The House of Representative’s newest member, Representative-elect Jimmy Gomez promised to adopt a firm position against President Donald Trump’s agenda once he takes office, The Hill reports.
Gomez, the California assemblyman elected to replace Democrat Xavier Becerra, will be sworn-in in the next few weeks and will soon become the 31st member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC).
“My district really wanted me … to take a hard stance against a Donald Trump agenda,” Gomez said.
The former Capitol Hill staffer and labor organizer, won a contested Democrat-on-Democrat special election earlier this month. He will take over one of California’s most progressive seats, which Becerra held for 24 years before replacing Senator Kamala Harris as the state’s attorney general in January.
Gomez has held his seat in California’s Assembly for five years, rising to become the chairman of the Appropriations Committee and a powerful voice in the legislature’s Democratic supermajority. He added that his new role in the minority caucus comes with a clear, overarching legislative strategy.
“If Dems don’t stick together we’re going to lose. I give the House Dems credit. When they’ve stuck together they’ve been able to create fractures within the majority caucus. There’s fraction within their caucus, our job is to cause them to fracture and compromise with us and not the other way around”, Gomez added.
California’s voters, said Gomez, are demanding that their representatives protect progressive gains on issues such as healthcare, the environment and workers rights.
“I don’t believe that Trump has the moral authority to lead on a lot of these issues. What I’ve always learned is that the devils are always in the details, and he doesn’t provide any details”, Gomez said.
However, Gomez added that he had good relationships with many Republicans in the California legislature, although he admits that’s an easier task coming from a position of power.
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