Bryan Caforio officially announced his candidacy for California’s 25th Congressional District on Saturday during a celebration at Laborers International Union in Palmdale.
Caforio ran against Congressman Steve Knight in 2016, but Knight won with about 53.1 percent.
“After the election, it just kind of felt like the wind, the energy was taken out of the community (and) the country,” Caforio said. “It was a depressing time period.”
Over 100 supporters attended the announcement, some expressing frustration with Knight’s representation of the district.
“I’m very unhappy with the way that Steve Knight votes,” Newhall resident Stevenson Herskovitz said. “That health care plan is totally wrong.”
Campaign manager Nicole DeMont expressed hope for a better result after the next round of elections due to the fact that support for the candidate is already in place.
“Congressional races are tough,” DeMont said. “Bryan has name recognition now. There’s an enormous amount of energy and it’s different than last time.”
“We decided now the time is right to just get in there and keep building on what we already did,” Caforio said.
