Transcript

Rep. Swalwell Hosts TOWN HALL in Santa Monica, CA

From MeidasTouch · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 1 h · 9,147 words · 134 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "Rep. Swalwell Hosts TOWN HALL in Santa Monica, CA", an episode of MeidasTouch published January 10, 2026 (1 h, about 9,147 words). It mentions 6 people, works and ideas, including Jimmy Gomez, Burlington, Eric and Vicki, Apple Inc., ICE.

What this episode is about

Rep. Swalwell addresses the challenges facing California and America, including the affordability, housing, healthcare, and environmental crises, while criticizing the current administration for its authoritarian tactics and lack of respect for democratic values. He emphasizes the need for strong leadership capable of combating these issues and defending the voices of working-class individuals as political dynamics become increasingly aggressive.

Key takeaways

  • California's challenges mirror America's—housing, healthcare, and environmental crises escalated here before anyone else felt their effects.
  • When the King of Division rules, it's up to the people to reclaim power and protect their voices.
  • Eric embodies the American dream: a working-class hero navigating politics for his children's brighter future.
  • With a fighter in Sacramento, California can ditch the affordability crisis and reclaim its 'Golden State' reputation.
  • In a world of 'attack, attack, attack,' we need leaders who prioritize unity over intimidation to shape a better tomorrow.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 10:00: Jimmy Gomez
  2. – 20:00: Jimmy Gomez
  3. – 50:00: Jimmy Gomez
  4. – 1:00:00: Burlington, Eric and Vicki

Notable quotes from "Rep. Swalwell Hosts TOWN HALL in Santa Monica, CA"

  • Look at the baby. Yeah. Thank you, Jimmy Gomez.
    about Jimmy Gomez · at
  • That's like Burlington, Vermont is my home.
    about Burlington · at
  • That couple that I told you about, Eric and Vicki, they were my parents.
    about Eric and Vicki · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

Companies & orgs

  • Apple Inc. — Company · 1 mention
  • ICE — Company · 1 mention
  • UTLA — Company · 1 mention

Places & events

Full transcript with timestamps

children are going to be doing better than the last. That's what not only California is about, but America is ABOUT but it is getting tougher and tougher and tougher. Not only because of the affordability crisis that we see not only here in California which we felt it first before other states. Um the housing crisis, the healthc care crisis, the environmental crisis, we felt it in California first. Now that affordability crisis spread and it spread years ago, but people are feeling it more acutely today than ever. But now we're in a situation where we have an individual in the White House who doesn't understand what America is about. That he's sending in ICE and CBP as his own police national police force to intimidate to cause fear and division in order to create more uh political power for himself. He believes he doesn't believe in the rule of law. He doesn't believe that we the people is the government. He

believes that he is a king and that there's only one voice that matters and that's his. So this is the moment we're living in and we need somebody who understands how to fight against this guy.

He's more dangerous than the first term because he understands that um in order uh in order to get what he wants, he wants sick fans in the White House with him. and anybody who stands in his way gives information that contradicts his public public narrative, he fires them. So this year, listen, I believe we're going to win the House of uh representatives, but he's going to become more belligerent, more aggressive because he's not somebody that that backs down. He doesn't admit a mistake. He only attacks, attacks, attacks. So the next governor has to be somebody that can fight the fight toe to toe and make sure that California is protected, but also your voices are represented at that level. So Eric understands that, but he also understands the working-class background. His his mother and father were workingass individuals. He grew up in Dublin. He went to multiple high schools, moved around, and then he ended

up um going off to college. Uh but he came back to be uh he tried to be a um a city planner. One of his mentors told him to come back to the city with Dublin and they told him to no, you're going to go to uh be on the arts commission first. So he started off on the arts commission, then he ended up going becoming a city planner and then becoming a city council member. He ends up running for office, meeting a wife, having three kids. And this is how Eric and I bonded when I first got to um Congress um was that he was just a a normal guy, somebody that you can watch uh football with. He likes the 49ers, don't hold that against him, but he's somebody that you can watch football with and hang out with. Um, so when my um, wife and I decided to have um, our son, his name is Hajj, um, Eric was somebody that gave me great advice on what to what it's like to be a dad.

And that's one of the most important things for Eric. He is a dad of three kids, a devoted husband, and understands that his job is to make sure that they have a a better life than he had. He's done pretty well, but his kids can and other kids can also do better. So, that's what Eric is going to do. He's going to come to um Sacramento. I worked in Sacramento as a state assembly member with a fresh set of eyes to have you kind of unrig the system in Sacramento and make sure that it works for every part of California. And that's what we need to tackle affordability, housing, child care, the environmental crisis, and to once again make us the golden state of So with that, let's um put our hands together and welcome the next governor of California,

thanks buddy. Hi. How are you? Good. Thank you. Thank you for coming tonight. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for coming tonight. Yeah. Thank you. Hey, how you doing? Thanks for coming tonight. How are you? Thank you for coming. Yeah, thanks. Nice to see you guys again. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. I'm going to get one of those hats. Thank you. Thanks for coming. How are you? Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey, Sarah. Good to see you.

You, too. Thanks for coming. I'm going to win. We're going to Thank you. Hey, how are you? Thanks for coming. Thanks for being here. I see you. How are you? How you doing, sir? Nice to meet you. Yeah, you too. Hey, how you doing? Thanks for coming. Bang bang niner gang. This is one. Welcome back. I see you. Thank you. Yeah. See you. How are you?

Oh my god. How are you? How are you doing? I'm good. I want to help. I need your help.

I want to help. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. Appreciate it. Will you help us? Okay. Will you vote for me more than anything? Okay. Thank you. Hey.

Hi. I'm Lyn. Hey. It's so great to meet you. I'm all of course. Thank you. You live here?

I do. Thank you. Hey, nice to see you. Thank you for coming. Yeah. Hey sir, how are you?

Nice to meet you, man. How are you? Thank you. Thank you. Hey, how are you? Nice to meet you, man. Thanks for coming. Yeah, nice buddy. Yeah, cool. Thanks, man. Hey, how are you, sir? Thanks for helping us tonight. Yeah. Hey, how are you doing?

Thanks for helping. Yeah, of course. Thank you for that. Yeah, thank you again. Yeah, thanks for helping us back there. Thank you guys again. Thank you. Yeah. All right, sir. You guys are representing the front row here. Thank you. How are you? Yeah. Thank you so much.

Thank you. How are you? Thank you again. Yeah. Yeah. How are you? Hey, sir. How are you? Thank you.

Thank you guys. Thanks for coming. Hello. How are you? Thank you. How are you doing?

Say it again. The president. Okay. Thank you. I'll connect with you. Okay. East Swallwell at Gmail is the number. Hey, thank you. Thank you so much. I have the night off. I have the night off. Thank you. I like that. Thank you. How are you? Thank you. Hey, thanks, man. How are you? All right. Made a full lap. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Look at the baby. Yeah. Thank you,

Jimmy Gomez. Raise your right hand if our country and California is in trouble. Oh,

now keep that hand up if this and put up your left hand if it's in the most trouble you've ever seen in your life. I want to tell you a story about a couple. In Alona, Iowa lived a man named Eric, not me. and he was married to a woman named Vicki. Vicki, like many of you, took any job she could find during the day so she could bring home enough groceries at night. Eric was the chief of police until he was fired by a corrupt council because he wouldn't reverse cases and parking tickets. So when their dreams were blown up and dashed, they went where big dreamers have always gone.

Where prospectors flashed aluminum pans in a river and expected it to return gold. where aspiring actresses drove across the country focused on one and not in a million. And when a Syrian refugee got his Wisconsin girlfriend pregnant and her parents were pretty upset and they had nowhere to go, they went west and they had a son named Steve who created jobs with a small fruit company called Apple. That's the magic of California. That's why I'm running for governor. But we need a new California. And the next governor of California has two jobs.

One to keep the worst president ever out of our homes, out of our streets, and out OF OUR LIVES. I WANT TO READ YOU something if you don't mind. Terrible things are happening outside. At any time of night and day. Poor, helpless people are being dragged out of their homes. Families are torn apart. Children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared. Women return from shopping to find their houses sealed, their families gone. Even though that describes California now, it wasn't written here. It was written in Germany in a diary by a woman named Anne Frank.

And while that time is incomparable to any time in the world, what we have seen in the last couple weeks was always going to happen. When you send mass agents into a community to terrorize people, Renee Good was always going to end up dead. It started with ICE agents chasing our friends and neighbors through the fields and the factories where they work. And then a six-year-old battling stage 4 cancer US citizen was deported. Women being dragged by their hair and pulled through the streets. And we ask ourselves, will Miss Good be the last person killed? And none of us can say with confidence that she will be.

You know what I I told my wife from everything I know about Miss Good and when I saw her in the video today said, "I'm not mad at you, dude. You're cool." to the ICE agent right before she was shot three times in the face. I told my wife

if Miss Good lived in Santa Monica and she was alive, she'd probably be at this town hall tonight.

She could have been any of you going to bear witness on behalf of the most vulnerable people who can't come out in public. But we're not helpless. And my promise to you as the next governor of California is I will do everything to take away the immunity that makes these guys think they're invincible to use law enforcement powers that we have to prosecute them when they commit false imprisonment, kidnapping, battery assault

murder, assassination. And we're going to have a new policy in the state. I'm calling it reveal to wheel. If you are an ICE agent or a border patrol agent and you operate with a mask on, you're losing your driver's license. We have to go on offense against these guys. They only understand one language. It's the language of strength. And if we are not on offense, the most vulnerable and our communities are on defense. The second part of the job description is to bring a new California and to be the CEO of lowering costs.

And that's what I'm going to do. You know, the biggest betrayal of this president is that he has done the exact opposite of what he promised. Politicians make and break promises all the time. Happens all the time. Sometimes they were good naturatured when they made them, just couldn't fulfill them. This guy said he was going to lower prices on day one. Everyone here would say, "Mr. President, you are owed for 350." And not only has he not lowered prices, he's done the exact opposite with his stupid tariff tax. And so in California, we say all the time, we're the fourth largest economy in the world. That's great.

It's something I say with pride. But when I'm governor, when you say it, it's going to mean something to you because you're a shareholder of it. Going to war with Venezuela or Greenland ranks around 200th on the list of priorities for Californians. When you go to Ralphs, you can't say, "Hey, put this on Greenland's tab." And when you pay your landlord, you can't say bill it to Venezuela. The president has taken his eye off the ball and I will do everything as the next governor to lower costs on healthcare. I proudly voted yesterday to put back in place the ACA subsidy.

So did Jimmy Gomez. But 70 times Republicans since I've been in Congress have put up votes to take away the Affordable Care Act. And 70 times I have voted to stop them. My promise to you is this. Even if I am 6 feet under, I don't care if you're a Democrat, a Republican, a Libertarian, a vegetarian. I will reach up from the soil to stop you from taking away healthcare.

When you are healthy, you have a hundred concerns in the world. When you're sick, you only have one to get better. And that's the least the government could do is to make it affordable and accessible. And I'm going to make us a state where California cares and California cures. And this president right now has declared war on cancer research. 40% cut to cancer research in a state with UCLA, UCSF. To me, a budget is not just a moral document. It's an IQ test. And you have to be the dumbest person in the world to punish a blue state governor and take away the hope that we'd find cures. As governor, I'm going to stand up a California research fund. I'm going to leverage the resources I have all over the world and ask Californians to be public ambassadors.

Go across the globe and get investments in California. We should be able to depend on our federal government to do this. They're not. And I'm not just googling who is the foreign minister of whatever country. For 8 years, I oversaw the CIA in Congress. I went to 40 countries. I met with presidents, prime ministers, foreign ministers. My relationships will be California's relationships. And when they bet on California, we will all pay less for healthcare, on housing. The average age of a first-time home buyer in California is 40 years old, and the average home costs about a million dollars. That is insane.

My promise is that we'll be a state where you can take your first job, have your first kid, and buy your first home. God forbid, in the same decade. But right now in California, we have 400,000 regulations, adding approximately a thousand new regulations a year. We need regulations. Many of them are goodnatured and good- intentioned. But California is a blue state held down by red tape.

It's a blue state held down by red tape. On day one, I'm going to declare a housing emergency. This governor has declared an emergency in Altadena and the Palisades. And I want to talk about that in a moment. What I will do in all 58 counties is what he's done in those two communities. I'm going to tell every agency, you have 90 days to approve or deny every outstanding housing application in front of you. We're going to build houses like crazy in California. It should only take a couple of months to get a home built. And if it takes you longer than a couple of months, the governor's office should come and help you put up the drywall.

Period. There's a lot to talk about tonight. And before we get to questions, I just want to acknowledge how hard of a week it has been for you all. I know every single person here tonight. If you didn't lose your home, you know somebody who did. And you likely know many people who did. And I've been moved and inspired by how this community has come together for each other. And how you believe that there is a second act for Los Angeles that we all can be a part of and we all can believe in. and I'll take in your questions what I can do as governor to accelerate the redevelopment that has to happen in your communities. But during this week of remembrance, I just wish you all the best in the renewal and the new story that you're going to write and to thank the first responders. Some are here tonight helping us. Santa Monica Police Department, but also the firefighters, the EMPs, the people who

were at their best when we faced in this area the worst. And finally, I just want to acknowledge some of the community leaders who are here tonight. Of course, our campaign chair, Jimmy Gomez.

We have the mayor of Santa Monica. Where is she still here? She might have stepped out. Uh, Mayor Caroline Terosis. Did I say that right? We have May Theard, Santa Monica High School senior. Barry Snell, Santa Monica city council member. Matalia Zernet Skaya, Santa Monica Council member. Anastasia Foster, Community College Board member. Phyllis Dudik, Rent Control Board. Danny Evanov, hi Phyllis. Rank control board. Erica Lesley, rent control board. L. Kugenheim. She was the sophomore who performed for us the national anthem.

Ellie Raskin, Santa Monica Council member, and just a general shout out to our volunteers and our interns here who have helped make tonight happen on such short notice. So, I don't listen to polls. I listen to people. And that's what tonight is about. I have not screened any of the questions. You can truly ask me anything. And I'm going to turn it over now to I think Susan. And we have a special question for the first two questions from some local students. So,

yes, go ahead. Yeah. Hello, Congressman. My name is Sanjay and I currently serve as the national president of the College Democrats of America. AND TODAY I AM JOINED by Santa Monica High School of May who will be asking you a couple questions today.

Great. Thank you. Hi. It's nice to meet you. What year are you? I'm a senior. Okay.

Here. That's great. You're a senior and you're at school on a Friday night. All right. Yeah.

Um, so coming from a family with strong ties to law enforcement and Republican values,

what influenced you to choose politics as a Democrat? I just thought they had better ideas.

At first, you know, was probably to antagonize my parents a little bit. Um, my mom and dad, by the way, they would have to watch me. I would have to go on Fox News if I wanted them to see me on TV. But I I'll be honest with you. Um I grew up with a little bit of a chip on my shoulder because I lived in this town called Dublin. And everyone around us in the wealthier cities, Pleasanton, Danville, San Ramon, when I played soccer as a kid in their cities, I learned that they called us Scrubblin. And we were a place of low income and lower expectations.

And I went off to college and law school and came back to Dublin as Jimmy mentioned in his intro because I wanted to be a part of a city that had gone into renaissance. And I also just learned in college and law school interning from my member of Congress Ellen Tasher. I felt like Democrats most at our best we believed that we should have a strong foundation for every person in good education, good job training, good healthcare. but no ceiling as far as where they could go. And I felt Republicans like too often gave shortcuts or shorter path to the wealthier folks. So I came home and had an opportunity in Dublin as a planning commissioner and city council member to invest in new housing. We put builders, developers, and labor together uh to double the size of the city. A lot of affordable and market rate blended housing. the high school that I graduated from. Once we did that and we added new small businesses and Fortune

500 companies in 1999 when I graduated from there, 25% of us went to college. Today, 96% of the kids go to college. And so I was passionate about making sure that every kid, not just the kids in Pleasanton and Sanderone and Danville, had an opportunity to go to college. And I felt like the Democratic Party was the party that best represented that value. I heard about this. Okay. Okay. I can put some games together too if my staff wants to go there.

And our staff and the first question our staff is coming around to get the bingo winners prizes.

Yeah. Do you have another question? Yes. uh you were deeply involved in the January 6th investigation.

Yeah. What motivated you to take on that role and what makes you think that um that work still matters today?

Yeah. And and Jimmy and I were in the chamber that day. Jimmy was in the gallery, which was the worst place to be cuz they were trapped and they were the last to leave. Um but as a former prosecutor, I was I was a prosecutor for seven years in Oakland.

First I believe in That's good. That's good. I believe in accountability and I wanted to defend the honor of those police officers and so I asked Speaker Pelosi if she would put me on the impeachment team and I wanted to bring justice and make sure that the monster that sent the mob to the capital most importantly could never be in office again. And even today, the sounds and the noises of that day, which Jimmy and I were in the chamber and it was just that's what you could hear. There's not no windows in the chamber. So, you just hear the pounding on the doors and the shouting of the mob as they had broken through every barrier and just never wanting that to happen again in our country. What upsets me about January 6 is we saw it with our own eyes.

There's three days since the Civil War that are the most important days in American history. December 7, 1941, September 11, and January 6. I don't have to tell you the years of the last two because we saw it with our own eyes. And right now, Republicans are trying to erase the heroism of the officers. They're trying to make the heroes the villains and the villains who they've released into our community, 1,600 of them, many of them violent, they're trying to make them the heroes. And so the reason we remember is to make sure we don't repeat. And I just want you to imagine, you know, for anyone who was a Republican, again, I was raised by Republicans. What if George Bush 10 minutes before the planes flew into the towers was at Battery Park rooting on and cheering for the planes?

Would we say that's something we wouldn't want to remember? Or would we say no, we should hold that person accountable? And so I'm never going to forget what they did on January 6. And I'm going to make sure that when it's settled, we know who the heroes were. We knew who sent the mob there. and that we never put ourselves as a country in a position like that again.

Um for my next question, do you have any advice to give to young people who want to get engaged in uh public service and policym?

Yeah, you have two hands. First, as often as you can right now in your career, reach up, look for mentors, find mentors, seek them out. I had a high school teacher who was my mentor when I got injured after a soccer injury and lost my soccer scholarship. He told me the world wasn't over and encouraged me to go intern on Capitol Hill. He's been with me in every major decision in my life. In Congress, my two mentors have been Nancy Pelosi, who's like my work mom, and Adam Schiff, your local congressman now senator. But you have another hand. And once you get solid footing in your career or whatever you want to do, use the other hand and reach down and lift up. And don't forget that you counted on mentors. I think you'll find it's just as fulfilling to help somebody else. And it's just as developmental for you when you help someone else to lift them up as well. So my advice is to you is you have both

hands. Reach up and find mentors and then reach down and pull others up. Okay. And I have a couple for you. But before that, can we give a a huge round of applause to our incredible

Yeah. Thank you. By the way, this is a this is a water. It looks like a beer. I was drinking one of these the other day at a at a festival and a this nice man came over to me with a a koozie and he said, "Sir, if you want to cover that up." I said, "No, no, no. It's just a thanks for looking out, but it's just a just a water." Yeah,

I may ask for a beer in about an hour, but go ahead. But yeah, before I start, I I just have a little light-hearted game, but I want to make sure that we raffle off our first speakers. So, I'm going to pull out six tickets. All of you get your tickets ready because we're going to be running through these really quick.

So, for the first one, I have 142 7452. I'm going to repeat it one more time. was right behind you. Yeah.

Mind if you can go up to one of the mics over there and line up for us? Thank you.

Thank you. And the next one is 1427435. Stand up if it's stand up if it's you. And then head right over to the mic. Next one is 1427455. We got next one is 1427397. We have 1427437. And lastly, 14 27456.

Great. Okay, I think we need a couple more. Couple more. We only have one here.

Do you guys mind if you circle over there? Go ahead. Yeah, couple more. Sanjay, you're good to keep reading off two more numbers.

Sounds good. 1427436. And a trick I learned with you, Sanjay, if you just read the last three numbers. Sorry.

427. 427. 427. Anyone? All right. Sanjay, you're ready to start your game. Yeah.

No. Sorry. We have one Oh, quick lightart. Go ahead. Yeah. So, your campaign tells me that you're a big fan of Taylor Swift, right?

Correct. Correct. Correct. So, we put together a little game where I'm going to be telling running through a list of quotes. You're going to have to guess. Are they Taylor Swift or Donald Trump?

Oh, jeez. Go ahead. You ready? Yeah. Okay. The first one is is pretty tough. Nobody has more respect uh for women than I do.

Donald Trump. Donald Trump. Yeah, that is correct. Okay. Off to a great start. Second one is I'm a nightmare dress as a ded.

That's Taylor Swift. Come on. Challenge me. Okay. Okay. Okay. I never trust a narcissist, but they love me. How about that one?

Taylor Swift. That's correct. The next one that I have is people are going to judge you anyway, so you might as well do what you want.

Does this crowd have any? Yeah. What do you guys think? Taylor Swift. Taylor Swift.

That's correct. Phone a friend or two. And the final one that I have for you, I I think you got to get this one. Has anyone noticed that since I said I hate Taylor Swift, she's no longer hot?

She's still hot. And that's Donald Trump. That's correct. Thank you for playing along.

Yeah, of course. Okay, please. Hi, I'm Beth Clark. I'm a Santa Monica um high school alum mom. Um also a teacher with LA Unified and big um activist with UTLA. Yeah.

Um so you know my teachers of Los Angeles if you didn't know. So um anyway I have been becoming more and more feel fearful for my family, my friends, my community. Um locally as well as nationally. Um you know as we can see um Trump's unilaterally invading countries without congressional approval. He's threatening additional countries. He's condoning the unforgivable murders. sorry of Renee Good and Keith Porter by ants agents. Um, additionally, um, he and his agents of hate are getting away with, um, corruption, and I honestly feel like we could be walking the streets and not be safe.

Yeah. I also feel like with his invasions, without being checked by anyone, we're heading towards World War II. I just I've been reading I've been going back into um my books and I've been reading all the presence men in the final days and it literally we're repeating history right now and

Nixon fortunately finally got checked. It took a lot because the FBI and the CIA, everyone was corrupt under him.

Yeah. What are you doing right now? Because when you're governor it would be too late. What are you doing right now to get I'm sorry. I'm just going to cuss right now. Get that out.

Yeah. So, staying on offense and I want to walk you through what I have done and what I will do. After the Russia interference campaign, Adam Schiff and I were two of the only prosecutors in Congress. So, so Nancy Pelosi asked us to lead that investigation, was a part of both impeachments and an impeachment manager in the second impeachment. You know, we came we got seven Republicans to join us, but we came up short. But we convicted him, you know, in in the in the jury of history. He's convicted, but he was able to come back into office. I have the only lawsuit that has survived him becoming president. It's me and the January 6 officers.

It's the only lawsuit that survived and it he because of the Clinton v. Jones case, he cannot escape it as president. It says that if you did something that's outside your scope of duties as president, Supreme Court case, you have to face it as president. So, we have actually deposed people in the administration. We're going to trial. We're going to win a trial. We're going to get accountability for those officers. I am leading the January 6th committee on the Democratic side in Congress as they try and rewrite what's happening. I introduced legislation today to strip ICE of their immunity.

These guys think they're invincible right now. And I, by the way, I'm the son of a cop. I'm a brother to two police officers. I was a prosecutor. I will always have the back of good law enforcement. These guys put good law enforcement at risk. My brothers are less safe because people just lump them all together. And so he's actually putting good law enforcement officers at risk with what he's doing. I am focused like hell on winning the midterms. Winning is a decision and I've made the decision to do everything to win this race and to win the midterms. And you all, by the way, you all, thank you for passing Prop 50. IN 90 DAYS, we turned around what Texas did and we passed Prop 50. So we can't do enough.

And and what I tell my wife all the time when someone reaches out and says, "I think you should stop talking about Trump or you should be easier on Trump." I I tell her in 5 years, 10 years from now, nobody is going to say, "Do you think we are too hard on him?" We are all going to ask ourselves, "Did we do enough?" And and as we vote in the next week or so when we get back to Washington on funding the government, I'm not paying for ICE officers to shoot moms in the face. And I'm not voting for that. And I'm not voting for ICE funding.

I'm not voting for ICE funding. I'm not voting for Border Patrol funding. I'm not voting for anything that continues what you just described. But I also know we can see through and beyond this guy. that he does not define us, that we're better than this, and we're going to prove it in the midterms when he's going to get a big ass kicking from the American people, coast to coast.

How you doing, thank you for tonight. My pleasure. This is Jen Roberts and um I recently moved to the Delray neighborhood with my partner Eric there. And um we were fortunate enough to be able to buy a home, but then we became we came face to face with the property insurance crisis.

Um it's you know it's it's one thing like you you were talking about how few people are able to buy homes in California these days and then if you actually are able to do it, how do you even get property insurance, let alone afford it? And then once you have it, is it really going to be there when you need it? So, um I guess my question is like specifically what would you do to try to alleviate the crisis that's there for profits?

First, more competition. And it's a great question and you're right that if you can afford to cobble together a down payment and young people in California with student loan debt and their debt to income ratio hurting their ability to do that, like you still have, as you said, property insurance, which is a big barrier to becoming a homeowner. So, first and foremost, more competition. Right now, if you are an insurer who leaves the state, there's a 36-month penalty before you can come back in. We need to bring more competition in immediately. Reducing wildfire risk. We have to get inventive.

Part of my plan is called wood for good. We have the most forest area in the whole country and in the highest wildfire risk areas. What I will do as governor is work with environmentally sound milling companies to mitigate the fire risk. So, it's a forer as far as I see it. You're going to mitigate the fire risk, bring down the insurance costs because we're taking one of the risk factors off the table. We're going to set aside the soft lumber that comes from that milling to bring down construction costs in California because we're importing too much soft lumber from Canada. and we're going to create new jobs. So, I'm looking at this in as inventive of a way as possible to bring down costs, to bring in new revenue for the state, to regrow every time you mill and and and thin to prevent wildfire, but in in the highest risk areas. We don't just have to take on the risk. I think we can, as I said, turn it around

and have a wood forgood program. So, we're looking at that right now. But competition is important. I also have to tell you I am open as to whether or not the insurance commissioner should be an elected position. I just I I don't doesn't feel like that's a person that you just want to leave to chance. It seems like you would be better served if the governor could appoint somebody who is an expert and has no capture by the insurance companies for that job.

Hey Eric, you know me. It's Ingred Vanard. I am vice president at the Grassroots Democrats HQ. My people are sitting.

I see Eve. Eve was here earlier. Just if I may, quickly, uh, tell us what what is Grassroots Democrats HQ?

Grassroots Democrats HQ, I have to say, has been supported by our fabulous Eric Swallwell for many years. He's one of our greatest supporters because he knows we do the hard field work to get Democrats elected. and since 2018 and we've been very successful and we will never give up. So anyway, Eric, I have a question. Um, if by some amazing coincidence or through hard work, um, we get a majority in Congress. Now, in other words, I know someone just died, which no one wants that, but it it did it did bring us down to two two votes. if for some reason special elections happen because more Republicans will be leaving as soon as they have a great paying job, some lobbyist that you know someone is going to hire them

and we're going to have a majority of Democrats. Do we have to wait till next year, January 1, or can we then immediately have Hakeim Jeffrey be our speaker?

Hakeem Jeff could be the speaker on Monday. I mean, the margins are that thin. Yes. And these guys, frankly, as you see, they they don't have their together. Like they they have lost a lot of their own folks. We Jimmy, how many Republicans voted for the Affordable Care Act subsidies? 19

something 17. I mean, so they, by the way, Hakee Jeff is the speaker of the house right now because he is by discharge petitions that he's filing, he is legislating more than speaker Johnson is

who He's it's a no-show speaker. He's turned his voting card over to the White House and and so the margins are that thin. They're they're that thin right now. Um but we have at least five seats that we need to win in California. And I I I will be with you all after June going to those new districts. You know, there there's one there's one one in Southern California that goes all the way out to Palm Springs, Palm Desert, and we have a number of great candidates running in that seat. We have a seat up in Northern California. We have a Central Valley seat, so you don't have to drive more than 2 hours from where you sit right now to volunteer. And again, just another shout out to Grassroots Democrats HQ. They have thousands of volunteers. And they do something that's so important. They pay their high school and college students. and and and that's where the contributions go is to make sure that they can be paid and still do

the work. Yes, sir. Hi. Uh my name is Paul Pompeo. Hey Paul, I am not related to Pompeo.

Sorry you have to say that. And uh and um I'm just going to make a first comment. I actually lived seven blocks from the White House when the insurrection happened.

And so it I will tell everybody here it was really really hysteric. Um, and all of those people were living were staying in my neighborhood. So, it was it was pretty crazy. Um,

I was originally going to ask you a question about homelessness. Yeah. Um, but today I ended up having to pay my quarterly taxes and so I changed my mind.

Yeah. Yeah. Um, so what are your thoughts about uh soft secession? Yeah. Yeah. So, I think you're referring to California is a donor state and when there were hurricanes in Carolina, Florida, Georgia, we all proudly saw our taxpayer dollars go to the rebuilding of those communities. When there were fires in Los Angeles, we weren't shown the same generosity by this president. He in fact has not fully delivered the FEMA money that we're eligible for. People who lost everything who were hoping that the generation generosity that we showed would be given back was not shown.

cancer research funding, energy funding, infrastructure and jobs funding. It's all been taken away. And I will tell you as governor, I reserve the right with the consent of the state and the people behind me to do everything possible to fight for Californians. And I think you know me, I'm not shy. I'm not afraid to be aggressive when it's on behalf of people who are being targeted. And so I'm not taking anything off the table. I will also tell you though, my default with this guy will be to put my hand out and say, "How can we work together?"

I don't wake up every morning seeking to fight Donald Trump. I wake up seeking to fight for Californians. He just gets in the way. But I passed legislation just 3 weeks ago that he signed into law and it was only one of 20 bills that were signed into law in the last Congress. And I worked with Jimmy Gomez on this who's the chair of the dad's caucus. I'll just tell you what it is because you're probably wondering like what Democratic bill did he sign into law. When women go to airports and I've seen this with my own wife and our own kids and they're breastfeeding

Yeah. They're treated like terrorists. Their breast milk is pulled aside. It's opened up. It's tested. Anyone with kids knows that when you're moving through an airport with little kids, you just need to keep moving. And so, you're slowing down the line. Kids are freaking out. And moms feel awful. And something that happened to my wife was she works. We're two income family. She wouldn't call my job a job. She says she has a job. I have a hobby. But she is traveling for her job without the kids and she has the breast milk tested and the TSA officer says if you really have kids like where are they? And as you know when you're breastfeeding you're still pumping whether you're with the kids or not. So I wrote legislation to get rid of that process and make it easier for traveling moms to not be harassed. Republicans signed on to it.

the president signed it into law and so again on any issue from something as you know discreet as that to getting FEMA relief I will seek to work with him but I'm not polyianish I'm not naive I I know who this guy is and I'm not afraid to stand up to him if he's going to try and go against the most vulnerable in our state

Yes sir Mark and uh hey Mark wanted to start out by saying who in their right mind would want to be governor I mean, we we have so many unsolvable problems that just

so hard. But I two questions. One is you've I've admired you as a congressman, but you have to do a totally different job as a governor.

Uh, and can you address that? And also, um, can you reassure us that you're just not using California as a springboard to run for president?

Yeah. Uh, yes. And and by the way, if you talk to my wife, she would say, "If the worst thing that happens is you make hard decisions, you piss a bunch of people off, and they don't want you to come back for a second term, don't threaten us with a good time." Um, so I I'm approaching this liberated by I don't need to do this. I have a safe seat in Congress. I would be the next Democrat to be the chair of the Homeland Security when the current Democrat were to leave Congress. thought I have a good position there. I I I don't need this. I want to do it because I see this great state under attack by a bully who I know how to stand up to. But I also see the goodness in all of us that we don't have to be defined by the moment that he has put us in. And there's so much more we can do on the cost crisis, on growing small businesses, on maxing out democracy that I have done as a city councilman in Congress and want to do on

behalf of the people of the state. So, um, yes, I I make that promise to you. Uh, but I want to be, as I said, the CEO of lowering costs. A president got elected because he said he would do that on day one. I want to actually do that in this fourth largest economy in the world. And as I said, I want that to mean something to everyone. That's kind of the mandate I've given myself or the deadline I've given myself is you have to bring down costs of this great state. Thank you.

YEAH. Thank you for coming. Um I'm uh lived in Santa Monica for 35 years and I've been a mom of three kids who went to this high school.

Two of them went off to Berkeley. Yeah. one of them out of state. They can't come home.

Yeah. They can't afford to come back and live in Santa Monica. So when I hear we're going to build more homes,

that's like 60 miles east. Yeah. You know, and that's not home. Yeah. That's like Burlington, Vermont is my home.

You know, so I could go there and find a house. They turn over. They're affordable. So then what we see is Lincoln Boulevard with all

Tell me about Lincoln Boulevard. So tell me about it. What? Oh, it's the main drag from the airport. I used to like when I first moved here, I would I would be like Lincoln Boulevard. God, what? You know, it's the ugliest street

and you're just think California and it is literally But it's so south of the 10, which is really kind of hilarious. I mean, hilarious, but sorry. I mean, has turned into this kind of like lovely little, you know, it feels like more mom and pop stores, you know, like really great restaurants, that kind of thing. North of the 10 is like these apartment buildings that are fulfilling the quota of building new houses that that has like 10% to low-inccome families

and then I don't even know who are renting them and if they're rented and it's really hurt the mom and pop smaller buildings

um because yeah they have to lower their rent because I don't know the thing is there are No affordable condos.

Yeah. And nobody like why aren't they negotiating builders to come in and either build um

like uh co-ops like in New York and Copenhagen and you know so that the kids can buy you know people can buy their own place build them some equity but at least take pride in that they have ownership in the community. And there's just never any talk of that.

Yeah. And now, by the way, if you drive down Lincoln Boulevard north of the 10, you can't even see the sun.

Yeah. And it's Yeah. So, how can you address that issue and housing and building for the local communities?

Yeah. Like, you know, this side of Yeah. And so I would tell you as a former council member and a former planning commissioner, I understand like one state housing plan does not fit every community. However, it takes too damn long to build housing in California. And so if, as I said, by putting a deadline in place, a 90-day deadline, you will force a surge of housing. You'll force decisions. I strongly believe as a as somebody who's been in all levels of government, a goal without a deadline is a dream. And I'm not here to dream. I'm here to get done. So, that's what I'm going to do first. As it relates to housing, I I think I told you a little bit about trying to bring down the materials cost uh on soft lumber, which is a big driver uh to build. I also want to surge small businesses. And I talked to your council members. I've talked to your mayor before I came out here and I'm aware of,

you know, some of the challenges here and and their goals as they called it to have renaissance here in economic development. My economic development plan because we have the highest unemployment rate in the country and we have one of the slowest rates of new small businesses in the country. We're going to have a tax holiday for the first 3 years for every small business 25 employees and under. And the bet I'm going to make is that if you're a small business and you focus in those first three years on hiring, getting a business plan, getting from postrevenue to postp profofit, you'll increase the businessto business revenue around you, and you'll provide a long-term funding stream for the state with an onslaught of new businesses that can pay for healthcare, public safety, education, UTLA.

So, so having an economic development plan that you know, again, it's a little chicken and the egg in that, you know, you need rooftops to have economic development, but you also need people who want to come in with economic development when the rooftops come. And so, having done this in one of the best turnaround stories in California, Dublin, I will project that across the state. I also want our teachers and those who work in the schools to be able to live near the school. And so having workforce housing is going to be a big priority for me. But I I get it at at the core of your question.

You're just a mom who wants your kids to be able to afford to live and where they're raised.

The permits for these uh apartment buildings, they get handed out by someone. And why isn't there a percentage where it's said stated this has to be like

a co-op or a RIT or individual condos like I mean, it's just like just feels so and and again, teachers and our policemen and the firemen and our social work. I mean, they don't want to be renters in this town either.

We have police officers and firefighters who commute from Idaho. No, I'm I'm not kidding you. They can't afford to live here and they're commuting Nashville, Nevada, Idaho. I mean, we have driven out like the people who again I I think in a community those you hold up the most are your police, your fire, your teachers, your nurses, like the people who take care of us.

And if they have to drive an hour or fly an hour, like that's not valuing them. And so I will always see them first when I'm thinking about who do we help and how do we do it.

So thank you. Sanjay. Okay, we uh Sanjay, you did a great job. Um I'm going to stick around. I'm going to be around for a while. So, um ask me a question. Thank you for informing me, as I said, on on what the issues are that you're facing. Again, I just want to reiterate, we're going to get through this. I I have confidence in you that we are going to get through this terrible president is because he is a terrible person. I see that. You see that? And I'm tired of hearing him say, "Make America great again." When all we want is to be good again and decent again and kind again and to be able to greet somebody at the coffee shop and just say good morning without thinking at all about the person's politics. I believe California will always be a state that can fight for a child that can barely make a fist. That we'll be a state that lowers costs and maybe even raises hope.

that we will be a state that protects women's rights and never allows a 37year-old mom of three to be shot in the face by ICE agents. That couple that I told you about, Eric and Vicki, they were my parents. And I say was because a couple months ago, my mom broke my heart. She passed away from lung cancer. And there's something crazy about losing a mom because you realize no one loves us like our moms. After all, they have a 9-month head start on everyone else. And the best moms never relinquish that lead. And the last thing my mom text messaged me before she passed, she asked me if I was eating.

And I think that you don't have to be a mom to ask that basic question of someone you care about. And that's something we should all be doing and looking out for each other, asking, "Do you have enough to eat? Do you have shelter if you don't have a home? Do you want to stay at my house if ICE agents unlawfully are coming after you? I am my brother's keeper and you are mine and that's what we do as Californians. This country has been rebuilt over and over and over again. And it always starts in the same place here in California.

That's why I'm running for governor and I hope you join me in writing that new California story. Thank you all so much. THANK YOU. COME THIS WAY AND FOLKS ARE GOING TO LINE UP. SO I DON'T WANT YOU to stop.

Thank you so much. Okay. Thank you. Hope to see you again. before you

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Rep. Swalwell Hosts TOWN HALL in Santa Monica, CA"?

Eric Swalwell (Guest), Jimmy Gomez (Guest), Sanjay (Guest), Beth Clark (Guest), Jen Roberts (Guest), Paul Pompeo (Guest), Mark (Guest).

What is "Rep. Swalwell Hosts TOWN HALL in Santa Monica, CA" about?

Rep. Swalwell addresses the challenges facing California and America, including the affordability, housing, healthcare, and environmental crises, while criticizing the current administration for its authoritarian tactics and lack of respect for democratic values. He emphasizes the need for strong leadership capable of combating these issues and defending the voices of working-class individuals…

What is mentioned in this MeidasTouch episode?

6 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Jimmy Gomez, Burlington, Eric and Vicki, Apple Inc., ICE, UTLA. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Rep. Swalwell Hosts TOWN HALL in Santa Monica, CA"?

The episode runs 1 h; the transcript is about 9,147 words in 134 timestamped sections.

More from MeidasTouch

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated January 24, 2026.