I’m always happy to run ther press releases of any Democratic candidate for office on this blog regardless of how I personally feel about their electability. Lately. I’ve been doing a deeper dive into Lisa Rameriz, a Democratic candidate from Santa Ana running for Congress in CA-40 as a carpetbagger. Normally, if a candidate has held elected office and moves nearby to run for office to represent most constituents they have represented in previous elective office, I’m ok with this. But Rameriz has never been elected.
I emailed her campaign via her website Monday and left a message to a live person at her law firm Tuesday afternoon. She hasn’t called back. I don’t expect her too. She seems to be the choice of people I trust, so this post offers what I discovered by digging into her record.
- She’s pro-life. Not pro-choice. When asked a question if she supports a woman’s right to have an abortion, she says she supports Roe v. Wade. And I support the World Football League’s Southern California Sun who used to play in Angels Stadium but liek Roe v. Wade, neither exists today. When pressed, she supports a woman’s right to choose if a pregnancy is the result of rape or incest. That’s not good enough period. Her husband is a minister, which might explain it. But if elected to Congress and a bill to restore abortion rights nationwide would come up, I don’t trust how she’d cast a ballot. Sje answers the pro-choice question the way Trump’s cabinet members answer the question “did Trump lose the 2020 election?” It’s never a yes or no.
- She’s a landlord, yet hypes affordability. Not sure how many single-family homes she owns or what they are, but when you’re a landlord, rents need to cover your mortgage payments, property taxes and maintenance, so are the rents market rate or below market rate? What is her rental income? If you want to advocate for affordability, are you walking the walk? I’ll bet tennents would like to know where they stand.
- She’s a carpetbagger. She lives in Rep. Dave Min’s new district, not in CA40. That’s not a deal breaker, but I question her ties to CA40.
- Her voter registeration shows inconsistency. She was a Democrat until she re-registered as NPP in September 2024 — weeks before election day. But she’s wants the party’s endorsement? She re-registered as a Democrat last summer prior to announcing her candidacy for CA40. Flip-flopper!
- In mid-January, she called for people to stop knocking other Democrats running for Congress in CA40 — so no gong after Joe Kerr or Esther Kim-Varet;and on her Twitter/X.com account, she hasn’t. However, she hired Briana Walker a.k.a. “InMiniVanHell” on X.com as a social media/communications consultant. And Walker, who called Joe Kerr a Republican cos-playing as a Democrat in 2024, has focused her ire on Kim-Varete with attacks on Kim-Varet’s Coto de Caza home and even posting a tweet (non-deleted) criticzing anothe Esther Kim for participating in a community 5K with a mascot from Chick-Fil-A suggesting this Kim was an ally for the LGBTQ community. The problem with that — it’s not the Esther Kim-Varet running for Congress. Because all Asian women look alike, right? (Ran that joke by three Asian women who said that phrase before I did and approved it). Walker seems to get hired by Congressional candidates who live outside the district they run for as her last paid gig was for Joanna Weiss who lost a primary to Dave Min. And should she criticise Varet-Kim for moving into the district to run for Congress, it’s exactly what Weiss did when she rented a Newport Beach condo for Xmas 2023. Unlike her work for the Weiss campaign, Walker has not discosed her paid relationship with Rameriz on her Twitter/X.com fed which isn’t illegal but is certainly unethical. And Rameriz needs to take responsibility for the smack-talking tweets after she posted about knocking on doors , not Democrats.
We still have time before the convention to unite around a Democratic candidate for CA 40. Kim-Varet has the most cash on hand. Kerr has the most important endorsements, especially among labor unions, and Rameriz has a smattering of CA40 endorsements and endorsements from electeds in OC who cannot vote for them. The Democrat that can win a spot in November needs to be someone who can get non-Trump Republicans, Independents, and Democrats who vote.
On Rameriz, she’s a one-issue candidate at best (immigration), weak on affordability, wrong on abortion, not a resident.
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