13th Senate District

Representative Eric Swalwell was born in Sac City, Iowa, and moved to Dublin, California, where he attended middle and high school. Swalwell was first elected in 2012, defeating 20-term incumbent Democrat Pete Stark after California moved to a “top-two” primary. He has made gun violence prevention a central part of his campaign and has also campaigned on economic issues in support of workforce training, infrastructure investment, and student loan debt relief. 

As a college student, Rep. Swalwell interned for California Democrat Ellen Tauscher and went on to complete his law degree at the University of Maryland School of Law. After law school, he returned to California to serve as a deputy district attorney for Alameda County. He was elected for Dublin City Council in 2011 before running for Congress.  

Rep. Swalwell currently serves on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, where he is the Chair of the Intelligence Modernization and Readiness Subcommittee and a member of the House Judiciary Committee. He previously served on the Committee on Homeland Security and the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. 

Rep. Swalwell has been vocal in both committees on issues pertaining to election security and the Mueller investigations, as well as the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump. Citing his prosecutorial experience, he wrote an op-ed in The Atlantic calling for an impeachment inquiry of the president. He is a strong advocate and has presented legislation for commonsense reforms to prevent gun violence and is working to address domestic terrorism. He is also a staunch supporter of women’s rights and protecting access to abortions. He co-sponsored the EACH Woman Act, which would repeal the Hyde Amendment, and supported The EqualityAct. 

He has recently expressed support for the Green New Deal, however, we’re still waiting for Rep. Swalwell to embrace Medicare for All. 

Eric Swalwell is being challenged by Samantha Campbell (D), Austin E. Intal (D), Tuan Phan (D), Alison Hayden (R), Peter Yuan Liu (R), and Don Grundmann (NPP). Given the district’s strong democratic leaning, and Swalwell’s record and strong progressive support, he is the best choice for progressive leadership in the district. 
 

Esmeralda Soria was born and raised in the central San Joaquin Valley, the daughter of Mexican immigrant farmworkers. She continues to live in the Valley, where she currently represents Council District 1 on the Fresno City Council. According to campaign materials, Councilmember Soria is running to represent CD 16 because she believes it's time for new leadership that will make Congress work for Central Valley families -- not corporations and powerful special interests.

Councilmember Soria was elected to the Fresno City Council in 2014 and became the first Latina in the history of the City of Fresno to be elected as Council President in 2018. During her tenure, Councilmember Soria focused on creating opportunities and improving the quality of life for Fresno's families. She helped create thousands of jobs, expanded Fresno City College campuses in the city's two most low-income neighborhoods, and brought the first universally accessible park to the Central California region.

She has been a notable positive influence in other areas as well, including housing and homelessness, where she has worked with community members and developers to bring hundreds of new housing units to Fresno. At the same time, some constituents have raised thoughtful concerns over those votes, viewing them as too friendly to local developers.

Soria has proclaimed to be "unapologetically progressive," but her opposition has suggested otherwise pointing to her "business friendly" votes, and lack of support for Medicare for All and the Green New Deal. While she supports the major principles of both and acknowledges the need for progressive healthcare and environmental policies, she believes alternative solutions would better serve Californians.

In 2019, Councilmember Soria was appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom to serve on California's newly created Homeless and Supportive Housing Advisory Task Force where she is one of six elected officials overseeing California's new $1 billion budget to solve homelessness in California. Councilmember Soria is also a professor at Fresno City College, and chair of the Redevelopment Agency and the Fresno Revitalization Corporation.

Councilmember Soria is challenging incumbent Representative Jim Costa (D), who has consistently opposed progressive priorities -- siding with corporate lobbyists and failing his constituents on immigration and the environment. In fact, Rep. Costa is the fifth most Trump-friendly Democrat in all of Congress according to FiveThirtyEight.com's analysis of his voting record, supporting Trump's priorities far more often than his constituents. He is also known for having co-authored Costa-Hawkins, the state rent control ban from the 1990s that has exacerbated CA's affordable housing crisis.

Other candidates in this race include Kevin Cookingham (R), and Kimberley Elizabeth Williams (D). While Williams is more ideologically aligned with Courage California given her clear unequivocal support for Medicare-for-All and the Green New Deal, polling data shows there is no path for her to make the top-two in the March 2020 primary. Councilmember Soria is the only strong, viable Democratic challenger who can unseat Rep. Costa in this election cycle. Based on extensive conversations with local grassroots activists and organizations such as Dolores Huerta, Communities for a New California Action Fund, the Central Valley Progressive PAC, and Valley Forward, we believe Councilmember Soria is noteworthy in a crowded field as the strongest choice for progressive support. Her track record as a champion for Central Valley families and as an advocate for her region's priorities in California's gubernatorial administration is very strong.

Voting for Councilmember Soria is an opportunity to elect a legislator who will dramatically improve the representation of her district in Congress. Courage California strongly endorses Councilmember Soria for Congress.
 

Rep. Ro Khanna was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and attended the University of Chicago and Yale Law School. Khanna served the Obama Administration in Washington D.C. from 2009-2011; afterwards he accepted a position at a law firm and moved to Silicon Valley. He is the incumbent in the district, having served in this position since 2017. He is running for re-election on a platform supporting the Green New Deal, internet privacy reforms, Medicare for All, immigration reform, and economic growth.

In Congress, Khanna has been outspoken in support of legislation to fight climate change, including the Green New Deal. He has called for various online and cybersecurity reforms, including helping to draft an Internet Bill of Rights. He sponsored the VALOR Act, which became law in 2019 and makes it easier for employers to create apprenticeship programs for veterans. He is a member of the No PAC Caucus, which has pledged to not take donations from any PACs.

He currently serves on the House Armed Services Committee, House Budget Committee, and the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. Prior to the election in 2016, Rep. Khanna was an attorney at Wilson Sonsini, and taught Stanford University, Santa Clara University, and San Francisco State University. From 2009-2011, he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of Commerce and in 2012, California Governor Jerry Brown appointed him to the California Workforce Investment Board.

Khanna is being challenged by Stephen Forbes (D), Joe Dehn (L) and Ritesh Tandon (R). Khanna has consistently demonstrated a commitment to progressive values, and a willingness to challenge the corporate power in his district. According to our analysis, Khanna is the strongest choice for continued progressive leadership in office.

Phil Ting is from southern California and has lived in the Bay Area for over 20 years. He is the incumbent, having served in this position since 2013. According to campaign materials he is running for re-election because he believes in the importance of California’s continued technological innovation to build a cleaner economy, promote education reform, and increase equity across the state.

In the State Assembly, Ting has worked on legislation that helps more students access Cal Grants, provides bathroom and tax protections for members of the LGBTQ+ community, and improves healthy food access for food stamp recipients. Ting has also been outspoken on clean energy issues, pushing for improvements to pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure, encouraging the installation of electric car charging stations, and helping homeowners invest in water and energy technologies. He serves as Chair of the Assembly Budget Committee, and sits on three additional committees. Prior to his election to the State Assembly, Ting worked as the Executive Director of the Asian Law Caucus, and was appointed to serve as the Assessor-Recorder of San Francisco. In this role, he increased solar power use in the city, and completed the assessment backlog to bring in millions in unpaid property taxes.

Ting is being challenged by John McDonnell (R). He scores a lifetime 96 out of 100 on Courage Score, our annual analysis of a legislator's progressive voting record. Based on our Courage Score analysis, Ting has consistently shown great courage advocating for the needs of constituents and facing down corporate lobbyists and interest groups that exploit Californians.

According to our analysis, Phil Ting is the strongest choice for progressive leadership in office.
 

Drew Phelps is a fourth generation Tularean. According to campaign materials, he is running for Assembly District 26 to offer transparent leadership and tailored solutions to the issues that affect Tulare, Inyo and Kern counties.

Phelps works in land use and project manager for Granville Homes, a Valley-based residential development company that builds energy efficient homes for local working and middle-class families. He has advocated for justice as a journalist and a grassroots organizer for Citizens for Hospital Accountability. Phelps’s commitment to community health goes beyond holding providers accountable. He served as the Director of Grant Oversight with the Manuel Torrez Family Resource Center, bringing in funding for the Center’s “Healthy Families, Happy Kids” initiative, as well as helping organize the program’s annual mobile health clinic and fair.

Phelps is running against incumbent Devon Mathis (R), who has held the seat since 2014 and scored a 0 out of 100 on Courage Score, our annual analysis of legislator's progressive voting records. According to recent election results, this is a challenging seat for Democrats to wins. Phelps, however, is a notable progressive choice because of his strong and tangible goals for Tulare’s future, and the impact he’s had on his community so far, without yet holding a public office.

According to our analysis, Phelps is the strongest choice for progressive leadership in office.
 

Evan Low was born and raised in the Bay Area. He is the incumbent, having served in this position since 2014. According to campaign materials, as a young member of the Assembly, he is running to continue to build his career of serving his home community and working toward equitable solutions for his constituents.

In the State Assembly, he has worked to strengthen protections for the LGBTQ community, pushed for more affordable housing, and has passed bills to protect victims of crime and human trafficking. Low has been a responsive legislator, working to improve college admissions reforms since early 2019, and establishing the California Legislative Technology & Innovation Caucus. Low currently serves as Chair of the Business & Professions Committee and is a member of five additional committees. Prior to his election to the State Assembly, Low was the first Asian-American and openly gay person to be elected to the Campbell City Council. He later served as Mayor of Campbell and was a community college instructor at De Anza Community College.

Low has progressive positions on LGBTQ protections, the importance of continued technological innovation in the state, and improving the number of affordable housing units in the state. That said, he has voted against bills that provide public access to police misconduct records, that increase employer responsibility in preventing workplace harassment, and that limit the establishment and continued operation of charter schools in the state. In 2018, he was included on a list of lawmakers who had accepted gifts of access, receiving a pricey concert ticket from AT&T. As an advocate for continued technological advancement in the state, this action raised questions about a conflict of interest with a large tech company.

Low is being challenged by Sam Ross (NPP), and Carlos Rafael Cruz (R). He scores a lifetime 74 out of 100 on Courage Score, our annual analysis of a legislators’ progressive voting record. According to recent election results, Democrats usually win this seat. Though we disagree with Low’s stance on the issues named above, his work to build influence on most progressive issues and relationships in the community will advance progressive policies and makes him the strongest choice in this race.