S1: Welcome in San Diego. It's Jade Hindman. On today's show , we're talking about the race for the 48th Congressional District. Today , we'll be interviewing candidate Amar Champa Nagar. This is KPBS Midday Edition connecting our communities through conversation. So voters have a few days left to cast their ballots for the June primary. A key race we're watching is California's 48th Congressional District. If Democrats win , it could be what they need to regain control of the House. This week on mid-day edition , we're sitting down with some of the leading Democratic candidates. I'm here with one of them now. Amar Campana Jha , U.S. Navy Reserve officer. Amar , welcome.
S2: Jade , good to see you again. Thank you for having me. Likewise.
S1: Likewise. Thanks for coming in. Of course. So California's 48th district was one of five Republican held seats targeted by prop 50 , which voters passed.
S2: I've been fighting for this community , trying to champion it for almost eight years , where we first met. And , you know , in the time that I've been , you know , fighting to represent this community , we've had two members of Congress who I've ran against who've quit. You had Darrell Issa and then Duncan Hunter before that. And throughout all that process , there's been a person who's never quit on this community , and that's been me. And so I'm running to represent this community at a time of great peril. I think we have a campaign that meets this moment. And as you know , I'm Latino and Arab-American at a time when both those communities are being attacked right now between ice , you know , attacking immigrants and Americans and major American streets , um , or the Muslim community that was under attack just last week. I'm also a U.S. Navy officer in the reserves with the biggest military community in the country , and we are currently a nation at war that we are feeling , not just with the lives that we've seen lost. There were seven Army reservists who were killed in the beginning of this war. Um , and also the price that we're feeling at the pump. So I do feel like we're uniquely positioned to stand up against Trump , to take on ice and to to fight the fight that we've been fighting for eight years now to bring down costs , raise wages and take on corruption. And I'm ready to complete the mission.
S1:
S2: It was just an extremely , extremely Republican district. But now with prop 50 and redistricting , if we communicate the same message , I think we'll be able to win. And , you know , right now , I think people are tired of a system that's broken. We have a broken immigration system. We see Ice as an example of that. But we also see people are struggling with the cost of living because we have insurance companies , health insurance companies , utility companies who are monopolies that control , you know , the prices. And a lot of that is because of the undue influence of money and politics. And we've seen that in this race. You know , there's independent groups have spent $5 million against me to do these TV ads that everyone's seeing. And one of the main groups that's attacking me is a group called Democratic Majority for Israel , an Israel lobby that's attacking me strictly for just being the son of a Palestinian immigrant who grew up in Gaza. So I do think we have a message that meets this moment. Um , obviously we're being attacked because we're leading. If you're being ignored , it's probably worse. It means you're not a threat to anybody. But I think we have a strong message that we'll be able to carry the day in this primary and then also prosecute the case against Jim Desmond , who's also a Navy , um , veteran. And I think we're uniquely positioned to kind of fight it out for those swing voters who tend to be Latinos and veteran voters in this community.
S1: You know , much of this campaign is focused on the major issue of affordability in San Diego County.
S2: Look , we've seen a big concentration of power in this country , both political and economic. And I think what we need to do , number one , is we need to take on our broken health care system right now. 20% of our GDP goes to health care. People are paying through the roof and we still don't insure everybody. So I'd like to see us get to universal healthcare to bring down costs. Childcare is another issue that I hear a lot of working families talk about , whether they're in the military or civilians. It's the second biggest expenditure they have to housing in rent , from what I hear from folks. So I want to make sure that we invest in universal child care. And when it comes to housing , there's a bill by Senate Senator Warnock to give a $25,000 down payment to first time homebuyers. How do we pay for that ? By asking billionaires just to pay a little bit more , a little bit more. If they paid a little bit more , we could get universal child care. We could get universal health care. We could make sure everybody in here in this country could live , work and retire with dignity. We haven't seen a minimum wage increase in this country in nearly 20 years. And if we want to be able to allow people to have economic opportunity to afford to live in our communities. We need to be able to be aggressive in solving problems. And my kind of posture towards all this is we've seen Trump break so much our democracy , our economy , and now we have to fix it the way he broke it by being as aggressive in solving it as he was in breaking it. So these half measure approaches will not save our democracy , will not save our economy. We have to be aggressive in making sure people could afford housing , health care and daily living.
S1: Earlier you touched on immigration.
S2: My family immigrated here from Mexico , my mom's side. My dad immigrated from Gaza , and if it weren't for our welcoming community , I wouldn't be here today. I have family that lives on both sides of the border as well. So number one , I think we have to take on. I believe we have to dismantle and abolish Ice and replace it with an organization that will lawfully and ethically do its job not killing Americans and immigrants and broad daylight in major American cities. I don't think Ice is fixable. I think we need to create a new agency that's housed in the DOJ instead of the Department of Homeland Security. We also have to increase our adjudication process , hire more judges and lawyers to be able to expedite the process. We need to give dreamers who've been in this country since they were children , citizenship. I served with people who are in the military who are undocumented immigrants , and when they leave the military , many times they're deported after having served our country. And I think we have to humanize who immigrants are. You know , there are hospital workers who care for us when we're sick. There are teachers who care for our children and raise them alongside us. They're the farmers who are feeding our families their hospitality workers. And so I think we have to humanize who these folks are , but also create smart border solutions. I think that means expediting our ports of entry , investing in noninvasive technology. and resources to make that happen better and deal with the fentanyl crisis we have in our country. That's coming in , not from immigrants , by the way. Most of it's coming in from American citizens coming in from Mexico and selling it here to American citizens. So instead of demonizing people on this issue , we have to come up with smart border solutions and also improve our immigration system.
S1: You know , the U.S. and Israel launch their major military campaign against Iran in late February without congressional approval , I should add.
S2: Look , if this war continues , is the chance that me and my shipmates could be deployed , and we're prepared to do that to defend the homeland if this were ever comes to our gates. But speaking only as myself , I'm not wearing my uniform right now. I'm speaking just as Amar , as a private citizen. I think that this war was , um , a war of choice. It was a weapon of mass distraction to distract from the Epstein files. The president has been trying to move off of unpopular policies by enacting this war. I think we need to end this war. I think the president needs to take the win. He got the supreme leader. He was able to achieve that objective. But since the very beginning , there has not been a clear , objective or clear lines of effort or a clear end state in mind. And what people don't want is another forever war. Because after the headlines are gone , this community , the biggest military community in the country , feels the impact for generations to come. So before we ask our men and women to go serve and put themselves in danger , we better have good objectives and the clear end stay in mind. So I think we need to have a strategic exit and get out of Iran. Um , and , you know , I also think that we need to restore the power to declare war to Congress and make sure that we have a coequal branch of government. So I would support the war power resolution to make sure that Congress is the one that declares war , not just this president. And we've seen a massive , um , growth in power from the executive branch. And I think we need to balance the scales there. And also , I have to be honest , I think we need to start building schools and hospitals here , not bombing schools and hospitals in the Middle East. And that to me is deeply frustrating that we're seeing , you know , one of our partners in the world dragging us into another forever war that none of us voted on. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Well , speaking of your time in the military , you brought it up a couple of times. KPBS recently reported on your use of military imagery in your campaign that the Navy said warranted corrective action. What action have you taken ? What action have they required of you ? Yeah.
S2: So it was pretty rudimentary. I'll be honest. I think there was a rush to judgment on what I was being told by the Navy. The Navy gave me very clear guidance , standard issue guidance about how reservists can use their photos and likeness for campaigns. There are many elected officials who are in this county , who are in the military or have been Jim Desmond's one , the mayor of Chula Vista. John McCain's a commander in the Navy Reserve. So I was given the same issue guidance as them. It wasn't punitive. I made the the edits and revisions I was asked to make ? And we're in good standing now , but I think , you know , that's been weaponized by my opponent. I'm proud to be an officer in the Navy. In the reserves , there are two types of Navy officers. There's reservists and active duty. We have the same rank. We have the same type of work that we do. But , you know , reservists do it less often. I've been able to go serve my country in uniform in the Philippines alongside active duty components , and I'm proud of that service. I just started the military a couple years ago. I'm not claiming to be a hero , but it's allowed me to serve alongside heroes who make a lot of sacrifices for this nation , and I think it's given me an insight about what they need to do their jobs effectively when forward deployed , and also when taking care of their families here.
S1: Something else I want to move on to. You've said on the campaign trail that your goal is to get money out of politics. Uh , tell me why that's so important for you. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. So it's really important to me because I don't think elections should be bought by special interests. And right now we've seen $5 million of special interest money spent against me in this campaign to attack me. And $2 million of that money is coming from a group called Democratic Majority for Israel. It's a pro-Israel lobby that's attacking me , as I said , because I'm the son of a Palestinian immigrant who grew up in Gaza who wants to end forever wars and believes we need to build here and not bomb there. Um , and I think we need to hold others accountable , other countries accountable when they drag us into these forever wars. Um , you could , uh , you know , respect other countries while not respecting their government , especially their leaders like Netanyahu. And apparently that's enough to invite the ire of this pro-Israel lobby right now. You know , the elections in a couple of days. And I just want to send a message to all the viewers and listeners that the elections are not bought in this country. They're not for sale. And I hope that people will see past , you know , these mis characterizations of me from these groups. And that's why I want to overturn Citizens United and get money out of politics. Because I think what happens is when you have elected officials who are , you know , given money to campaign this way. You know , my opponents benefited from $5 million and 2 million of that from the pro-Israel lobby. How is she going to vote ? And so I think we need to make sure that we have policy makers , not profit makers , people who aren't bought and doing the bidding of other groups when they should be doing the bidding of the people of this district.
S1: That being said , KPBS recently reported on the use of campaign website Red boxes , which appeared to be ad buying instructions to outside groups. And you're not alone here. But what that it seems like , you know , at least that's one way money does get into politics , is it not ? Yeah.
S2: I think in this environment we have to fight fire with fire , which is the whole premise of prop 50 and redistricting that Governor Newsom launched. Right ? We didn't want to redistrict in California. We had to do it in response to Texas to be able to fight on a level playing field and then change the system. That's the same thing that is happening on our side. If you look at my red box , compared to my opponents. Their red box is full of specific attacks on how to attack me. Calling me a con man for God's sakes. I mean , it's just so , I think personal and beneath what we typically expect. None of my writings or anything on my website has any negative attacks on any of my opponents. We're running a positive campaign again to make sure that we end forever War. As we take on the corruption from this administration , we hold Ice accountable. We raise wages , lower costs , get universal health care , child care. That's what I'm focused on and I agree. I think that , you know , this practice of red boxing and , you know , IIs and independent expenditures is deeply problematic. The first thing I'm going to do in Congress is introduce a bill to overturn Citizens United. And believe me , I am deeply invested in getting dark money out of politics to the tune of $5 million spent against me. So believe me when I say that's going to be my top priority. And if we do that , we can take on Big oil , Big pharma , the health insurance companies , big utilities , everything uncoiled from taking money out of politics so that we can put money in back in people's pockets and fight for working families.
S1: Again , we've seen a lot of personal attacks thrown between candidates in this race without getting too much into the , he said.
S2: And all I can tell folks is , you know , do your own research , go to a mar for congress.com , go online. And I think people are tired of the negative attacks. They want somebody with a positive vision that meets this moment. We can't just be against things. We have to be for things. And I hope voters will vote for what I'm for.
S1: I've been speaking with the Mar campaign. Aja. He's one of the leading Democratic candidates running for California's 48th district. Thank you so much for being here.
S2: Thank you for having me.
S1: That's our show for today.
S3: I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.
