department, indeed, brought the rule back.

Besides prioritizing health care as a priorty, Beltran also said bringing prices down and fixing the economy is important. And those go hand-in-hand. When people are healthier, he said, the economy is healthier.

“The American dream has, unfortunately, become undone,” Beltran said. “For me, it’s all tied together. It’s a web of health and prosperity. If someone could have a lot of money, they would definitely trade their money to have their health.”

Beltran, whose parents immigrated from Mexico, stressed they had to work harder to get resources than non-immigrants.

“Government needs to create an environment for people to thrive,” Beltran said, adding there needs to be better and more accessible health care for all.

Beltran said he doesn’t think anything has gotten better in District 42 over the last few years. Small business owners are out of business, people can’t afford to pay rent, there are job losses. Unlike career politicians, he said, he’s willing to “be direct, to be clear and to have a stated vision and goals.”

Many politicians, Beltran said, wait until the timing is right before acting. He wouldn’t do that, he said.

Beltran wants people to understand how much power the little guy holds, saying “every action they take, no matter how small they think it is, it makes a huge difference.

“It all adds up,” Beltran said, “and we really need them because we need better people in office.”

Nicole Lopez

Lopez is a nonprofit employee who is running on a platform of “Medicare for all,” supporting the Green New Deal and implementing comprehensive immigration reform, according to her campaign website.

The Democrat did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

But on her website, the challenger wrote that she is fighting for “everyday Americans,” and giving voice to migrant workers and others who have been left out of the decision making rooms on Capitol HIll.