Ajwang Rading
Ajwang Rading (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent California's 16th Congressional District. He lost in the primary on June 7, 2022.
Rading completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Ajwang Rading was born in California. Rading earned a bachelor's degree and law degree from the University of California at Los Angeles in 2014 and 2020, respectively.[1] His career experience includes working as an attorney, an educator, and an organizer.[2]
Elections
2022
See also: California's 16th Congressional District election, 2022
General election
General election for U.S. House California District 16
Incumbent Anna Eshoo defeated Rishi Kumar in the general election for U.S. House California District 16 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Anna Eshoo (D) | 57.8 | 139,235 | |
| Rishi Kumar (D) | 42.2 | 101,772 | ||
| Total votes: 241,007 | ||||
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Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for U.S. House California District 16
The following candidates ran in the primary for U.S. House California District 16 on June 7, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Anna Eshoo (D) | 47.9 | 81,100 | |
| ✔ | Rishi Kumar (D) | 15.6 | 26,438 | |
| Peter Ohtaki (R) | 12.6 | 21,354 | ||
| Richard Fox (R) | 7.8 | 13,187 | ||
| Ajwang Rading (D) | 6.7 | 11,418 | ||
| Greg Tanaka (D) | 6.6 | 11,107 | ||
| Benjamin Solomon (R) | 1.6 | 2,659 | ||
| John Karl Fredrich (Independent) | 1.3 | 2,120 | ||
| Travis Odekirk (D) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 2 | ||
| Total votes: 169,385 | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Ajwang Rading completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Rading's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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From homelessness to running for the House of Representatives, Ajwang knows what it takes to fight for our future. With persistence, the unconditional love of his mom, and a village of Americans supporting him, Ajwang climbed out of poverty to become an attorney, educator, and organizer. But his story is too rare in California and America today. To address the compounding crises in health, climate, and housing, and to ensure every person has a fighting chance at success, we need a new generation of leadership in Washington.
- In a moment of new and compounding crises in climate, housing, and health, we need a new generation of leadership in Washington.
- As a young, Black man who grew up in poverty, Ajwang has the life experience we’re missing in Congress, and he’ll legislate to give everyone the opportunity to succeed and live out their potential.
- In the heart of the country’s tech sector, we need a representative who understands and will foster the development of technology and business for the public good.
Housing, Health Care, Climate, Racial Justice
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign website
Rading's campaign website stated the following:
| “ |
Confronting the Climate Crisis There’s no escaping the climate crisis in California. Devastating fires and increased water scarcity threaten our health, our homes, and our economy, and the time for nibbling around the edges of this urgent crisis has long past. In Congress, Ajwang’s top priority will be to mobilize and support the talent and innovation of Silicon Valley to tackle the climate crisis. He will advance green technologies, all while boosting the economy and creating new transformative companies and jobs. Ajwang is committed to 100% clean and renewable electricity by 2035, a transformation that is estimated to create 10 million new, living-wage jobs over the next ten years. A landmark investment in clean energy technology and jobs of this scale will modernize our infrastructure and urban systems of mass transit, in addition to protecting our landscapes and improving our agricultural practices. Because the impacts of climate change have been felt disproportionately by the poor and people of color, Ajwang is committed to a just transition that ensures equal access to clean air, clean water, and good jobs for all.
Our district is the center of the greatest technological innovation in the world, and we need policies that bring out the best in our advances to further the public good. Today, digital privacy is under attack, and market conditions threaten the viability of startups for entrepreneurs. Ajwang firmly believes the next chapter of the internet will be formed through decentralization, cryptography and blockchain technology, and he will fight to have the Federal Government foster equal access to the newfound opportunities. From regulating illicit transactional practices and fraud in cryptocurrencies to bringing the power of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) and blockchain to challenge the antiquated accredited investing laws, Ajwang will bring an informed perspective on this new technology to Congress. He will work to develop Web3, the new iteration of the internet, safely and naturally, and will introduce transformative digital privacy legislation, ensuring protection for our most vulnerable populations, and for our democracy.
The United States is suffering from the fastest rise in consumer prices in nearly four decades. At the same time, political, socioeconomic, and cultural forces are leading people to quit their jobs, fueling a Great Resignation across industries. As the Federal Reserve is poised to raise interest rates, threatening the value of assets, Ajwang will fight to prevent a potential recession and put in place infrastructure for child care, health care, and housing that will help bring people back into the paid workforce. Ajwang will champion new tax incentives for innovation and technology to empower our startups and investment in our most marginalized communities. From fighting to reimplement SALT deductions to providing tax breaks for small business owners and investing in the technologies of tomorrow, Ajwang is committed to employing the Federal Government as a vehicle to incentivize environmental, social, and governance (ESG) values in the private and public markets.
The past two years have clearly shown the centrality of health in all of our lives, and to our economy. Yet, as a country, we have failed to deliver on this most fundamental, basic human right. Our healthcare system is costly, inefficient, and fails to meet the health needs of people, and our society at large. As someone who has experienced homelessness with severely restricted access to healthcare, Ajwang believes in universal access to care, and will advocate for a more fair, humane and effective system that guarantees health care as a human right to every person in the United States. He supports expanding Medicaid eligibility until we can get to a system that seamlessly and comprehensively covers everyone, including for access to critical mental, reproductive, and sexual health care. In addition, Ajwang is dedicated to investing in pandemic preparedness to limit the impact of future outbreaks. Through the development of prototype vaccines, strengthened systems of public health, and improved monitoring of viruses, Ajwang believes we can prevent a future pandemic from wreaking the destruction and pain this virus has caused in our community, our country, and our world.
As someone who’s experienced homelessness firsthand, Ajwang is determined to implement policies that ensure no person has to go without the basic human need for shelter. Over the last decade, the cost of housing has skyrocketed in the Silicon Valley, and across the Bay Area, leading the region to become prohibitively expensive for many, and leaving those still here cash-strapped to pay the rent or mortgage. Devastatingly, many have been forced to experience homelesssness. This is not a humane or sustainable path for the people and economy of our district, and something must change. We need to invest in the construction and rehabilitation of affordable housing. We also must crack down on foreign investors who buy up property in our district as an asset, but then leave the housing empty and out of commission for people who live here and need the housing capacity to grow.
With authoritarianism on the rise across the globe, Ajwang believes the foreign policy of the U.S. government must center and stand up for the human rights of all people. He is committed to not embedding the United States in endless, billion-dollar conflicts that detract from the ability to provide people in our own country with education, health care, housing, and adequate infrastructure. Ajwang is also dedicated to building trade agreements and rules in accordance with U.S. values and international human rights principles. Focused on national security and human rights principles first, Ajwang will fight to incentivize reshoring of global supply chains domestically, focused on semiconductors and battery components, which he believes will be future fuel for potential conflicts.
Our democracy is under threat. Our laws make it impossible for too many to access their basic right of citizenship: the right to vote. Ajwang supports the John Lewis Voting Rights Act that would ensure all citizens are able to vote. He also advocates for automatic voter registration, and early and mail-in voting options to create flexibility and opportunity for those who are unable to make it to the ballot box on Election Day. Reclaiming First Amendment principles in the digital age, Ajwang will work to update tort and contract law to fight against misinformation and disinformation online.
From the time he was young, Ajwang knew a good education could be the key that opened the door to a better life. He worked hard and earned both undergraduate and law degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles. He’s a firm believer that all children should have access to quality education, and supports policies to implement universal and free preschool for all 3-and 4-year olds. He also supports debt-free college so no person has to be saddled with college debt for the rest of their lives.[3] |
” |
| —Ajwang Rading's campaign website (2022)[4] | ||
See also
2022 Elections
External links
|
Candidate U.S. House California District 16 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on January 10, 2022
- ↑ Twitter, "Ajwang Rading," accessed May 16, 2022
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Ajwang Rading for Congress, “Policy,” accessed May 10, 2022
