A candidate vying for Adam Schiff’s House seat thinks the California Democrat is spending way too much time and money hunting President Donald Trump, and not enough dealing with California’s homelessness crisis.
Jennifer Barbosa is planning to run as an independent in 2020 for the state’s 28th congressional district — because according to Barbosa, Los Angeles County is falling apart on the do-nothing incumbent’s watch.
“Since [Schiff] became my congressman, he has not presented any legislation that’s become law,” Barbosa told Fox News on Monday.
Schiff faces a challenger
Barbosa is running on a platform that seeks to address California’s homelessness and drug addiction crises. In September, the candidate tweeted a video highlighting squalor in Los Angeles that attacked Schiff for his inaction, writing that Schiff “has done nothing to solve, let alone slightly fix, the problems.”
Homelessness and Toxic Waste are rampant problems in the Los Angeles area.
Congressman @AdamSchiff has done nothing to solve, let alone slightly fix, the problems.
This is one of the reasons I am running for Congress in #CA28.
For more info, visit https://t.co/XkHDxLgiVv pic.twitter.com/vbIHPoeMw4— Barbosa for Congress (@TeamJenBarbosa) September 25, 2019
Barbosa told Fox on Monday that Schiff is wasting time and resources attacking President Trump while ignoring constituents in his district. The challenger claimed that Schiff has not passed any legislation since 2012, when he took over her district through redistricting, and has in the meantime merely “rubber-stamped” Maxine Waters’ (D-CA) ineffective solutions to Los Angeles’ worsening homelessness crisis.
“We know they’re not working,” Barbosa said of Schiff’s policies. “So what we need to do in terms of homelessness…is we need to stop allocating federal funds for affordable housing, which costs [$500,000]–700,000 per unit and really focus on mental health services for the people who are living on the street.”
An uphill battle
Homelessness has increased 12% in the last year in Schiff’s district, Fox News notes. There are now an estimated 59,000 people who are homeless in Los Angeles.
“Seeing the impeachment inquiry, when he’s wasting all these resources — we know that Ken Starr’s impeachment cost about $70 million,” Barbosa said Monday. “That’s $70 million that really could be spent on much better things in our district.”
A glance at Barbosa’s rather minimalistic website shows some conservative leanings. The candidate wants to end “costly, unnecessary foreign interventions,” preserve Constitutional freedoms, and enhance border security, which she has said is necessary to keep out drugs and protect American jobs.
Of course, Barbosa is sure to face an uphill battle in Schiff’s strongly Democratic district, which includes parts of Hollywood. But the candidate has acknowledged that reality, saying she is running as an independent because of stigma against Republicans in the area.
For his part, Schiff won re-election in 2018 with more than 70% of the vote, according to the Los Angeles Daily News. But will he be able to hold off this latest challenger? Only time will tell.
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