A high school civics project brought U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff to Point Loma High School Thursday.
“We are the next generation of voters,” senior Molly Gallagher told about 100 of her fellow students. The project was hers, done in conjunction with the office of Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-51. It led to an invitation from the superintendent of the San Diego Unified School District, Fabiola Bagula. The district said Schiff was the first U.S. senator to visit one of its schools in 13 years.
California’s junior Democratic senator drew a contrast for the student audience between their world today and the one that existed when he was their age, and talked about how to approach the challenges they face now — mainly social media.
“We need courses in high school and probably even middle school that teach people how to find out what is true and what is not true online,” said Schiff.
The senator took a number of questions from students, including one on his recently introduced Promoting Authenticity with Influencer Disclaimers Act. He said that the legislation would force online influencers to reveal where they get their financial support.
Schiff explained, “Now, if they were doing a commercial, the law would require that a commercial say at the end of the ad, ‘This ad was paid for by Adam Schiff for U.S. Senate.’ But if it’s an influencer, right now they don’t have to disclose that they’re being paid,” he said.
After the students returned to class, Schiff held a news conference. With a little more than two weeks until the midterm elections, KPBS asked him about his confidence that the vote will be free and fair here in California and across the country.
Schiff said he and his Democratic colleagues had done similar planning prior to the 2020 election. He said they considered lots of possibilities, with the exception of an attack on the U.S. Capitol.
“This time, we’ve had to really open the aperture and consider things that would’ve been unimaginable just a few years ago. But through a strategy of litigation and mobilization, legislation and legislative oversight, we’re taking every step to prepare and make sure that our elections are free and fair and that’s all we can do,” Schiff said.
Schiff was joined by Democratic members of San Diego’s congressional delegation. The chief topic on everyone’s mind was actions by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in and around San Diego.
“Unless we figure out that what we’re doing is immoral, we’re not gonna change and we have to change this,” said Rep. Juan Vargas, D-52.
“Many of us have talked to the local ICE office and asked for a commitment that they will not do enforcement around schools, and we have been unable to get that commitment,” Jacobs said.
In his parting words to the students, Schiff urged them to get engaged, recognize the polarized situation this country is in politically, and as they grow into adulthood, do everything they can to help us get through it.
