BY MARISOL DIAZ
As the race for California’s 18th congressional district heats up, voters are faced with a choice between two very different candidates: long-time incumbent Rep. Zoe Lofgren, backed by monied special interests and Big Tech titans, versus Tribal Chairwoman Charlene Concepción Nijmeh, who is leading a grassroots insurgency to address the affordability crisis, the housing shortage, and the exploitation of children on Big Tech platforms.
While Lofgren is a career politician who has held elected office for 44-years, this is Nijmeh’s first ‘election’, though she is not new to politics. For the last six years she has led the sovereign Muwekma Ohlone Tribe, whose aboriginal territory is also home to the City of San Francisco, Oakland, Berkley, San Jose, and the Silicon Valley. Politics is a big part of defending sovereignty and running a Tribal government. She is a formidable contender on any battlefield.
Lofgren is widely seen as hyper-partisan, serving on the notoriously partisan House Judiciary Committee since she was first inaugurated in 1995. In contrast, Nijmeh is a ‘moderate-progressive’ who is eager to bring folks together from across party divides around the shared goal of solving critical problems. While Nijmeh may share many of Lofgren’s progressive values, she insists on putting people before politics.
Zoe Lofgren’s husband is a millionaire real estate attorney who represents wealthy developers, but he billed $350,000 to Lofgren’s campaign for legal work. Why isn’t her husband willing to volunteer? Why is she sticking the bill to her campaign contributors?
Nijmeh, on the other hand, has self-financed the bulk of her campaign. While Nijmeh has rejected corporate PAC money, a huge portion of Lofgren’s campaign money comes from corporate PACs.
Lofgren has been actively trading on confidential information that she obtains in Congress. Nijmeh has promised not own, buy, or hold public stocks while she is serving in Congress.
Nijmeh has promised to donate her salary to support those most in need. Lofgren has not.
Even the casual observer would agree that Zoe Lofgren is a puppet of Big Tech. She has represented Silicon Valley tech titans in Congress for 30 years. She does their bidding in Congress, at the expense of everything else – like consumer protections against monopolies, and protecting children from online exploitation.
Perhaps coincidentally, Zoe’s daughter keeps getting lucrative gigs as General Counsel at Google, and Cisco before that (who also happen to be Zoe’s two top campaign contributors).
In contrast, Nijmeh has taken the “No Big Tech Money Pledge”. That’s a commitment to decline all contributions from Big Tech executives and lobbyists, in addition to their corporate PACs. She has pledged to hold Big Tech accountable for the role that their technologies play in enabling the global sex trafficking crisis, while Zoe Lofgren has refused to vote for laws that would protect children, like the Protecting Children from Internet Pornographers Act of 2011 – which even Nancy Pelosi supported.
But perhaps most egregious of all of Lofgren’s failures is the fact that she has represented one of the most homeless Cities in America for 30 years, and still today she lacks a coherent federal strategy on the national housing shortage. That’s disgraceful. She has spent decades playing politics on the national stage – while those of us struggling to pay the rent be damned.
On the other hand, Tribal Chairwoman Charlene Nijmeh understands gentrification. It poses an existential threat to her Tribe, which is struggling to stay on its 10,000 year aboriginal homeland. Similarly, the historic Mexican American community here in San Jose, which predates the United States, is struggling against these forces of gentrification – which threaten to push us out of the City and out of the Bay Area altogether.
While Lofgren has no housing strategy, Nijmeh has a very comprehensive one. First, she will reward municipalities that accommodate additional new housing supply with new federal block grants to fund infrastructure and affordable housing developments. Second, she will create a tax incentive that will help finance the construction of millions of new homes across the United States, so that the market can build new housing supply quickly. Third, she will accelerate funding for supportive housing programs, managed by non-profits, to address the chronically unhoused and the mentally ill. Fourth, she will transfer tens of thousands of empty federal buildings and properties to local, state, and tribal governments that can repurpose them for housing.
Charlene’s dedication to protecting tribal sovereignty and promoting justice for Indigenous communities is commendable. Her advocacy for environmental stewardship and sustainable practices aligns with the urgent need to protect our environment for future generations.
Charlene’s vision for a more inclusive and equitable society is inspiring. Her support for universal healthcare, quality education, and justice initiatives demonstrates her commitment to fighting for the well-being of all people, regardless of their background or circumstance.
Ultimately, voters will have to decide between the profoundly failed track record of Rep. Lofgren and the fresh perspectives of Tribal Chairwoman Nijmeh. The outcome of this race will have a significant impact on the future of California’s 18th congressional district.
I am proud to endorse Charlene Nijmeh for Congress in California’s 18th district. She is the best candidate to represent the voices and needs of our community in Washington.
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