Eric Jones congressional campaign emphasizes affordability, political reform
The Democratic challenger will face longtime Rep. Mike Thompson in the Nov. 3 general election
By LAILA AZHAR — features@theaggie.org
In this year’s midterm elections, which will be held on Nov. 3, Democrats Mike Thompson and Eric Jones will face off to represent California’s 4th Congressional District. Thompson, who was first elected to Congress in 1998, is seeking another term in office, while Jones is making his first run for political office.
Jones cites his family’s experiences with the American healthcare system as the catalyst for entering politics. In 2021, his son was born with a congenital heart defect.
“He’s a medical miracle,” Jones said. “He needed a life-saving surgery when he was born, and that really opened up this moment for my wife and I because we changed who we were.”
The experience exposed his family to the financial costs of medical care.
“When we left the hospital, we got a bill a few months later, that was, I believe, something like $1.5 million — to save his life,” Jones said. “We were able to work it down to something seemingly more reasonable, but that figure we paid would have crippled so many families. And it was this visceral reminder that we are all one medical diagnosis away from tragedy, both health-wise, but also financially.”
For Jones, healthcare costs are just one element of a broader concern about the cost of living.
“Utility rates in our district have doubled in five years,” Jones said. “Over that period, PG&E CEO Patti Poppe has been paid $100 million. That is wrong. PG&E is a public utility. Yes, unfortunately, it’s also a regulated monopoly that makes billions of dollars in profit, and that’s another issue, but it’s crushing people in this district. Seniors on fixed incomes, students, renters, people who can’t snap their fingers and just generate magical money, which is most people in America — PG&E is hurting them.”
His priorities include expanding Medicare to cover vision, hearing and dental care, lowering the cost of prescription drugs and breaking up PG&E’s monopoly.
Alongside lowering the cost of living, tackling political corruption has been a central theme of his campaign. Jones signed a “Political Integrity Pledge,” which, as described by his campaign, “includes a rejection of corporate PAC [political action committee] money, refraining from owning individual stocks while in office, supporting a ban on congressional stock trading, backing a five-year lobbying ban for former members of Congress, and working to overturn Citizens United.” He is an advocate for term limits and has pledged to serve no more than 12 years if elected.
“When you talk to people, they know that government has become corrupt,” Jones said. “Sacramento and D.C. — they see the money in politics. They see the dark money. They see the lobbying. They know there’s 20 lobbyists for every one member of Congress in D.C. They get how broken it is, and they want term limits. They want to get money out of politics. They want to stop the gerrymandering. They want to ban stock trading for members of Congress.”
It is precisely this issue that brought Karl VonZabern, a regional field director for the campaign, on board.
“The amount of money we have been spending on politics, especially as the majorities narrow for the House, it’s too much influence from corporations in a very systematic way,” VonZabern said. “That was the big thing for me because it touches everything else. It touches healthcare. It touches climate. It touches cost of living.”
Jones also emphasized this connection.
“The corruption is what breaks the trust, and the cost of living is what creates the insecurity and drives the fear and really drives home that your government is not working for you,” Jones said.
While Jones does not take money from PACs, critics of his campaign have expressed concern about his background in venture capitalism. Jones was previously a partner at Dragoneer Investment Group, a San Francisco-based investment firm.
When asked about this, he emphasized his working-class upbringing and decision to leave the industry.
“We have, in America, some not-so-great examples of people from business in their 60s and 70s deciding they want to put their name in the limelight and be a politician — that’s not me,” Jones said. “I’m 35. I started leaving that world when I was 30. I am a welfare kid. My parents didn’t go to college. [...] So, that is a fair concern. But in the context of who I am, where I had a decade-long career and I started it because I wanted to help my family and make sure we had financial security, I’m very grateful for the experience and knowledge I have, but that’s not who I am. The best indication of that is me leaving that world and committing myself to something different.”
In August, Jones received the endorsement of Republican Raymond Riehle, who came in third behind Thompson and Jones in the June primary. Jones pointed to the endorsement as an example of his willingness to work across party lines.
“I think that those in power in America today would like to put us into two camps — my team, your team — because the easiest way to control population is to say, ‘Don’t look up, look to your left, look to your right, find your enemy one house over, and we’re going to teach you and train you and algorithmically feed you information to make you think that you are so far apart,’” Jones said.
Despite running under the same party banner, Jones cites key points of contention between himself and Thompson, including the candidates’ stances on the military-industrial complex.
“I come from a military family,” Jones said. “I understand there is necessity for the U.S. military. And at the same time, I think it’s abhorrent what we’re doing today. I think it’s abhorrent what we’ve done. My entire life, we’ve been at war. I’ve seen the cost of it in my own household, and it just has to stop.”
Jones also points to surveillance as a significant distinction. He recently called for regulation of surveillance company Flock Safety, and a moratorium on government use of the company’s surveillance network until federal regulations are established.
“Big tech, AI, surveillance, Flock cameras and data centers — they’ve got enough ammunition themselves,” Jones said. “They’ve got the full weight of the Supreme Court behind them. They don’t need allies in Congress. So why do we keep electing people whose principal position is to be a corporate ally?”
For members of his campaign, Jones’ platform serves as an alternative to the existing political system.
“I think people are tired of the status quo,” VonZabern said. “We’ve seen the Democratic Party waffle when it comes to standing up to Donald Trump, a clear authoritarian. We need the next generation to step up and we need a disruption in the current power system.”
As the general election approaches, voters will weigh candidates’ competing visions for the district in order to choose its next representative.
To check whether they are registered to vote in the upcoming midterms, California voters can visit voterstatus.sos.ca.gov. To learn more information about either candidate, visit their websites at https://mikethompson.house.gov/ and https://www.ericjones.us/.
Written by: Laila Azhar — features@theaggie.org