When James P. Bradley campaigned for office last year, he ran on a dollar-for-dollar shoestring but now that he is gunning for the 2022 Senate seat that U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris vacated, he’s more prepared financially.
“I had far more impact than the predictable, mind-numbing blather of the incumbent but I was outspent by a ridiculous ratio,” Bradley told the Southern California Record. “The good news is that I have been building alliances and the access to funding that goes with an extensive network.”
Although incumbent Democrat Ted Lieu won the general election for U.S. House California District 33 on Nov. 3, 2020, with 257,094 votes, Bradley garnered 123,334 votes, according to Secretary of State data.
A Republican, Bradley is undeterred even though California has been a Democratic bastion for many years.
“My candidacy is based on the ability of the people of California to see that the Democratic establishment has failed them, that it has presided over decline, not progress,” Bradley said. “The heart of my campaign is just this: look around you, fellow Californians. How much more of this deepening mess do you want? The time to change is now.”
Bradley added he has thrown his hat in the ring for 2022 because he believes the politicians currently running the state lack professional ethics.
“They care nothing about protecting let alone assisting those who are the backbone of this state and this country,” he said. “I’m a veteran and a businessman. I can bring a much-needed combination of vision and practical dirt under my fingernails work experience to solving the problems that bedevil our state and our nation.”
A decorated U.S. Coast Guard veteran and former healthcare executive, Bradley says he is greatly disappointed in Senator Alex Padilla, who was appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom to serve the duration of the term until the general election in November 2022. Padilla was Secretary of State before becoming Senator.
“Unlike the puppet Padilla, I’ll set my own course based on the ideas and principles expressed in my campaign,” he added. “I will not arrive with a ton of baggage, orders, and expectations from all the special interest groups that call the tune for California’s establishment Democrats. Our current legislators are not going to change the direction of California and the U.S. We are going to do that together.”
Padilla is running for election to the seat in 2022.
“The puppet Padilla may have a lot of big donors behind him, but does anybody think he will help our state,” Bradley said. “This is a competition or fight to save our great state and nation and those with experience in uniting our diverse population with sustainable solutions that work for everybody have to take center stage now. I am that guy.”
Bradley added that Padilla doesn’t deserve the job.
“He’s failed the greatest state in the Union,” he said about Padilla. “He’s failed its citizens, its families, and its veterans. California has so much more to offer, and it should lead the nation in freedom and prosperity, not in businesses shutting their doors, people living on the street, and high cost of living. We can get there, but not with the people we have running things now.”
If elected, Bradley says his first priority will be to eradicate homelessness.
“I will help shape a cure for the cancer of homelessness, local and national, that is real and structural—not just printing more dollars that make all of our money worthless and raise prices,” he said.