I am dismayed to learn that Steve Knight has entered the race to replace disgraced congresswoman Katie Hill in California’s 25th District. Remember that Hill defeated incumbent Knight in the 2018 election after Knight’s uninspiring campaign and considerable blowback among Republicans over some of his actions as a congressman. In particular, Steve joined some two dozen congressional Republicans in opposition to Trump’s border wall initiative, which was infuriating to many. To this citizen it seemed that Steve was much more interested in supporting Mexican drug cartels who make billions from drugs and human trafficking across our porous border than in supporting the interests of his constituents.
Recall that Knight first ran for Congress in 2014 after Buck McKeon decided to retire to seek greener pastures as an ex-congressman lobbyist. In that year he ran against Republican Tony Strickland who, in 2012, had run in the 26th district. Strickland’s 2014 run in the 25th district seemed, to many, an act of political opportunism and Steve, as the home-grown alternative, was elected.
In his first term, Knight was an adequate representative, generally supporting and, in some cases, leading Republican positions on the military, on VA benefits, and on the Second Amendment. On that basis he was re-elected in 2016. However, in his first term, Knight was not confronted by any problems with respect to a Republican president since Obama was still in office. Subsequently, he went to Washington and joined Speaker Paul Ryan’s “Never Trump” Republican cabal in fighting Trump initiatives. This eroded local support, which, along with Katie Hill’s false but successful presentation as a military-supporting conservative Democrat, cost Knight his seat in the 2018 election.
It appeared that Knight would not seek a rematch with Hill in the 2020 election. However, after Hill was caught in her throuple adventures and resigned, he saw a weakened Democrat field and decided to try again. Unfortunately for him, several more solid Republican candidates have emerged. Mike Garcia, for example, announced early to represent CA25. Garcia is a combat veteran whom we can trust to go to Washington and support the badly needed wall as well as provide support for Trump’s economic and foreign policy initiatives, which have given us the most robust economy seen in my 80-year lifespan as well as the best foreign policy since the 1980s and perhaps the 1950s. Steve and other potential never- Trumpers should realize that we, Republicans at least, like having a robust economy with a rising stock market, rising wages, historically low unemployment, and spectacular job growth. We also like the idea of controlling our southern border, and we like being self-sufficient in energy and not being dependent on Middle East enemies for oil. We enjoy an America-first foreign policy and support confronting the Chinese and others when they try to cheat and steal American property — and so on.
We have little patience for phony, never-ending investigations and impeachments that waste time and millions of dollars on a partisan game. We certainly do not want to send a representative to Washington who, for all we know, might become the lone Republican to cast a vote for the president’s impeachment.
I have supported Steve Knight in the past and still think that he would have been a better representative than Katie Hill. However, I no longer trust his judgment and will not vote for him in the upcoming primary.
John Weaver
Valencia
