Sixty-three dollars. That is how much more it costs a family in our district to fill a grocery cart today than it did just four years ago. Sixty-three dollars, every single week.
You feel it at the register. You feel it at the gas pump. You feel it when the electric bill shows up and you wonder how the number keeps climbing. Your neighbors feel it too. But the people we keep sending to Washington? They have not felt it in years.
And honestly, that is not a new problem. Politicians from both parties have been letting families in this district down for decades. They fly back to D.C., cut their deals, hold their press conferences, and nothing changes for the people back home. The grocery bill still goes up. The housing market still locks out your kids. The energy bill still makes no sense. And the same communities that built this part of Southern California get told, again and again, to just hang on a little longer.
I am done waiting. And I think you are too.
My name is Jim Desmond. I am a U.S. Navy veteran, I spent 33 years flying for Delta Air Lines, I served as Mayor of San Marcos, and for the last sevem years I have been your San Diego County Supervisor representing most of this district. I am running for Congress in California’s 48th District because the people here deserve a representative who shows up, does the work, and fights like their family’s future depends on it.
Because it does.
YOUR ENERGY BILLS SHOULD NOT BE THE HIGHEST IN THE COUNTRY
Californians pay more for electricity than families in nearly every other state, and it has been that way for far too long. Politicians talk about clean energy, but they never talk about what it actually costs you. I will hold utility companies accountable for the rates they charge. I will make sure Big Tech data centers, which are consuming massive amounts of our power grid, start paying their fair share instead of passing the cost onto families. And I will fight to modernize our energy infrastructure so that reliability improves and prices come down.
YOUR KIDS SHOULD BE ABLE TO BUY A HOME WHERE THEY GREW UP
The young people who grew up in this district, who went to school here, who started their careers here, cannot afford to live here anymore. That is a failure that has been building for a generation while politicians on both sides looked the other way.
I have a real plan to change that. I will fight to make mortgage interest rates transferable so families can pass on their lower rate when they sell, which puts homeownership back within reach. I will crack down on corporate investors who are buying up single-family homes and turning neighborhoods into rental portfolios. And I will push to create Legacy Housing Accounts, modeled after 529 college savings plans, so parents and grandparents can start putting money away today to help their kids buy a home tomorrow.
COMPASSION MEANS ACTUALLY HELPING PEOPLE, NOT JUST FUNDING PROGRAMS
Our streets do not feel as safe as they used to. We all see it. People with severe addiction and serious mental illness are suffering in tents on sidewalks, and for years, politicians have thrown billions of dollars at programs that have not moved the needle. That is not compassion. That is negligence.
I will push for mandatory treatment for people in crisis who cannot help themselves. I will fight to expand psychiatric care facilities so there are real beds and real care available, not just referrals to waitlists. And I will demand a full audit of every homelessness dollar being spent so we can finally see what is working, what is not, and where the money is actually going.
PROTECTING CHILDREN IS NOT POLITICAL. IT IS MORAL.
Southern California is one of the worst human trafficking corridors in the country. Children are being exploited, and the penalties for the people doing it are still not severe enough to stop it. I will fight for mandatory federal prison sentences for traffickers with no plea bargains and no early release. I will hold Big Tech companies accountable for platforms that enable online exploitation. And I will work to expand survivor care so that the kids and families who have been through this nightmare have a real path to recovery.
I already represent most of this district. I live here. I raised my family here. I know the roads, the schools, the neighborhoods, and the people.
I have watched for too long as career politicians treat elected offices like a stepping stone instead of a responsibility. Too many go to Washington to become something. I am going to go to work.
I am running because the seniors and veterans who built this community deserve someone in their corner. Because working families deserve to be able to afford a home in the neighborhood they grew up in. Because the American Dream should not be something that drifts further out of reach every single year while the people we elect do nothing about it.
I have served my country. I have served this community. And now I am asking for the chance to serve you in Congress.
Let’s get to work.
