Q: What do you call a debate if only one candidate shows up?
A: An interview.
At one point in the race for the 5th Congressional District, nine people considered running. Four eventually made it onto the ballot, and three committed to a Modesto Focus-moderated debate. But when the appointed day came, only one – Michael Masuda – participated.
Incumbent Tom McClintock, a longtime Republican office holder at the state and federal levels, did not respond to invitations.
Also on the June 2 ballot are Democrat Mike Barkley and Republican Dan Stroud. Citing aversion to an opponent’s “campaign of hate,” perennial candidate Barkley – this is his seventh try for Congress – sent word that he would withdraw from the debate.
All hope to represent a huge district that includes most of Stanislaus County east of Highway 99, including much of Modesto and Turlock as well as Riverbank, Oakdale, Hughson and Waterford – and several Gold Country foothill counties to the east.
The Modesto Focus went ahead with only Masuda. Here is a transcript, edited for length and clarity.
Focus – Let’s hear your opening statement.
Masuda – I’m running in the California 5th District because we need problem solvers in Congress. I have two kids, have been married for 10 years. My parents are Air Force veterans. My grandparents are Japanese Americans that were interned during World War II. I grew up in Amador County in the northern end of this district, a rural community, a town of 200 people that takes 15 seconds to drive through, where we were focused on looking out for your neighbor. I went off to Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo for electrical engineering, and I did that for about seven years before going to the State Department and federal service. I quit that job because, as I said, we need problem solvers in Congress. I’m an engineer, not a politician. I approach problems with this engineering mindset, break them apart, try to understand why, what’s causing them, and then come up with real, viable solutions. I’m the only candidate in this race between Democrats or Republicans that lives in the district. I’ve been endorsed by the California Democrats. We have a lot of big challenges going on in this country right now. We need somebody that is serious about bringing people together, about going after these big problems and building a better path forward.
Does character count?
Focus – You’re all alone at this debate.
Masuda – A few candidates dropped out before the California Democrats’ endorsement. Part was because (of an agreement with another) candidate – we didn’t want to get into a jungle primary. We need to hold the majority in Congress accountable, so we’re not going to fight (each other) as Democrats. So one dropped out and another endorsed me. This is more about how we have brought people together across this very large district, 12 counties, bringing folks from the left-middle and the moderate right, to address some of these big challenges that we’re facing. This campaign has a lot of momentum and energy behind it, and we are ready to go after Tom McClintock.
The war in Iran
Focus – Do you approve of the way the war in Iran has been handled?
Masuda – No, this war is a disaster for Americans, for consumers. We see it at the gas pumps. In the immediate aftermath of the first strikes, we saw gas prices rise very quickly and get over 1 additional dollar a gallon, and those prices have stayed high. We’re seeing the price of diesel go up. This has been an absolute disaster for our economy (and) our budget. This administration doesn’t know what they’re doing. They didn’t go in with a plan or any goals in mind. What we have is confusion, chaos and an incumbent – Tom McClintock – who has rubber-stamped everything that is happening. There’s a reason why Congress has the authority to take the country into war. It’s because the voice of the people needs to decide whether it is OK to go to war – not a single person, a president.
Affordability for families
Focus – Do you have ideas to address affordability?
Masuda – (Prices were) creeping up, and then when COVID hit, (they) went up quite a bit, and there’s not a single solution to this. We need to go through, sector by sector, looking at the cause of affordability issues. The reason housing is so expensive is not going to be the same reason for why gas is expensive, or food. As an engineer, not a politician, (I’ll) look at the problem. Let’s figure out what is actually causing affordability issues in each of these areas, and let’s get the federal, state and local governments working together to bring down these costs for our communities, because it’s not sustainable, the path that we are on. I’m ready to tackle that challenge.
Career background
Focus – How has your work experience prepared you to run for office?
Masuda – My background is electrical engineering. I worked in defense research for seven years, and from there I decided to use my engineering background to address a different set of challenges so I went to the State Department through a fellowship with the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Among the Democrats in the race, I’m the only one with any federal experience. I worked at the State Department as a diplomat for 3 1/2 years, working on science and technology and foreign policy issues, national security, bringing people around the world together, seeing how sausage is made so to speak. Working across many different agencies has given me insights I can take to Congress to come up with effective policies and laws that are having the desired impact.
Congressional dysfunction
Focus – Please discuss the general dysfunction in Washington.
Masuda – Cabinet officials have been fired or reassigned. Leaders of the military have been fired. We see no consistency when it comes to policy. We are spinning our wheels, going around in circles while everything gets a little bit worse for Americans. That is one of the reasons I quit my job in the federal government because I knew that this administration was not focused on solving problems. It was focused on dogma, on pushing their ideology instead of going to work on things impacting everybody, and they have been incredibly effective at dividing the American people and creating chaos and fear and division. That is not what I stand for. I stand for bringing people together and for problem solving and that is what I am pushing for.
Election fraud
Focus – Is election fraud an issue in California?
Masuda – I want to see the data, where the election fraud is happening. If the problem exists, we should be able to find it. People all across the country have been actively seeking evidence and they haven’t found it. The only thing that I can conclude is the people committing fraud are incredibly smart and not getting caught, or it just doesn’t exist. I firmly believe that it just does not exist at a level that is impacting our elections. Onesie-twosie things are happening, people are getting prosecuted, but our elections are secure. The doubt driven into our minds is intended to divide us. We are being lied to and it is intended to undermine our faith in our democracy.
Health care
Focus – What about Obamacare?
Masuda – I’m not going to vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act. I will work towards fixing our broken health care system. Since it passed it did some really good things. It allowed easier access to insurance. It allowed younger people to stay on their parents’ insurance, preventing insurance companies from penalizing people for preexisting conditions. But now we are seeing corporate consolidation, a lack of competition within the healthcare industry. In hearings on Capitol Hill we saw that these companies are just profiting off of us, and we need to start breaking some of these companies up. We need to address sources of the profiteering, and that will help bring prices down for all of us.
Wildfires
Focus – What can we do to improve forest management?
Masuda – We do a really good job at wildfire suppression. We invest a lot of money into that. We need to put more federal and state resources into preparation. It means investing money into the US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service so that we can better manage our forests in a sustainable manner and reduce the fuel loads in our forests. It also means investing federal money in our communities to help prepare for wildfire season, building out fuel breaks that can protect entire neighborhoods and communities, doing prescribed burns, taking care of our wildland firefighters having issues with health care and with mental health, and helping communities at the local level get the work done. If we can prepare better, not only will we protect people, but we will help bring down the cost of fire insurance.
Housing
Focus – What can the federal government do to improve housing opportunities?
Masuda – Housing is very much a local issue, but it’s also a state issue, and a federal issue. The federal government has a lot of resources to help build affordable housing, for vouchers so people can stay in their homes. Price increases are impacting the materials to actually build homes. My opponent, Tom McClintock, was one of nine representatives in the House that voted against the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act. It would streamline the process to build new homes, to incentivize local communities to speed up the process. The key here is that we need to build. Housing affordability is fundamentally a supply issue.
Getting spread thin
Focus – What are the challenges of representing such a large district?
Masuda – The biggest challenge is just getting everywhere. There are a lot of differences across these 12 counties, but many issues are the same: affordability, housing, lack of jobs, local economies, small businesses struggling, healthcare challenges, and wildfires. Local problems require local solutions and local leaders. The federal government is an important supporter of local initiatives. We need a representative in this district who will go to Washington, D.C. and make sure our laws take into account the many different communities across the 5th District, and that we are bringing our federal tax dollars back. That’s something that Tom McClintock has not done, and something that I will do.
Education
Focus – What issue doesn’t get enough attention?
Masuda – One thing is special education. I’ve talked with a lot of folks and especially teachers that are not happy with our education system, and we say, ‘Oh, that’s a local problem.’ Well, not exclusively. The federal government is supposed to pay more for special education, and when it’s not, local school districts have to dip into the general fund and pull that money out to make up for that gap. If the federal government actually started investing in our communities instead of dropping bombs in foreign countries, that opens opportunities for every student. Pay teachers better, maybe have more arts or language classes or career-technical education classes, to upgrade schools.
ICE agents and immigration
Focus – What are your thoughts on immigration enforcement?
Masuda – This is incredibly important to communities here in the Valley. Immigration is being enforced through chaos and fear. Tom McClintock is the chair of the subcommittee on immigration. He could be a leader in fixing our broken immigration system. It’s what so many people have been frustrated about – the immigration system just doesn’t work, and now we’ve gotten to a point where this administration can justify cruel actions, throwing kids in jail and separating their families, accusing people of being terrorists, allowing American citizens to be killed by immigration enforcement officers in Minnesota without any accountability. It’s fear and division, it’s absolutely not solving any problems, not building trust and it’s going to have a lasting consequence, not just for the families impacted but for our country.
Wolves killing livestock
Focus – What’s your position on legislation that would end protections for gray wolves?
Masuda – I’ve talked with ranchers, trying to understand the problems. They are obviously very concerned and impacted by the gray wolves. They have relayed to me that these wolves are not native to the area, they’ve migrated south and are much larger than the native species that was here, so they’re more dangerous and are killing livestock. When we talk about environmental policy, we need to make sure that we’re not just following the science, but we’re looking at what is supposed to be in these ecosystems in our environment. We want to make sure that we’re not introducing species that have not been here for that long or are not really supposed to be here. I’m going to look a little bit more into it, consult with impacted people and listen to their voices.
Racism
Focus – How does your family’s experience in an internment camp inform your approach?
Masuda – My grandparents were in the Topaz Internment Camp in central Utah, where my uncle and my aunt were born, and my aunt was released at about the age that my daughter is now. She spent her first almost two years in prison.
When I was in fifth grade we were talking about slavery in the United States and talking about Black and white, and a student asked, what would Michael be? I remember the class looking at me, and the teacher wasn’t sure how to answer that question.
Different people have different experiences. These things are not easy, and it’s important that we listen and try to understand one another. I didn’t grow up with this idea that I was different. People treated me very well and very fairly. But I know that’s not the experience of many people, and it’s important that we listen to those folks.
Partyline voting
Focus – This is a pretty red district, and Proposition 50 made it even more conservative. How are you going to overcome that as a Democrat?
Masuda – Prop. 50 made it a little bit more Republican by voter registration. But I’ve been campaigning for a year now and I’ve been talking to Democrats, no party preference, Republicans, Libertarians, everybody under the sun, trying to understand what they’re looking for in a representative. What comes up frequently is wildfires and fire insurance, health care, jobs, education, housing, veterans and seniors – many of the things that we all have in common. It’s not about strictly party politics. Sure, plenty of people love Trump or hate Trump. It comes down to people looking for a government that works for them, and people are willing to vote across party lines for candidates that they believe will actually put their priorities first. That’s the type of candidate that I am, that’s the message that I’m sending, and that’s how we’re going to win.
Closing message
Focus – It’s time for a closing statement.
Masuda – In the news, it’s a lot of doom and gloom. I want to tell folks that there are good people all across this country that care about our future. People are sick of politics at the federal level, how divided we are, and they’re looking for change. I am part of a new generation of leaders running for Congress, and I am fighting hard to bring that change because I want to build a better future for my kids. My son is 4, my daughter is 2. I want their rights to be respected. I want them to grow up in a country where they have opportunities regardless of who they are. This is a future that we can build together, and it requires removing toxic people from office and voting in the people that are going to go to work on these challenges.
Focus – This concludes The Modesto Focus forum for House of Representatives, California District 5. We appreciate your willingness to answer our questions and to serve the public. Viewers, please see our other debates at themodestofocus.org, and don’t forget to vote.