JOAQUÍN BELTRÁN

IN THE COMMUNITY AND RUNNING FOR CONGRESS

JOAQUÍN BELTRÁN FOR JOBS NOT BOMBS

As a software engineer and community health advocate, a proud son of immigrant parents who came to the United States for the American dream, and a fighter with a proven track record of improving our community's health and quality of life, I am running to represent you in Congress. I am running for a better future for all our communities.

SINGLE PAYER / MEDICARE FOR ALL, HOUSING AND THE COST OF LIVING, PERMANENT CEASEFIRE

A TRACK RECORD OF CREATING CHANGE ALONGSIDE OUR COMMUNITY

✅ Founded The ACE (ActionCareEquity.org) Coalition and led the return of masks in healthcare in LA County

✅ First candidate in this race to condemn genocide and call for a ceasefire

✅ Only candidate in this race to advocate for Palestinian lives on public record at official city, county, and federal government meetings

✅ Organized with Greenpeace and Extinction Rebellion for climate action

✅ Created Speak Up America to empower people to advocate with their representatives

PLATFORM

  • Single Payer / Medicare for All

    I’m proud to support California Nurses Association’s AB 2200 bill for CalCare. CalCare is urgently needed to provide universal coverage, comprehensive healthcare, the freedom to choose one’s provider, and for accessing healthcare free at the point of service, and address current existing healthcare disparities such as long covid and racial inequities.

  • Affordable Housing, Food, Gas

    The cost of living is hurting our community, from housing to food to gas, we need to create policies that help provide security for our community instead of creating policies that make it hard for us to do the most basic of things like buy food and have a roof over our heads.

  • Permanent Ceasefire

    As the first candidate in this race to call for an end to the genocide and the only candidate in this race who has spoken at official meetings in Long Beach, Cudahy, Downey, Montebello, and even LA County Supervisors and the CDC, I will do everything in my power to end the occupation and Free Palestine.

  • Climate Action

    As the Founder of Speak Up America, I have organized with Greenpeace and Extinction Rebellion LA for policies to prevent and mitigate the increasing climate crisis. Because of our leaders, many of the consequences are already happening and I will work to urgently bring funding from Congress to invest in infrastructure upgrades to protect our communities in times of extreme weather events like heatwaves, flooding, wildfires, and heavy snow.

  • Health and the Economy

    As the founder of the ACE (ActionCareEquity.org) Coalition, I’ve led the movement in LA County to make healthcare settings safer for our community so that they don’t get sicker in healthcare but get better, that’s how it should be. I’ll continue this work in Congress by investing in indoor air quality upgrades with better ventilation and filtration for our healthcare settings, schools, public transportation, and every work environment. The future is clean air and single payer healthcare, critical reforms for investing in our communities’ health AND the economy.

  • Free Public Education

    As a former Student Body President for California State University, Los Angeles in 2009-10 during the Great Recession when we experienced 33% fee increases. I will champion free public education. The Master Plan of Higher Education created the CSUs, UCs, and Community Colleges, we need to get back to investing in our communities instead of the military industrial complex.

  • K-12 Education

    As a former mentor of College Bound Today in underserved areas of Southeast LA, it’s urgent that we invest in future generations so that they get the best opportunities to achieve their dreams and be the leaders of tomorrow and this starts with investing in K-12. I will champion better funding for teachers, programs in the arts and technology, and high quality classroom conditions to improve learning.

  • Immigrants and the American Dream

    As someone born in East LA and as a first-generation Mexican-American, I grew up living the immigrant story as my parents worked hard to achieve their American Dream of starting a small business by working as a seamstress and machine operator. Our family members are now leaders in our community and this is a common story of immigrants who are the foundation of American life. Congress must create humane policies that provide safe pathways to citizenship for people already in the U.S. and those who want a better life and want to contribute to the future our nation.

  • Long Covid Treatment and Financial Support

    On Jan 18th, I flew to Washington D.C. to attend Bernie Sander’s HELP Committee on Long Covid to advocate for research, treatments, and financial support. Nearly four million people have become disabled and cannot return to work, and this number continues to grow. In Congress, I will work to fund this growing public heath crisis immediately.

Fighting Early and Fiercely for Palestinians

Human life is sacred and I am proud to be the first candidate in this race to call for an end to the genocide and for a ceasefire. Since the start of the genocide four months ago, I am the only candidate who went on record during public comment to advocate for Palestinian lives at official government meetings across the district and beyond: Long Beach, Cudahy, Downey, Montebello, the CDC, and at the first regular meeting of the LA County Board of Supervisors on October 17th. I will do everything in my power to end the occupation and Free Palestine.

My Story

I was born in Unincorporated East Los Angeles where I grew up with all the grandparents, aunts, and uncles, all in a small house. During that time, my parents worked hard, my mother as a seamstress at a sweatshop in downtown and my father as a machine operator at a warehouse, and eventually, we moved to our own home just a few blocks away. I remember my parents working for their American Dream, buying clothes wholesale in downtown after their full-time jobs so that we as a family, with my two younger siblings at the time, can go door to door to sell it. Along the way, we faced hardships and nearly lost everything but my family didn’t give up and, with faith and hard work, we were able to get back on our feet and moved to the city of Downey. Our family built our roots here as we attended schools, church, and soon a small business that our parents opened in our community.

Our parents had experienced eminent domain with a previous small business, which means the government forces a tenant to vacate a property in order to build a public project and we had to find a new location quickly. I remember being roughly 18 years old stepping in front of the city council members to urge them to approve my mother’s plans for a business and with the fear that, if they didn’t, we would have to start from scratch, again. The challenges of starting the business were so large that my mother fell ill and asked me to step in causing me to drop out of college for the next few years to help her run the business. During that process, I got involved in the civic process of the city as an advocate and volunteer while working full-time to help my family. The experience gave me renewed purpose to continue helping my community and I've been doing that ever since through politics, engineering, and community organizing.

And this work has carried over throughout the pandemic as I’ve worked to protect our communities with federal policies to provide high-quality masks, cleaner indoor air, and rapid and accurate tests to contain transmission of this virus. With your support, we will win this election and I will fight for our communities in Congress.

JOIN ME IN THE FIGHT FOR OUR FUTURE!

Doing the Work for Our Community

  • Speak Up America

    I founded Speak Up America to help people make their voices heard so politicians can be responsive to what matters for communities. Through Speak Up America, I’ve launched campaigns focused on better policies to contain the pandemic, combat climate change, and helped organize webinars to create safer environments for schools during COVID.

  • ACE Coalition

    I founded ACE, a community-led coalition that’s building collective power to protect every member of our communities. ACE takes action for health care that is equitable now.

  • Public Radio

    Chair of Regional Advisory Council for LA’s NPR station, Southern California Public Radio/LAist. Member of council since 2013 helping to provide guidance on programming, growing their audience to reflect the diversity of Greater LA, and growing their digital platform. On leave for Congressional Campaign.

  • Green Zone Act

    Founded and Authored a framework for ending community transmission focused on protection protocols, financial foundation, and community care.

  • Coro Southern California

    Coro Fellow in 2011-12 awarded a $45k grant from The California Endowment to create an asset map and research resident engagement in West/Central Long Beach and launched a financial literacy canvassing campaign in East Los Angeles for the community bank, Pan American Bank.

  • Biden-Harris 2020

    Regional Director for Biden-Harris 2020 campaign to help elect a president who would act on COVID and Climate. Unlike other candidates, I have been straightforward in holding President Biden accountable on the pandemic, climate, and the genocide in Gaza, I do this because we are in a representative democracy and should demand better.

  • Growing Jobs and Small Businesses

    Created the nation’s 7th largest SBDC Network’s public affairs strategy and met with legislators to advocate for economic development to help small businesses grow and produce more jobs.

  • Obama-Biden 2008

    Deputy Field Organizer in Northeast Las Vegas that led the state of Nevada in volunteer recruitment.

  • Bienvenidos

    Community organizer for Bienvenidos helping to bring together stakeholders in nonprofits, business, and government to improve public health and civic engagement.

  • Tech Incubator

    Co-founded a public-private partnership of a Small Business Development Center focused on helping emerging tech entrepreneurs get the resources for their startups to be successful.

“The Health, Safety, and Economic Growth of our families and community comes first.”

JOIN THE MOVEMENT

By filling out the form you agree to receive emails and or text message updates from the campaign.

This grassroots campaign is powered by everyday people who want real change.

Congressional District 42

Congressional District 42 includes the following cities and neighborhoods: Downey, Long Beach, Lakewood, Commerce, Bell Gardens, Bell, Huntington Park, Florence-Firestone, Cudahy, Maywood, Bellflower, Lakewood, Walnut Park, Signal Hill, and Avalon.

This grassroots campaign is powered by everyday people who want real change.

I want to hear from you, tell me what matters to you and ideas for a better future for our community.

By filling out the form you agree to receive emails and or text message updates from the campaign.