California — 51st District

Sara Jacobs

Supports union labor, middle-class tax relief

Jacobs focuses on addressing economic inequality by rolling back middle-class tax burdens from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and raising wages through union protections. She advocates for a $15 national minimum wage, expanded Social Security benefits, universal child care cost caps, and Federal Reserve capital mechanisms for small businesses.

• Roll back middle-class provisions of the Republican tax bill and create a tax system that values labor over passive income.
• Support a national $15 minimum wage, Davis-Bacon protections, and Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) on federally funded projects.
• Cap family child care expenses within 10% of annual earned income and establish paid family leave.
• Protect and expand Social Security benefits for retirees.

“First, we need to roll back the harmful provisions in the Republican tax bill that are raising costs for middle-class families in California.”

Ricardo Cabrera

Supports lowering taxes, reducing economic burdens

Cabrera centers his platform on affordability, arguing that excessive taxes and government spending are pushing families out of California. He advocates for fiscal discipline, reducing waste, and targeted economic policies that lower everyday costs for groceries, rent, and fuel.

• Lower the cost of groceries, fuel, utilities, rent, and everyday essentials for working families.
• Enforce fiscal responsibility and eliminate government waste and bureaucracy.
• Implement policies to prevent families from being priced, taxed, or pushed out of California.

“Too many families are being priced out, taxed out, and pushed out of California.”

“Working families should not feel like they are being pushed backward every month just to cover basic needs.”

Sara Jacobs

Supports campaign finance reform, transparency

Jacobs supports structural campaign finance reforms, including a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United and mandatory public disclosure of political advertising and spending. She accepts no corporate PAC or lobbyist money, supports banning congressional members from becoming lobbyists, and publishes her official daily schedule.

• Sponsor a Constitutional Amendment to overturn Citizens United and require public disclosure of political spending.
• Prohibit federal registered lobbyists from contributing to or bundling for campaigns, and ban former members of Congress from lobbying.
• Prohibit members of Congress from receiving contributions from industries regulated by their committee assignments.

“Our government should represent all of us – not just wealthy special interests.”

“which is why I support a Constitutional Amendment to overturn Citizens United.”

Ricardo Cabrera

Supports congressional term limits, ethics reform

Cabrera makes congressional term limits his top campaign commitment, contending that career politicians lose touch with voters and foster institutional corruption. He advocates for citizen legislators, enhanced ethics enforcement, and anti-corruption oversight across federal agencies.

• Enact mandatory congressional term limits to replace career politicians with citizen legislators.
• Strengthen ethics standards, transparency, and oversight to expose conflicts of interest in Washington.
• Enforce accountability measures for elected officials misusing public trust.

“I support congressional term limits to restore accountability and make sure elected officials stay connected to the people they serve.”

“Public office should be a duty, not a permanent position protected by political power and incumbency.”

Sara Jacobs

Supports Green New Deal, 100% clean energy

Jacobs supports a Green New Deal framework aimed at achieving a 100% clean energy economy by 2030. She pledges to enforce environmental regulations, ban offshore drilling, hold corporate polluters accountable, and re-enter international climate agreements.

• Transition to a 100% clean energy economy by 2030 with high-paying union jobs.
• Re-enter the Paris Climate Agreement and enforce the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act.
• Ban offshore oil drilling and refuse campaign contributions from oil, gas, and coal PACs or executives.

“We need to transition to an entirely clean energy economy by 2030, starting with the most polluting sources of energy first.”

Ricardo Cabrera

Supports expanding domestic energy production

Cabrera prioritizes American energy independence by expanding domestic oil, gas, and energy production. He contends that expanding domestic energy supplies lowers household fuel and utility costs while enhancing national security.

• Expand domestic energy production to lower electricity, gas, and manufacturing costs.
• Reduce American reliance on foreign energy supplies from unstable nations.
• Strengthen grid reliability and national energy infrastructure.

“I support policies that expand domestic energy production, improve reliability, and reduce our dependence on countries that do not share our interests or values.”

Sara Jacobs

Supports expanding veteran care, spouse employment

Representing a major military district, Jacobs focuses on expanding VA resources, modernizing veteran healthcare, and supporting military family mobility. She advocates for inter-state spouse credentialing, military childcare, ending military sexual assault by moving prosecutions outside the chain of command, and allowing deported veterans to return to the U.S.

• Modernize the VA, eliminate healthcare wait times, and oppose efforts to privatize veteran medical care.
• Facilitate military spouse professional licensing portability across state lines and expand base childcare options.
• Move prosecution of military sexual assault outside the military chain of command.
• Bring deported U.S. military veterans back to the United States.

“Across the board, we need to do more to support our military families – from continuing what the Obama Administration’s Joining Forces initiative started by making it easier for military spouses to retain their employment credentialing across state lines as they move.”

Ricardo Cabrera

Supports expanded healthcare, benefits for veterans

Cabrera stresses fulfilling national obligations to veterans through streamlined VA benefits, healthcare access, and career transition programs. He supports assistance for military households navigating frequent relocations and financial pressures.

• Improve veteran access to quality healthcare services and accelerate benefit processing.
• Expand job opportunity and civilian career transition programs for military veterans.
• Provide direct support to military families facing financial strain and frequent relocations.

“Supporting those who serve is a national responsibility that must be taken seriously.”

Sara Jacobs

Supports federal credit access, labor protections

Jacobs favors expanding capital availability for small enterprises through Federal Reserve incentives while requiring strong wage and labor protections. She supports pairing economic development with union organizing rights and prevailing wage guarantees.

• Incentivize the Federal Reserve to make greater capital available to small- and medium-sized enterprises.
• Protect worker organizing rights and enforce Davis-Bacon prevailing wage rules.
• Pass the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights and enforce salary transparency laws.

“We need to make sure financial institutions are, at their core, serving their central purpose: investing in new businesses.”

Ricardo Cabrera

Supports reducing regulations on small businesses

Cabrera views small businesses as the primary engine of local employment and advocates cutting government regulations and fees. He seeks to remove barriers for young entrepreneurs and foster an independent business climate.

• Reduce red tape, regulatory burdens, and startup barriers for local small business owners.
• Encourage private investment and protect entrepreneurial independence.
• Foster opportunities specifically tailored for young entrepreneurs.

“Small businesses are the backbone of our communities. They create jobs, support families, and keep local economies alive.”

Sara Jacobs

Supports cannabis decriminalization, ending money bail

Jacobs supports federal decriminalization of cannabis, pardoning nonviolent marijuana offenses, and eliminating cash bail and private prisons. She advocates for mandatory body cameras, bans on racial profiling, mandatory minimum sentence reform, and restoring voting rights to formerly incarcerated individuals.

• Decriminalize cannabis federally and pardon nonviolent marijuana-related offenses.
• Eliminate private prisons and federal incentives for money bail systems.
• Ban racial profiling, require law enforcement body cameras, and restore voting rights to formerly incarcerated citizens.

“It’s time for the federal government to de-criminalize cannabis.”

Ricardo Cabrera

Supports public safety, common-sense enforcement

Cabrera highlights public safety as a core priority of common-sense government, arguing that effective leadership must protect law-abiding citizens and support public safety infrastructure without expanding unnecessary bureaucracy.

• Prioritize public safety and law enforcement results over state bureaucracy.
• Ensure government remains focused on community safety and criminal accountability.

“I believe in fiscal responsibility, public safety, and a government that focuses on results instead of bureaucracy.”

Sara Jacobs

Supports Medicare for All, drug price caps

Jacobs views healthcare as a fundamental human right and supports Medicare for All to achieve universal coverage. She advocates for capping out-of-pocket prescription costs, enforcing mental health parity, and expanding post-pregnancy Medicaid coverage to reduce maternal mortality.

• Support Medicare for All to guarantee universal health coverage.
• Cap out-of-pocket prescription drug co-pays and hold pharmaceutical companies accountable for price increases.
• Enforce mental health parity laws and expand post-pregnancy Medicaid coverage to one year.

“Health care is a fundamental human right and we need to do everything we can to get to universal coverage.”

Sara Jacobs

Supports federal abortion rights, repealing Hyde

Jacobs supports codifying Roe v. Wade into federal law to protect abortion access nationwide and repealing the Hyde Amendment to ensure low-income individuals have access to reproductive healthcare. She authored the MyBodyMyData Act to protect personal reproductive health data privacy.

• Codify Roe v. Wade into federal law to secure nationwide reproductive freedom.
• Repeal the Hyde Amendment to allow federal healthcare funds for reproductive services.
• Pass the MyBodyMyData Act to protect digital reproductive privacy.

“The majority of Americans support the right to abortion.”

Sara Jacobs

Supports assault weapon ban, universal checks

Jacobs supports comprehensive federal gun control legislation, including an assault weapons ban, universal criminal background checks, background checks for ammunition purchases, and red flag laws. She advocates for CDC/NIH gun violence research funding and closing the boyfriend loophole in domestic violence cases.

• Enact federal assault weapons bans and universal background checks for all gun and ammunition sales.
• Implement federal red flag laws and reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).
• Require temporary restraining order subjects to forfeit firearms and close the boyfriend loophole.

“We finally have a chance to pass common-sense gun violence prevention legislation.”

Sara Jacobs

Supports path to citizenship, DREAM Act

Jacobs supports a clean DREAM Act, a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, and raising annual refugee admissions to 95,000. She opposes physical border walls and family separations, calling instead for smart border technology, civil rights oversight of CBP, and an end to for-profit immigrant detention facilities.

• Pass a clean DREAM Act and establish a pathway to citizenship for undocumented residents.
• Increase annual refugee admissions to 95,000 and protect Temporary Protected Status (TPS) recipients.
• End for-profit immigrant detention, family separation, and the Remain in Mexico policy.

“Congress needs to immediately pass a clean DREAM Act.”

Sara Jacobs

Supports HUD expansion, rental tax credits

Jacobs advocates for increasing federal HUD funding to address San Diego's homelessness crisis and modernizing funding distribution formulas. She supports co-sponsoring the American Housing and Economic Mobility Act, the Rent Relief Act, universal housing vouchers, and zoning reform grants.

• Co-sponsor the American Housing and Economic Mobility Act and the Rent Relief Act for cost-burdened renters.
• Modernize HUD funding formulas to bring increased federal homelessness grants to San Diego.
• Establish universal housing vouchers and down payment assistance for buyers in historically red-lined areas.

“San Diego County has the fourth highest homeless population in the nation but often is around 20th in funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) – even with recent increases.”

Sara Jacobs

Supports debt-free college, universal pre-K

Jacobs advocates for debt-free public higher education, expansion of Pell Grants indexed to inflation, and universal pre-K for three- and four-year-olds. She supports student loan refinancing, expanding Public Service Loan Forgiveness, and fully funding IDEA special education block grants.

• Provide debt-free public college options and expand Pell Grant funding indexed to inflation.
• Enact universal pre-K for 3- and 4-year-olds and increase federal Head Start funding.
• Expand Public Service Loan Forgiveness and allow student debt discharge in bankruptcy.

“I believe that all students should have the option to attend college debt-free.”

Sara Jacobs

Supports Equality Act, trans protections

Jacobs supports passing the federal Equality Act to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in employment, housing, and public accommodations. She advocates for banning conversion therapy, protecting trans access to gender-affirming care, and lifting restrictions on transgender military service.

• Pass the Equality Act and the Do No Harm Act to protect LGBTQ+ individuals from discrimination.
• Ban conversion therapy nationwide and secure access to gender-affirming healthcare.
• Enact the Safe Schools Improvement Act to prohibit anti-LGBTQ+ bullying.

“In Congress, I will fight for all of our siblings, including my actual siblings, to have equal protection under the law.”