California's 32nd Congressional District CA-32

I am running for Congress because I want to advocate and pass meaningful legislation that makes everyday people's lives better. During the Democratic primary, I was hearing the concerns of everyday people and was inspired to do something which is why I filed to run for Congress. I feels strongly that everyday people matter and will fight hard to solve the problems that matter most to them. Also, people need to know they can count on their elected official to do the right thing, feel seen and heard, and genuinely cares. I’m also running because I want to inspire the next generation to be engaged in our community and feel empowered to make a difference which is why Kids Have a Voice Too is a major part of our platform.

The issues that matter the most to me are education reform, foster care reform, and closing the income gap. Plus, I think it is imperative to educate people on why campaign finance reform is absolutely needed. If we can fix where elected officials get their money, more “everyday” people can afford to run for office and be a part of the decision making process.

The people in my community care about the increase in homelessness, affordable housing, education reform, and protecting small businesses. Also, people often mention they would like to see more bipartisanship.

People that support my candidacy like that I am my authentic self, genuinely care about the policies I advocate for, am willing to talk to anyone, and prioritize solving the problems. Also, that we are a community service driven campaign and make a point to empower the youth in our community. Not that this is unique to me, but I also refuse to take money from big banks and corporations so I am only beholden to everyday people.

I personally think I am unique candidate because when I decided to run for Congress I wanted to run a clean campaign, for it to be community oriented, and to empower our youth (Kids Have a Voice Too). I think politics has become more crucifying individuals and parties versus actually solving problems and that is why people are so disengaged. Plus, that approach doesn’t address the long food bank lines, lack of affordable housing, our outdated education system, problems within our foster care system or climate change. I love that our campaign is intentional about these things and that we have become very viable as a result of it.

Our primary is on Tuesday, June 7th, 2022. But, California sends ballots in the mail on May 9th.

We are a jungle primary. So anyone from any party can run and the top two candidates that get the most votes go on to the general .

I am running as a Democrat.

Our biggest challenge has actually already passed. Those challenges were deciding to run for office and lose everything along the way for the change we want to see, building the campaign infrastructure, and learning how to actually run a campaign against a 20+ year incumbent. Once we figured all that out we have been able to position ourselves to be a viable contender and to be taken seriously by Congressman Brad Sherman and actually win this election. The challenge of running for office, in general, is always the beginning because you have to fall six times and get up seven.

*Win or lose our grassroots campaign has a lot to be proud of. We have done a lot of good in our community and raised unprecedented amounts of money without compromising our integrity along the way. Plus, everyone has worked so incredibly hard for close 2 years to get us to this point and that is an achievement in and of itself. With all the adversity that comes with running against an incumbent, we have prevailed.

If we win our election it will be because we worked really hard for two years, listened to people regardless if we agree or not, and we genuinely care about the issues we are running on and people in CA-32 decide they want new representation in Congress.

Nicole Hammer
Nicole@AarikaforCongress.Com

We have a diverse campaign from age, race, gender, religion political spectrum, and economically. Everyone that works on the campaign asked me if they can work on the campaign because they like what I stand for and the platform I am running on.

The two most important people in my life are my parents John and Diana. They have made incredible sacrifices for me to run for Congress and are the only two people in this world that have believed in me the entire time. Nothing can prepare you for running for office because it is one of the hardest things one can ever do; especially if you come from humble beginnings like myself. But when you have people like my parents that remind you daily that you can win this is the ultimate motivation.

We are supported by everyday people and will be voted in by everyday people.

I have learned in politics, people do not like to go against the incumbent even if they do not like the incumbent. It's not in their interest.

Rep Brad Sherman is the current incumbent, but I do not view him as an opponent. He is just the current representative, but every two years people have the opportunity to pick who they would like to represent them and for the first time in 12 years they have another option.

Agreed on 04-14-2022