Rep. Mike Garcia, a Republican congressman for California’s 25th district who is running for reelection in November, blasted Democrats’ failing policies in California in an interview on Saturday and said he sees more opportunities for red seats in his very blue state.

“There’s a saying, ‘If you want to fix the nation, you’ve got to start with California.’ And if you want to fix California, it starts in the major cities, Los Angeles being one of those, and that’s where the opportunity is right now,” he told SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Saturday with host and Breitbart News Washington Political Editor Matthew Boyle.

“This is really an existential fight, I’m making sure that what’s happened to our state of California doesn’t happen at the national level, we have some of the highest taxes, thick bureaucracy that’s killing small businesses and making people want to leave California, and there’s a reason for that,” he said.

He said California is a “proving ground” for many of Democrats’ failed policies, which his opponent, California State Assemblywoman Christy Smith (D) supports:

A lot of the ill that we’re experiencing here in what should be a very beautiful state, a very thriving state, are now being uploaded to the federal level. I’m running against someone who’s representing us in Sacramento who has signed about three billion dollars worth of tax increases over the last 18 months, someone who has called for the defunding of police in a district where we have the highest concentration of both active and retired law enforcement officers and first responders.

She supported this AB5 bill and a lot of detail underneath AB5, but this is the thing that is effectively pushing Uber and Lyft out of our state. We’re surrounded by flames and these wildfire seasons that are getting longer, and they’re blaming it on climate change rather than investing in deforestation, or buying new large aerial tankers to fight these fires and do something about it proactively.

So to me the overarching theme and umbrella right now is about public safet, and again it’s not about Republicans versus Democrats, it’s about investing in our communities so they stay safe, investing in our law enforcement, firefighting assets, taking care of our veterans and our seniors before we take care of the illegals, which is a thing that’s happening in California right now, and getting through this COVID crisis, rebuilding businesses, and opening up our schools and giving parents school choice, it all comes down to public safety and being able to survive and stay in California and the larger mission is making sure our nation doesn’t become California.

He also blasted California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA)’s COVID policies that were handcuffing the economy. “We need to get our kids back in school, we need to get our business back online, reopen the amusement parks and start realizing the full potential that we have,” he said.

Garcia, a former Navy pilot, added: “So that’s the fight we’re fighting right now, and people are paying attention. They want people who are business owners, who are patriots running for the right reason, and there’s a dozen of those types of candidates around the nation right now. So I am hopeful, but we’ve got to run through the tape and not take anything for granted right now.”

Garcia also spoke about how he won his seat, which belonged to former California Democrat Rep. Katie Hill, who resigned over revelations that she engaged in sexual relationships with staffers.

“In my district, it’s a very purple district. I only have 31 percent Republicans for registration there, so we’re in the hole as a party,” he said. “So I talk about values. I don’t necessarily run as a Republican versus a Democrat, I talk about being pro-business, pro-taxpayer, school choice, low taxes, we have a bill in California called AB-5 which is just killing our gig economy.”

He also said Republicans can win seats by outworking Democrats.

“The great equalizer is hard work. And we’ve did our homework, we have a great team, we have a lot of volunteers, 400-500 volunteers on the ground, knocking on doors, making phone calls and we have a nationwide network of support,” he said.

He recalled how political pundits predicted he would lose the special election, which he then ended up winning by nine points.

“If you’ve got the right message, if you’ve got the right candidate and you’ve got the team and you work hard, you can win any seat,” he said.

He named Young Kim, Michelle Steel, and David Valadao as promising Republican candidates running for seats in Southern and Central California this November.

He urged supporters to visit and donate to his campaign at www.electmikegarcia.com before Tuesday.

“We do need all the help we can get. Nancy Pelosi has spent about $6 million on this race just in the last six weeks, so she’s not going quietly into the night. We have to fight for this one,” he said.

 

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