Cristina Garcia eyes Congressional seat

DOWNEY – Assemblymember Cristina Garcia is seeking election into the newly created 42nd Congressional District.

Garcia, 44, currently represents the 58th Assembly District. She says that she never intended to run for Congress, nor did she expect to see current Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard retire while she was still in office.

She announced her candidacy just a few days after Roybal-Allard announced that she would not seek reelection.

“When I looked at the map and both Allen Lowenthal and Lucille Roybal-Allard announced their retirement, and this district is composed of pieces of both of their districts, I decided two things. I decided to listen to my own advice… ‘When there’s an opportunity, be fearless, take advantage of it.’”

“Secondly, when I thought about the opportunity, I had the same feelings that I had 10 years ago when I ran for Assembly, that I could be a strong voice for the region, a voice that we deserve. I thought about the work I’ve been doing at the state level, and the ability to be that voice for the issues in the community whether it’s on things like environmental justice, on menstrual equity, on consent, but also on things like ensuring that our communities get their fair share of the pie.”

Garcia said that local communities are often “overlooked” and do not receive “the dollars they deserve.”

“I want to make sure that I’m advocating for all these cities along the 710 and being fair and equitable across the board to those cities,” said Garcia.

In fact, Garcia’s campaign platform is very similar to the work she’s already been focused on in the legislature.

“The needs are the same,” said Garcia. “It’s just now I have a different platform to bring in additional resources to these communities, and additional attention to these communities.”

Garcia faces Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia, who is also a Democrat.

While she says that they both may be similar backgrounds and values, she pointed to prop 187 as a stark difference between them.

The 1994 proposition established a state-run citizenship screening and barred undocumented immigrants from using non-emergency healthcare, public education, and other services in the state.

“A lot of who I am today, a lot of what drives me politically started back in the 90’s when there was an attack on immigrants, starting with Prop 187, and there was a slew of propositions at that point,” said Garcia. “It was very personal. I’m the daughter of immigrants; my dad was undocumented until the late 80’s…It was very personal. So, I have been a very strong advocate on immigration rights from an early age through my career now in the legislature, which I think is something different that Robert brings to the table and the positions he took early on…”

She added that they differ on the subject of environmental justice.

“When we’ve had incinerators burning trash and polluting vulnerable black and brown communities, I have constantly said that these facilities should not be in overburdened communities, and I’ve passed legislation on that.

“When I was Chair of Natural Resources, I had the city of Long Beach and the Mayor of Long Beach Robert Garcia advocating for those incinerators to be in a low-income community in the city of Long Beach and for us to give them additional incentives, which I think go against our values and our climate change goals, but also our values to prioritize vulnerable communities. I think when you look at the work I’ve done in environmental justice, I think that’s something that’s unique that separates myself from my opponent out there.”

Garcia says that she is most proud of her office’s work to engage, educate, and empower the community “so that our agendas are agendas that reflect not just my interests, but the interests that the community wants me to push forward.”

“Empowering the community and meeting them where they’re at and sharing with them the ‘inside baseball’ so that they’re more successful in their advocacy and in their partnerships is good for society, good for democracy, for our community, and that is something that I’m very proud of.”