Brownley, Kennedy race drawn along partisan lines

ELECTION 2020 | 26TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT



Oak Park resident Ronda Baldwin-Kennedy has been here before: running for political office and facing the long odds.

The 47-year-old Republican failed to unseat Jacqui Irwin in a 2018 Assembly race. Today she has her sights set on Julia Brownley, four-term Democratic incumbent, in the 26th Congressional District.

The 26th District covers the bulk of Ventura County and a sliver of Los Angeles County: Westlake Village.

Since defeating Jeff Gorell in 2014 in a close contest (51% to 49%), Brownley has bested her last two opponents (Rafael Dagnesses and Antonio Sabato Jr.) by an average of 22 points.

The 68-year-old, who has spent $607,900 of the $1.65 million she’s raised this campaign as of Sept. 30, said her first priority if reelected to a fifth term is “crushing” the coronavirus and giving the nation a “ national directive.”

“ There’s nothing I want more than for our schools to be open and our businesses to be open . . . and I think we can if the federal government is a good partner, not only for the state, but to the county,” said Brownley, who went from the Santa Monica school board to the Assembly to Congress.

Day one in the House of Representatives for Kennedy, an attorney by trade, would include working with the Federal Housing Administration to bring programs to the district that would help people buy houses, especially residents of poorer neighborhoods.

“Offering homeownership opportunities helps people in ways that giving them Section 8 vouchers doesn’t,” Kennedy said. “You can’t hand a Section 8 voucher down generation to generation.”

Kennedy is in her second run for office. As of Sept. 30, she’d raised around $231,000 and spent close to $70,000

She is an unabashed supporter of President Donald Trump.

Brownley, on the other hand, has been a critic of the president, supporting his impeachment, and blames Trump for the country’s COVID-related woes.

“We are in the predicament we are in right now because of a lack of leadership. I cannot be clearer,” the Thousand Oaks resident said. “We are seven and a half months in, and we don’t control the virus. It controls us.”

Only the president “has levers he can pull that other levels can’t,” she said, referring to the Defense Production Act, which allows the president to require businesses to accept and prioritize certain production contracts.

Asked about the stalemate in Congress over a second coronavirus relief package, Brownley said the House has twice passed a relief bill that was not accepted by the president. Those bills called first for a $3.4-trillion then $2.2-trillion aid package that some Republicans criticized for including non-COVID-related items.

Kennedy said Democrats are holding up much-needed relief to Americans over politics and partisan pet projects.

“Julia Brownley should stand up and tell (Speaker of the House) Nancy Pelosi, ‘My district needs help now,’” Kennedy said.

In her eight years in Congress, Brownley has been the primary sponsor of two bills that were later enacted as legislation—HR 4641 (2018), which authorized a Medal of Honor recipient from the Vietnam War, and HR 6138 (2016), which renamed a post office in Port Hueneme after the Seabees, the Naval Construction Battalion based in Ventura County.

She maintains two lower-profile committee assignments: Veterans’ Affairs, and Transportation and Infrastructure. She also serves on the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, which in June released the House Climate Crisis Action Plan, which, she said lays out a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, create jobs and establish the county’s next steps.

“We completed our work of putting together a comprehensive report of all the things we need to do to tackle climate change,” Brownley said.

In her next term, should she be reelected, the congresswoman hopes to form legislation to make sure the plan’s steps are followed.

Kennedy said the incumbent supports policies that stand to hurt the local economy.

“We need to replace jobs that have left Ventura County,” she said.

SCOTUS

Regarding the potential appointment of Amy Coney Barrett to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court, Brownley has said she supports waiting until after the Nov. 3 election.

“In her last days, (Ginsburg) upheld the hope for our democracy. It was her fervent wish that a replacement judge not be appointed until after the 2020 election so that America’s next judge be represented by the true will of the people,” Brownley said in a statement released in September.

Asked her position on adding justices to the court, Brownley would not say. She did say the court should not be politicized.

“I think all of this sort of needs to be on the table. We have to see what the lay of the land is on Nov. 3,” Brownley said. “I think it depends on if (Barrett) is not confirmed before the election. That landscape could change things, too.”

Kennedy fully supports filling Ginsburg’s seat now.

“It’s in compliance with the Constitution,” she said, adding her approval of Barrett. “I think she’s a phenomenal choice and her answers are stellar. I think regardless of her personal beliefs, she will go on the side of the Constitution, the side of precedence, statutes and the law.”

Kennedy said she would not support an expansion of the Supreme Court.

“Nine justices works just fine,” she said, adding that she does not support term limits for federal judges, another idea being discussed in Washington. “When judges are there, they need to feel safe politically to rule based on the law.”

Debate debate

Unlike those vying for local offices who found themselves participating in multiple of candidate forums, the congressional candidates met head-on only once. Both Brownley and Kennedy fielded questions online Oct. 13 during a League of Women Voters forum.

Though scheduled to take part in an in-person, socially distanced, no-audience debate at senior living community Leisure Village in Camarillo, Brownley bowed out after seeing Kennedy take part in a live in-person interview days before in Thousand Oaks in which social distancing guidelines were not followed.

“I believe responsible leadership means not only adhering to public health guidelines, but to practice what you preach. I do not believe an in-person or hybrid forum is appropriate,” Brownley said in a statement issued by her office. “It’s especially unwise at Leisure Village, a retirement community where the population is particularly vulnerable to COVID-19.”

That, said Kennedy, was simply an excuse to get out of the debate.

“We had the choice to do it by Zoom or in person, and I chose in person . . . but said I’d do it by Zoom, and she still backed out,” Kennedy said.

To watch the forum, go to my.lwv.org/california/ventura county/candidate-forums.

T.O. Acorn editor Kyle Jorrey contributed to this article.