These are Kevin Akin’s answers to questions submitted by Ballotpedia in late May.
Q. Who are you? Tell us about yourself.
A. I am a community volunteer, for many organizations over the years, who strongly opposes the Trump administration’s corruption, violence, and attacks on democracy. When I saw that the pro-Trump incumbent had no opposition on the ballot, I consulted with friends and filed as a write-in candidate. Write-in candidacies are often a futile gesture. Not so in my case. Under California election law, the top two vote-getters in the present primary will advance to the November ballot. There are only two candidates, the incumbent and myself. That means that even though I will receive few votes in the primary, I will advance to the November election because I will be in second place. I am a very serious candidate, and I am already putting together a committee to fight for every vote in November. I think that my opposition to the Trump “MAGA” machine, of which the incumbent is a part, can win me a majority this year. Anyone of any party or no party can write in my name in June, and vote for me on the November ballot. A worker all my life, I was a carpenter for five years, a steelworker for ten years, and I was a steam engineer in a hospital boiler room for over 20 more until my retirement. I have been a member of four unions, and I have also been active in so many community organizations that I can’t count them now. Hobby clubs, my religious congregation, historic preservation efforts, family-based charities, and too many others to fit here.
Q. Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about you and your candidacy?
First key message.
I want to represent working people in Sacramento. The very wealthy already have plenty of representation in Sacramento and Washington. The working majority in this district deserves a representative in the legislature who puts their needs first. I would expect that the billionaires will not like me, and I am cool with that. My only concern when approaching any political issue is “what is good for working people?” This cuts across party lines.
Second key message.
A warm regard for the people of this district, from a lifetime of community activism in our area. I was born in Riverside, I was raised here, and I have had co-workers and friends in every part of this district. Of course district lines have changed every ten years, but I have lived in my present house, in the 63rd District, for 52 years. I love this whole place, I want to protect its quality of life and improve it, and I am concerned about the working-class people of our area and all of California. They are what makes this place function, and they want it to function better.
Third key message.
“To bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance.” Those are the words of George Washington. Sadly, the present Trump cult, of which the incumbent is a member, has been using bigotry as a basic part of their plan to take full power. I strongly support every effort to oppose bigotry and discrimination. Whether someone is a Christian, a Jew, a Muslim, a Hindu, a Buddhist, or of no religion at all should make no difference at all in treatment by the government, or in activity regulated by the government. I appreciate the rising tide of tolerance from 1776 right up to Trump taking power, and I am determined to do my bit to make that tide rise again.
What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?
I have several main concerns. One is opposition to racism and bigotry, which hurts us all.
Another is the defense of democracy, and of constitutional safeguards and division of power. We do not need a king! Or a president with king-like power. I had some ancestors who fought to throw off the yoke of George the Third, and their achievement cannot be discarded .
Another is determination to empower working people in every area of life, which requires the disempowerment of the billionaires, the people Franklin Delano Roosevelt called “economic royalists.” We need to take the money out of politics, and if this requires changes in the Constitution, so be it.