Political Note #112 TJ Cox CA CD 21

 2018 General Election Elected 50 – 50 (962 votes)

 A Do Gooder who does good.

TJ Cox has had political aspirations.  He ran for Congress and lost in 2006.  For 2018, he initially planned on running in CA 10 — another Central Valley district.  He switched to CA 21 when the 2016 Democratic candidate withdrew from the 2018 race.  The 2016 candidate had raised little money and was discouraged from running by national Democrats.  TJ Cox is now the only Democrat running in CA 21, running for a seat which the Daily Kos identified as the 13th most likely Republican seat to flip.  Democrats need to flip 23 or 24 seats to gain control of the House of Representatives. Failure to win this seat would be problematic. 

……Cox’s Focus…Water:  TJ Cox reminds us that he has built dams and water conveyance and storage systems.  He says he knows what it takes to deliver more water to the Valley quickly. TJ Coxpromises to combine his knowledge, his experience, and his can-do attitude to bring water to the farms of California’s Central Valley.

……Immigrants: ICE promises to increase California enforcement by 400%. Current ICE raids are a serious problem for local families and the businesses they work for.  TJ Cox promises a positive solution for immigrants whose work in California’s Central Valley’s farms and businesses are as important for the Central Valley’s  prosperity as water.

……Healthcare:  TJ Cox promises to protect healthcare for people of the Central Valley. He complains that the incumbent voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act. TJ Cox says the Republican plan would have eliminated healthcare for 100,000 local residents.

……Get elected: Cox deplores the current system in Washington; argues that changes in the system require changing the people in the system. Hillary Clinton carried the district 55% to 40%. Nevertheless, not everyone believes electing a Democrat here will be easy.  Inside Elections describes CA 21 as Likely Republican.

This is a district that should be represented by a Democrat.  Its low income population needs public services. Twenty seven percent of its residents live in poverty.  Almost 70,000 people in the district have no health insurance.  Almost half the people in the district receive medical care through public programs.

This is a district that should be represented by a Democrat.  It needs the support of someone sympathetic to immigrants.  Almost 25% of the people living in the district were born in another country. Its farms depend on undocumented workers.

This is a district that should be represented by a Democrat.  TJ Cox https://tjcoxforcongress.com/is running against an incumbent who is good at raising money.  The incumbent already has more than a million dollars on hand for this race.  Cox has less than $300,000.  He needs resources.  Help him.

……A list that might be used to prepare a TJ Cox lhttps://tjcoxforcongress.com/ resume. Before and after a career in international project management and construction

  • Before:
  • Born in Walnut Creek, CA
  • Dad (who died when TJ was in High School) was an immigrant from China and a professor of chemical engineering
  • Mom was one of the first equal opportunity officers for the state of Nevada
  • College jobs included mining pipe fitter and starting a business installing home energy savings devices
  • BS in Chemical Engineering, Mackey School of Mines, University of Nevada
  • MBA Southern Methodist University
  • Married to Kathleen Murphy, MD
  • After:
  • A volunteer for Habitat for Humanity
  • Founded Central Valley NMTC Fund (CVNF). That is a certified community development entity which uses a federal New Markets Tax Credit program to encourage economic development in disadvantaged communities and neighborhoods.
  • Agency raised more than $65 million and invested it in the Central Valley in projects that have created over 1,500 jobs.  TJ Cox touts the healthcare, job-training, community and recreational facilities and affordable housing that have been brought to the Central Valley.
  • Agency Projects include Rescue the Children – a campus for at-risk women and children, West Hills Community College’s Farm of the Future – a place to train students for careers in agriculture, and the North Fork Bioenergy Plant – an industrial effort to turn dead trees from the Sierras into clean-energy.
  • Co-founded an almond processing business and completed construction of an organic nut pasteurizing plant that processes 100 million pounds of nuts a year.

Congressional Special Elections Coming Up Plus An Important State Legislative Special Election (Donations now would make a difference) ……Arizona 08  Northwest of Phoenix — physician and cancer researcher Heral Tipirneni in a special election on April 24.  She is running to replace a Republican who resigned due to a particularly boorish six scandal, She is facing a candidate who has her own, less spectacular, financial/political scandal. It would be great, but an upset, to have her as the incumbent for November (Likely Republican)……Ohio 12 — On May 8, Democrats will choose a farmer or a county sheriff to attempt to flip this open, formerly Republican Congressional seat.  The election is on August 7.