Many would have you argue that you can’t vote for Mike Garcia because he’s a Trump supporter, and that you can’t vote for him because he is a Republican, and that as a whole, that the national party has abandoned Californians.
These are very strong accusations that some would levy against Mike Garcia, and I’m writing to both disprove them, and to show the faults of Christy Smith
Many would tell you it is both foolish and dangerous to vote for Mike Garcia because he will only be a toady for Donald Trump, and that he has no real loyalty to the people of the Santa Clarita Valley and of the 25th District.
The first concern is rooted in the idea that Mike Garcia is too conservative for the district and Santa Clarita, and that he is surely one who will be extreme and not be a good fit for the district. The problem with using this logic is that we can see that his opponent, who won her election in 2018 as a moderate, and is running now as a moderate for this seat, was endorsed by Elizabeth Warren, someone who abused and stole Native American heritage to get into law school, and someone who advocates to take everyone’s health care and replace it with an underfunded federal program.
Would a moderate really be supported by someone who advocates such maddening policies?
When it comes down to the attacks against Mike Garcia about him being a Trump supporter, you cannot allow the fact that Elizabeth Warren endorsed the assemblywoman.
Speaking of the assemblywoman, how long has Ms. Smith held that position? Not even a year and a half into her term. She talks about how she values her great experience of serving in the state Legislature and of how important it is that we elect someone with experience, but the problem is that we do not see her showing any loyalty to the people she was elected to represent there.
Her supporters will claim that the Democrat Smith will be the one who will actually be loyal to the 25th District, not the “crazy Trump fanboy” that they claim Mike Garcia is. Smith campaigned in 2018 on the idea that a Democrat would be able to represent her Assembly district in a manner that was true to how the people there felt. That won the election for her in 2018, but now, at the first sign of being able to climb to greater fame and pay, she is leaving her Assembly district — which she claimed that only a Democrat could represent — to choose between two Republicans for their Assemblywoman.
Is that the work of someone who is loyal to who they’ll be representing?
In comparison, Mike Garcia has been running for just as long as Ms. Smith has been serving in the Assembly. He has shown loyalty to both this district and to his message by staying in this race even when Steve Knight, the former representative, who was endorsed by many members of the National Republican establishment, jumped in the race. He has shown loyalty to the people of this district and to Santa Clarita by leaving his safe position as a businessman to throw himself out of the frying pan and into the fire of the public eye.
As a high school student I have been able to grow up in a time of seeing more and more political entrenchment and seeing that between our two choices, we have Ms. Smith, who represents the type of politician who would maintain the status quo of partisan gridlock, like she helped to foster in the state Assembly, or Mr. Garcia, who will be a trailblazing problem solver in the House, just like he was as a fighter pilot.
When it comes to who will do more for the public between Mike Garcia and Christy Smith, we can clearly see that one of them stands for throwing everything that they’ve worked for and built, into the risk of the public eye, for a pay decrease and for all the glory of being attacked by the national media.
On the other hand we have someone who is only looking for getting a pay raise and getting more glory, all the while abandoning people she claimed to be loyal to.
There has never been a clearer choice for who is the best choice of representative for Santa Clarita and the district, and that person is Mike Garcia.
Richard Cordero
Los Angeles
