S3E6 Part 2 Straight From School to Somewhere New - Rachel Shares Her Teacher Stories

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While Democrats and challengers like myself across the country are rejecting APAC funding, Jimmy Gomez is fully in bracing their support. We've been on to something about the potential this seat has to unseat one of APAC's top five recipients of campaign contributions. Angela Gonzalez-Torris is a community organizer, a skater, a lifelong Angelino, and now she is running for Congress in CA34. She's endorsed by the Working Families Party and Justice Democrats, and in this interview, we talk all about her grassroots campaign, as well as her opponent, representative, Jimmy Gomez, who is a wash in corporate cash, APAC money, and now scandals. Angela, thank you for being here in the situation room. You're running for Congress here in California in CA34. Yup, a seat that has been held by a corporate Democrat, Jimmy Gomez, for how long now? Nearly a decade. And we've nearly unseated him every election cycle. Yes, so yeah, and we're neighbors, and he's in the mix somewhere, but yeah, I'm proud to. You and me, or you and him? Oh, you and me. Oh, yeah, yeah, we're all neighbors. We're just gonna, I mean, it's a big district. Don't dox me, but we can dox Jimmy Gomez. His address is actually on (beep) What is your most controversial food tech? Oh, this is so good, actually, because we just came from just what I needed, which is a vegan restaurant down the street. I think that's the most controversial thing. So you were raised vegetarian vegan. Yeah, and you've continued that. Is that for your parents, where they activist, where they animal rights people? My older sister was. It was my space days. I remember the day, like it was yesterday. She saw the PETA2 campaign commercial. That was like me or me, and it traumatized her. And that's me, 'cause I was in the room. And I just felt like it was a huge cultural shift, right? 'Cause we grew up in a very big Mexican family. My dad's one of 14, my mom's one of 11. Like I'm related to everybody in LA. And we just like eat food all the time. And so they disown you. And me for yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, first of all, I'm excited for the vegan caucus in Congress when you're there. I mean, I'm serious. I think a lot of people, I think a lot of vegans, especially in animal rights folks, feel like that issue has been fallen by the wayside. It is so tied up with climate change. It's so tied up with factory farming and corruption and money in our agricultural industry. Do you don't take corporate pack money at all? Yeah. Why was that a decision that you made in this campaign? And what does that mean to you? I mean, the thing that really means the most to me is that you just are not collaborating and supporting people that are profiting off of our pain and our problems. I think corporate packs have contributed to so many issues that I care a lot about as an advocate for justice, as a lifelong angelino, as the daughter of a deportee is so many different things. But just as a human being, it just doesn't make sense to me that we would allow our politicians to be bought by those perpetuating our problems and largely putting profits before people in our planet. And so, yeah, being impeccable with our word now, while we're campaigning means that we get to be serving constituents and not these corporate donors. Okay, but what do you say to the argument that you have to fight fire with fire? And they're using it, so we gotta use it. They're using crypto money. We should use crypto money. - Yeah. We just won our primary election here in the jungle primary in Los Angeles June 2nd, without taking a dime of corporate pack money, and we also just delivered the district the best results we have seen in nearly a decade, just being able to mobilize so many volunteers. And I think that you don't have to, I think it's lazy, honestly, to take that corporate pack money. - I think someone did the breakdown actually, small donors for Jimmy's less than 1%, it's like $11,000, something. - Oh, yeah, wild like that, yeah, to say our average donation is about $30 is wild. That means people from every corner of the districts tripping in and we're stretching those dollars. - Would you support the block, the bombs bill that is co-sponsored by people like Delia Ramirez and AOC and all this? - Yeah, I think, right, this week, we just learned the estimated cost for the Iran War, so $37 billion, right? And I think that when we saw how our Congress member voted in line with Netanyahu and Trump who forced us into the sea legal war with Iran, none of us were surprised that he decided to do that. They, while Democrats and challengers like myself across the country are rejecting APAC funding, Jimmy Gomez has fully embraced their support, right? And embracing their influence over his votes. And that's because did you see they took down anybody who had voted in support of a massive amendment off their website immediately. And I'm speaking about APAC and the pro-Israel lobby has supported him this time in this election, but he, they quite literally cannot afford to bring attention to representative Gomez as he's currently under investigation by the House Ethics Committee. You know, that's actually so serious. - That's right, because he was, this is for sexual misconduct, I forgot about this. - Like, I know, how am I forgetting about this? - How have we forgotten about this? Is because everything else is just bad enough. But when we think about what that signals for us is just a pattern of bad judgment. And those allegations are from 2013 of him, you know, allegedly kissing a much younger staffer. I was graduating high school that year. You know, my family was being torn apart by the deportation of my father. My mom became a single mom of four girls overnight. I think a pattern of his complicity in prioritizing other things, others in the district. - His, himself. - His, himself. - I mean, right? It's just kind of like me, my money, my mistress. And that's good enough, yeah. And also he was, I mean, he's trying to work back from, you know, he was co-chair of Eric Swalwell's campaign. - Yes. - Oh, shit, I forgot what happened. - Yeah, that's right. - Yeah. - Also a predator. - And it's, and that's so serious, he had to drop out of the California governor's race and resign from Congress. And it's a bipartisan issue, right? That same day, Republican Texas Tony Gonzalez surrendered his seat because he admitted to a fair as, unaffair as well with a much younger staffer who later died by suicide. - That's right. - Where do you stand on not electing any more men to Congress? - Yeah, 100%. - Yeah? - Okay, I love this. - No, we definitely do need more women in office though. Like, that's clear. I think even with the main Senate race where we saw those allegations, unfortunately, come up. Those are hard conversations to have right now. But I do think it's necessary. And that's the difference about us, right? In terms of even, I'll speak of my local community with the allegations surrounding Cesar Chavez. That was a huge, like, blow. But we had that conversation and when it's a moment where we have to bring men to account, right, over these behaviors that are just unacceptable in our communities. But certainly in our politics, I think we're ready to rise to that moment. And so right now, voters are asking or are demanding that their representatives not be bought by the pro-Israeli lobby. And I think that's, again, bare minimum. And it's Los Angeles. Like, what are we doing? Yeah. I mean, it's a very progressive district. Yeah. That's the other thing about having someone so melee-mouthed as Jimmy Gomez, so captured by the corporate class as Jimmy Gomez. But also, my question is, did he vote for the NDA? Do we know that he voted for the-- He did not. He did not. Okay. So he's got limits. He's got limits. Yeah. This is how Mary, our defense budget, and Israel's defense budget. Yeah. Yeah. Which is why we have been calling for APAC to stop funding Democrats because we wanted to be able to prevent something like this from even being proposed. But I think that's the difference, too, is about what was that October 7, 2023? Mm-hmm. Many of us were ready to call what is happening on US tax-payer dollars, a genocide in Gaza, and a lot of people weren't ready. You know, and I think now we're seeing, well, they'll have access to our surveillance and weapons industries, and voters are asking that we be less involved with the Israeli government, and this would push us in the direction to be directly involved. It's true, no Republicans. No Republicans. Okay. Like, I think on Massey's bill, no Republican joined. No, just him. Yeah. Just him. Yeah. There couldn't be an easier lane for the Democratic Party to take up, to guarantee them an edge, just politically. Even if you don't even like-- You're like, I don't believe in liberation for Palestinians. No, that's not their land. Even just politically. It's like, yeah, but don't you see what-- Hey, it happens to me morally, right? I know. What do you think? Because I feel like some-- they would even consider themselves centrist Democrats. Are comfortable with calling for sanctions on the Israeli government for settler activity in the West Bank? But then they are not comfortable with calling it a genocide or, you know, or they voted for this amendment that would mesh our militaries and the NDA. What do you think? Where is their room? Because I'm so in this campaign that to be honest with you, voters are overwhelmed. And I think that's part of the plan, right? And so sometimes I say, um, and to answer your former question, yeah, I would sign on to block the bombs day one. That's bare minimum, right? And to abolish Super PACs day one. But some voters are feeling still there's too much of a disconnect between what's happening over there and here. And even something like $37.5 billion for the Adon Warren, just a matter of months, I don't think many working class voters have been able to fully comprehend what that means. And I just, my thing is we've been canvassing parts of the district that still don't know what APAC is, right? We're bound to capitalism in a way where they can't forward to pay attention. But I think this doesn't need to get any worse for us to be able to say, we don't have to live in this world in like this. You know, I even think what the heat wave right now, like there's so many ways things are really heating up. And so, I mean, I think one of the ways is that unlike other districts, this is a car district. And so the Iran war impacting the price of gas uniquely in California, uniquely in Los Angeles. I mean, we're looking, we're gonna blow past $6. People are estimating if this continues to get to $7, you know, a gallon. I don't think like the rest of the country understands like how unlivable $7 a gallon is for this city, which is, hey, a great opportunity to talk about public transportation, green new deal investments, but also holy shit. You can't, you just can't afford that as a person who's making minimum wage. You said, do nothing, Democrats are being ousted by progressives, leftist challengers, people from the communities that they are, you know, representing. I think that's very true. And Democrats are shook. They are shook. The obviously Republicans are terrified. They are terrified of people exor on Mamdani, because they hear his campaign and messaging, cutting through all the noise that they like to push out. But the real surprises, the Democrats, or the not surprised, the Democrats are fighting this change. Yeah. How do you see this moment in terms of where you fit in to a seat that is sort of, you know, Jimmy, he's been doing whatever. Yeah. Let him alone. Right. So he takes a bunch of A pack of money. Good enough. He's also backed by a $125 million pledge from big AI, right? As all of us are on the front lines of resisting data centers from being built in our backyards. Yeah. That's actually wild being one of five House Democrats, along with every Republican. But and it's not just the money. It's how he votes in line with just recently Netanyahu and Trump to further these endless wars that voters don't want. Angelinos largely have been calling for a ceasefire, have been calling for equitable, equitable investment in our communities here, right? In LA. But but I do to your point, he has done a good job at hiding from our community. People only really know what he has shown us, which is not an in-person town hall, no debate, which we're currently calling on him to, you know, answer for some things like his absence in regard to the East LA lineage warehouse fire. That's, I don't know if you can smell it, but I can smell it now that rotting food in that warehouse 10 miles from the site. So what happened was this warehouse caught fire and it's so close. It's so close to residential houses. So so that it was just listening to the testimonies. It's it's really about the lack of response and like streamlined communication from every level of our governments right now. And we're dealing with the jurisdiction line. So there's unincorporated parts at East LA that were heavily impacted that could have used a response from our congress member and he waited six days to say anything and we were evacuating people day one, right? Like it's a really awful situation. I think that we'll get to look at for a long time because it's happening. It just happened also in Oregon with the same company a couple of years ago. And so they might be bankrolling him. I mean, we don't know that, you know, they are bankrolling some politicians. Yeah. Right. Specifically to avoid this kind of oversight and regulation. You're from Los Angeles. You are a community organizer. Have you always been an activist? And what do you currently do now? Yeah. I do think I would be considered a lifelong activist though. It wasn't political growing up. We just knew it was the right thing to do. So I was born in a family in East LA that was really connected with the Chicano movement and the moratorium, which actually this year it's the 50th anniversary. Yeah. Can you explain what the moratorium is for people who don't know? And that movement was born out of protesting the Vietnam War, the unfair draft of black and brown individuals to fight this war that in Vietnam, they called it the DC War because they knew largely Americans didn't want that. And our tax dollars to be going toward endless wars. And so we knew that it was a Chicano struggle, a Latino struggle, and that we were going to have to fight for the rest of our lives to just make sure that we were making our voices heard. And like, I think the cool thing about that was we really took on academic spaces. And while we weren't being taught our history, there were classrooms happening outside of the classroom. It was really cool to hear all those stories throwing up. And so that's why I graduated in Chicano Studies and Anthropology because that movement continues, we were protesting the Iraq and Afghanistan invasions as a kid. And then now I think hearing about the Palestinian Liberation Movement, it's just all connected and part of that same history of US imperialism and just endless wars and just greed. It's so important that you're saying all this also because we are told by the media that, you know, black and brown voters don't care about foreign policy, that it's only about the economy. And that these foreign policy issues are so abstract and all this. And you're saying that's actually not true. And so I think we do need more activists in office. We do need more bartenders, people who know what it feels like to live off of tips. you know, and to have to cross a border like that the Juana or US Mexico border to go to the Juana for dental care or like health care or to see family members that are deported better. And I think before we were not really invited into the political spaces. So we do have a recent history of of even other Latino leaders closing the door behind them in terms of city hall. And then I think that's why I'm challenging this incumbent for his seat because we need to have more conversations about that because it all comes back to the investment in our communities that involves the economy, involves the way that the cost of living is just getting in the way of us being able to live our lives. I think more and more people are recognizing it and it's truly generational. Like I have elders come up to me all the time that they're really excited that we're inviting them to get more informed and therefore more involved. You know, it's great. And then the younger generation are just leading the way. It's really incredible to see. This is also a community that's been squarely targeted by ICE. And I know that you yourself have been affected personally in your life by immigration, by deportation. Can you just tell me that story? And how you feel that gives you kind of a different look at what we're currently experiencing as Los Angeles as a country right now? Yeah, I think even having lived through my own father's deportation over a decade ago, I still would have never imagined we would be seeing what we're seeing today. I mean, truly, I was just at in front of the detention center downtown, mourning the recent loss of individuals in Texas and across the country at the hands of these federal agents. And I think just having a moment to mourn that really set in the the extension of this family separation system that impacted my own family. But now we are seeing the this perpetuation of of Trump's anti-immigrant agenda really solely to enrich himself and his family, honestly. And it's really, I think, highlights the tendency of this country to treat humans as if we are the issue. You know, like, I don't believe in my research and my experience that we have a migrant crisis or a homelessness crisis. We have a crisis of greed. And that in which treats human beings like we're disposable. And so that was really, you know, a moment that we got to have in downtown where people are still being held in inhumane conditions. And and just got to feel that the weight of it, I think communities across this district, California's 34th is one of the largest immigrant communities in the country. I think that's why we have largely been overlooked. And and I think corporate Democrat knows how to weaponize our immigrant stories just in time for reelection. But I feel like even leaders within that movement are seeing the difference between someone who's like myself. I trained with Chirla and Garrison that are leading this humanitarian fight really. And I have a record that says I'm not going to wait until when in office to talk about what I will do. I'm I can talk about what I have done, you know, to expand opportunities for all for undocumented students. Provide free immigration legal services. Yeah. Student staff and faculty on college campuses. That's my world, you know, in the academics and and job or workforce space. And it really is just unfair how we treat undocumented people and immigrants for sure. I mean, I think that's so crucial. I see Congress now and I know you're seeing it as well. And even the sort of well-meaning ones who believe in abolishing ICE, even if they say that, are so hamstrung. They are stuck. They don't have a lot of jurisdiction over these federal detention facilities that are being rolled out in our states and whatever happen to states, right? You know, all they can do is visit and sort of bear witness. There was, you know, an attempt to of course, and a successful attempt to uphold funding for DHS that kind of slowed the gears, gummed them up a little bit. But now this summer, 2026, we're back in it. You know, other than legal services, which I think is really, really crucial. What are your thoughts on like how to really approach this from a like structural level? Is it about immigration like actually floating, you know, something positive, immigration real reform or real ideas? Give me your thoughts on like where we need to be headed politically on this issue. Or four wheels, or even no wheels. However, you choose to deliver. You can get a $450 bonus after 45 deliveries on Uber Eats. Sign up and start delivering. Complete within 14 days of sign-up and 111 terms apply to the app for details. How do you want to split it? Actually, dinner's on me. Okay, big money. Well, I got a Venmo balance that I can spend with my Venmo debit master card, so. 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