Javier Ramos wants to create opportunities and improve the lives of the people of Arizona Congressional District (CD) Five as their next Representative in Congress.
The District which encompasses a sizable portion of the East Valley of Maricopa County (including all or parts of Mesa, Chandler, Gilbert, Higley, and Queen Creek,) is currently represented by reactionary Andy Biggs, the current chairperson of the House Freedom Caucus.
While the current incumbent champions policies that take care of the wealthy and ignore those afflicted with COVID 19, sees preventive health care like wearing masks as the folly of a tyrannical government and thinks Donald Trump is an agent of restoration, Mr. Ramos offers a different governing vision for the constituents of CD Five.
Mr. Ramos is an attorney with a degree from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. A candidate that has experience working with local, state, federal, and Native American nation clients, he is married with three children. His wife and children are members of the Navajo Nation.
If successful in the Democratic Primary on August 4 and in the general election against Biggs on November 3, 2020, Mr. Ramos will pursue an agenda focused on:
- Modernizing infrastructure.
- Improving voter rights and access.
- Protecting the 100-year water supply.
- Fighting for equality for everyone.
- Improving public education and the conditions for teachers.
- Programs for children.
- Helping the homeless
- Protecting and expanding the middle class.
- Supporting small businesses.
Mr. Ramos graciously took the time to speak about his candidacy,
The questions and his responses are below.
- Please explain the reason you have chosen to run for Congress.
“It was a culmination of a series of events.”
“It started when my boss took two dollars out of every ten I made when I was 13 years old working in the onion fields.”
“Then, when SB 1070 was enacted, my son worried about being pulled over when we drove into Arizona after living from Maryland for several years.”
“Trump calling Mexicans ‘criminals’ and his policy of locking up immigrant children in cages.”
“Finally, I saw Queen Creek taking over the police force from the MCSO (Maricopa County Sheriff Office.) I spoke up and expressed my views that the town should do a better of job of evaluating the federal oversight of MCSO and SB1070 and to incorporate a CAB (Citizens Advisory Board.) I felt that my views fell on deaf ears and I saw who was running and I decided that I was just going to get off the couch and change the paradigm that we live under. I actively started collecting signatures on February 14, AZ Statehood Day. It took five and a half weeks to get the signatures to qualify to be on the ballot.”
- What are the three major domestic issues you will center your campaign on?
- “Appropriations for infrastructure projects like a fully functioning sky bridge at mesa Gateway between Mexico, the United States, and Canada. Customs will be there and there will be a one-day turnaround for goods.”
- “Reinstating the federal preclearance requirement (Section Five) for any voting changes contemplated by the republican party. Arizona can do anything now with regards to gerrymandering and voter id. The Feds need to get that power back to enforce equal voting rights for every Arizonan.
- “Moving forward to a system of Medicare for All.”
- What are the three major international issues you will center your campaign on?
“The Skybridge at Mesa Gateway Airport is important to bring District Five into the international air market.”
“Paris Climate Agreement; I believe that climate change is a global issue and one that we have to work in partnership with global allies.”
“I am anti-border wall and support immigration with compassion. Although we do not want open borders, I am against the border wall and the environmental deregulation that works against Native Americans that the Trump administration has perpetuated.”
- With regards to health care, do you believe in Medicare for All or expanding the Affordable Care Act or another alternative?
“All Americans should have access to affordable and adequate healthcare.”
“I fully support the Medicaid Expansion, Medicare for All. No American should be denied adequate health care because of an inability to pay. Healthcare is a human right, not a privilege.”
“As one of the only developed nations to continue to resist moving towards a single-payer system, we only need to follow the money to understand the reasoning. The novel coronavirus has underscored what medical professionals have been trying to tell us for years. Our current system is not working. It’s barely equipped to handle normal situations as folks forego preventative care due to the cost of being uninsured, and even under-insured. Most Americans want a solution to our healthcare crisis, and as a Congressman, I would support a single-payer health care solution.”
- In your opinion, should the federal minimum wage go up to $15.00 an hour or be adjusted depending on the region of the country you live in?
“Wages in the United States overall have lagged significantly behind the increase in the cost of living. Reversing the Cycle of Poverty is one of the key portions of my plan to address the infrastructure of the East Valley and work toward building our economy through strategic uses of the four airports we have in the east valley beginning with Mesa Gateway.”
“While I do support an increase in the minimum wage, I am concerned that small businesses, which are the cornerstone of our economy, will struggle to afford a significant increase in the minimum wage. I believe corporations should have a higher than minimum standard wage. We provide subsidies to these corporations and they turn a profit for their CEO’s instead of paying higher wages. I would like to see corporations pay higher than a living wage and smaller businesses pay a living wage.”
- What are the three ideas you have for addressing climate change/sustainability/fighting pollution?
“My personal values and principles regarding sustainable infrastructure and environmental protection are evident in the daughters I raised. My oldest daughter graduated from Stanford with a degree in sustainable farming and Earth systems and works for a non-profit engaged in saving Northern California streams and Trout. My second daughter went to Arizona State, University of Waikato, New Zealand, and George Washington University in DC and has a degree in environmental studies. My wife and I are proud of raising children that believe in holding the Earth sacred.”
“In my professional career, I represented a tribal government in the signing of the drought contingency plan for the Colorado River last year.”
“I want to ensure that the Colorado River is protected for future generations.”
“In order to protect the Colorado River and create a sustainable water policy, we should never open the Grand Canyon to uranium mining, uranium mining has caused and continues to cause environmental and health issues for the Navajo Nation. One highlight of my career was asked by the Navajo Nation to attend and help negotiate the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples which has now been adopted by the member states. Specifically, Article 29 states that Indigenous Peoples have the right to the conservation and protection of the environment and the protection of the environment and the productive capacity of their lands and resources. States shall establish and implement assistance programs for indigenous peoples for such conservation and protection, without discrimination.”
- What is your view on the moves towards clean elections and election security reform contained in HR 1?
“I agree with it and it is important to improve voter access and pass federal legislation/amendment to overturn Citizen’s United. Corporations are not people.”
- What are the three ideas you have on what needs to be done to combat the COVID 19 virus?
- “Our lower socioeconomic, indigenous, and black and brown communities have been hit the hardest by Covid-19; a large part of that is the brutal economic disparities between those who receive the best health care. We need to change this, and quickly.”
- “Additionally, until there is a vaccine, this virus is not going to just go away on its own. It is important that American’s have the flexibility they need to continue to stay home, social distance, and care for their families’ needs. To address this current crisis, families who qualify should be helped immediately and with urgency via unemployment insurance. We should make sure our unemployment insurance is fully funded. In the long term, a universal basic income should be explored. Any UBI (Universal Basic Income) plan should have input from working Americans; Tribal governments, the States, the Office of Management and Budget; health care officials, education officials, and small businesses and large corporations. For a UBI plan to work we will need the input and buy-in from all segments of society.”
- Are there any issues not mentioned in the earlier questions that you would like to discuss with the reader?
“I would like all Arizonians to understand and appreciate that we are more alike than different. we all want the same thing, that we have nothing to fear but to get to know each other and realize we believe in the same things. adequate housing, adequate jobs, equality in quality education, equality in the treatment of minority populations. We cannot fully resolve these issues until we resolved the seminal issue of our time. Race relations and how we identify racism and remove it from our housing issues, education systems, economic development issues, access to the ballot, access to elected officials, and our policing and sentencing decisions.”
- Is there anything you would like the readers to know about you or your candidacy that the above questions did not fully convey?
“My story is the American dream. I have the experience in local, state, and federal offices and will hit the ground running if elected in November.”
For more information on Mr. Ramos and his candidacy, please click on his Webpage here and Facebook Page.
Please remember:
- Primary Election Day is on August 4, 2020, and General Election Day is on November 3. 2020. Please see the below graphic for all-important voting dates.
- Please check your voter registration at vote.
- Register/sign up for the Permanent Early Voting List (PEVL) in Arizona or any state that allows early or absentee balloting and mail. Arizona residents can sign up at vote.
- Arizona residents, mail your General Election ballot by October 28, 2020, for the November 3, 2020 election.
- Check-in with the Secretary of State’s office where you live to verify your mail-in ballot was received, processed, verified, and counted.
- Know the voter ID requirements in your state.
- If you can, support Clean Election Candidates with a small contribution.
- Also, please remember to stay informed on all the candidates and vote for all the offices on the ballot.
- Also, remember to research all the ballot initiatives, sign to get them on the ballot if you support the measure, and vote on them as well.
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