What inspired you to run for city council?
I wrote a letter to Darrell Issa asking him for a town hall to find what his opinions would be on gun control after what happened at the Parkland shooting. Jackson Hinkle, another young progressive running for city council in San Clemente, and I marched up to his office. We knocked on his door and nobody came. When finally somebody came, they were just a staffer.They disregarded us and they tried to push us to the side and had no comment on our letter. We got over 100 signatures from students all across the 49 in two hours, and we never heard a response from Darrell Issa. So that in action really made me reflect on where I am and the power that I can bring to where I live, so I decided have to step up. I have to make the change that I want to see.That really inspired me to run.
If elected, what do you plan to see through in San Clemente?
The first thing I think is really important is that we have Sunshine laws. These are laws that our state has adopted and it allows our cities to have all information be public within different agencies. San Clemente hasn’t adopted that. For 20 years citizens have been wanting San Clemente to adopt these laws so we know what is happening, so we know what the conversations are, so we know what different legal documents say. It's really important that we know that. We also need to protect our coast. I think it's really important that we move towards 100 percent sustainable energy, because when we see cities in Kentucky and Texas going towards that there's no reason why we here in California where we are going to be affected by climate change aren’t adopting their policies. We also need to focus on homelessness. Homelessness is something that San Clemente can't fix, but we can lead and encourage our sister cities in creating the change that we need to have a positive influence on these homeless people. They don't have a house and if they do it’s temporary. The number one thing that we can do to help is get them housing. My number one priority which really encapsulates everything I believe in is safety. Safety goes beyond the police. Safety is our environment. It's the community that we're having our children grow up and it’s ensuring that every citizen has their voice heard. That really is the value that I want my campaign to carry through.
What motivated you to co-found OC Students For City Council?
All across Orange County we need to inspire young people to vote. Beyond that, if we show that our ideas work, that progressives can win, that young people can Inspire, then we can create change all across the nation and that's what has inspired me to want to found this. As you see with the momentum after the Parkland shooting, students, not the adults, but students are saying we've had enough and it's really changing the whole landscape.
What can students do to become involved with the organization?
If you have the passion, if you have the resources and the time to jump on and run in your city, you can go to our website and there you can get the information that you need. You can sign up to support our campaigns, you can sign up to run for yourself, and that's really the best thing you can do. If you really believe in young progressives, you can go to our website and our social media links on the website, you can support our individual campaigns and you can really step up and be a part of the voices that are coming together to create change.
Any other thoughts on your campaign or the organization as a whole?
I'm really excited for what we're going to do this movement. It's about we the people because that is something that our whole political landscape has kind of lost side of. If you really respect the Constitution, if you really respect the vision of our founding fathers, it's to respect we the people, not we the corporations. The elite should not be running our entire government. It should be we the people because that is what we’re founded on.
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