2018       Primary                 Second 38R – 17D– 15R – 10D

2018       General Election   Elected    52 — 48

 

He is young (he’s 30) with some money and a passion to do good

Josh Harder https://www.harderforcongress.com/ has returned home ––  to California’s Central Valley.  He has a goal.  Get elected to Congress and change the direction of the country  This is a district Hillary Clinton carried in 2016.  Harder is confident that he can defeat the Republican incumbent.  The man who lost in 2016 is also competing in the primary, but Hardercan  expect to be the nominee.  To get ahead of the game, Harder hired his primary opponent’s campaign manager.

The Central Valley really is his home.  Josh Harder notes that his great, great grandfather came to the Central Valley to farm.  Josh Harder, himself, grew up in Turlock and Modesto. He was a member of the Modesto Youth Orchestra and the Turlock Crossroads Church. His mother is a local volunteer. His father is a local opthalmologist

Josh Harder’s parents met volunteering in a poverty eye health clinic in Latin America.  They still volunteer four weeks every year opening and running eye clinics in there. Harder’s interest in public service was learned from his parents.  He also developed an interest in making money. 

Josh Harder has packed a lot into just a few years — moving between highflying capitalism and public service and back again. After graduating from Stanford, he worked as a venture capitalist at Boston Consulting Group.  He left to work in Africa. Working with the Gates Foundation and others, he organized small farmers in Kenya and Uganda.  He returned to the States for a joint MBA and public policy degree at the Harvard Business School and the Kennedy school.  From there he became vice president of San Francisco-based Bessemer Venture Partners  – creating a close link for himself with Silicon Valley.

Like many candidates, Josh Harder outlines his positions.  His approach is more aggressive than most — disparaging the views and actions of his opponent at every step.

Josh Harder https://www.harderforcongress.com/  is committed to Democratic values.  He does not shrink from controversial issues.  Harder is direct, committed to change, and committed to being an obstacle to the Trump administration and to his Congressional supporters.  Harder will probably use some of his own money in this campaign.  He has access to resources from other wealthy donors as well.  He needs the momentum that comes from small donors.  Do not assume that a wave happens on its own.  You create the wave.  Make a donation to help create that wave, make it a monthly donation.  It will make a difference.

 

 

Harder

Harder’s comment about the incumbent

Improving the economy

Harder knows how to make the economy go through his work with entrepreneurs.  For the Central Valley:

      Build on agricultural success by making the Valley the agricultural technology capitol of the world

      Make technical and college training accessible through tuition-free community colleges

      Invest in infrastructure, from water storage to road improvement

Harder says the incumbent has only one bad idea for improving the economy: Give more tax breaks to the wealthy.

Fair and humane immigration reform

Harder says he will join Democrats and Republicans pushing for comprehensive immigration reform and a path to citizenship for law-abiding undocumented immigrants.

Harder says the incumbent pays lip service to immigration reform while supporting the President’s wasteful wall and cruel deportation of law-abiding and productive immigrants.

Quality public Schools

Harder praises the local public schools, says every child should have access to a world class education.  He would modernize schools with technology, increase teachers’ pay, and invest in universities.

Harder says that public schools are threatened by Secretary DeVos’ plans to privatize education and to benefit for-profit charter schools.

Care for the environment and water for the Central Valley

Harder favors clean air and water standards and alternatives to fossil fuels to slow climate change.   He would minimize the impact of future droughts in the Central Valley by building water storage, offering tax incentives for farms and businesses to use water efficiently, and invest in new technologies to recycle and reuse water.

Harder dismisses the incumbent for being allied with Trump’s indifference to climate change and for his haggling over California’s water crisis rather than solving it.

A healthy America

Harder would expand Medicare, fix the Affordable Care Act, and negotiate lower costs for medication.  He supports reproductive health, a woman’s right to choose, paid family leave, and early childhood education.

Harder wants every constituent in CA 10 to know that the incumbent voted to take away health coverage from 23 million Americans and eliminate protections for people with pre-existing conditions, a proposal that would have adversely affected 100,000 people in the Central Valley.

A secure America

Harder would:

      Oppose the wasteful and ineffective wall

      Strengthen gun background checks and close loopholes

      Prioritize prevention of drug use rather than incarceration.

Harder describes the incumbent as complicit in:

      Trump’s immigration policies.

      Trump’s empowering America’s domestic and foreign enemies

      Trump’s alienation of America’s allies.

      Trump’s cozying to dictators, except for North Korea

      Trump’s recklessness toying with the possibility of nuclear war