Air Force Vet Running for 3rd Congressional District of California

Air Force Vet Running for 3rd Congressional District of California
David Lam
11/7/2019
Updated:
11/8/2019
Tamika Hamilton (R) is running for 3rd District of California (CA-3), and with her belief in the Constitution she wants to effect change for the United States.

Hamilton currently has over 12,000 followers on social media—11,000 of which were supporters that she gained in a span of two months.

“After 10 years of broken promises, it is time for a change … I’m not running to be the most popular gal in Washington, D.C. I’m running because I believe our representative in Congress should put our needs first,” says Hamilton.

Hamilton has spoken about specific areas of improvement in California, including homelessness, immigration, and the agricultural industry.

Homelessness in the Bay and Immigration
The Bay Area Council Economic Institute’s 2019 report on homelessness states: “The Bay Area has the third largest population of people experiencing homelessness (28,200) in the U.S., behind only New York City (76,500) and Los Angeles (55,200), according to Point-in-Time counts.”

Hamilton says that the homelessness consists of many groups, such as those of U.S. veterans, those suffering from mental health issues, those who are homeless by choice, as well as those in poverty.

When it comes to people living on the streets, Hamilton says that they should be shown love and compassion. “That’s somebody’s baby—that’s somebody’s child.”

She continues, “They’re American citizens and they deserve to be taken care of.”

At present, she understands the immigration situation that California faces at the border, and she believes that the border wall alone would not fully resolve the issue.

While appreciating that people show interest in coming to the United States, she believes that U.S. citizenship should be attained through proper legal means.

As one solution, Hamilton believes incentives should be reduced for illegal immigrants, particularly welfare benefits.

In the past, as a single mother and a U.S. soldier, she couldn’t receive welfare herself.

Photo of the Hamilton family (Tamika Hamilton)
Photo of the Hamilton family (Tamika Hamilton)
Background

Hamilton is married to her husband Ray, who serves as a police officer, and they currently have four children.

After graduating high school she joined the U.S. Air Force and served for 14 years with multiple deployments.

Given her background, and as a black woman running for Congress as a Republican, Hamilton realizes that she may not fit the public narrative.

She says that she sees herself as an American soldier, mother, and wife that wants to make changes to California.

She emphasized getting work done and making an actual impact, regardless of which side of the political spectrum one supports.

“Republicans didn’t pick me, I went to them,” says Hamilton.

Thoughts on Agriculture and the President

Hamilton says that the agriculture industry faces overtaxation, and she believes that one solution would be to allow farmers to grandfather in their equipment.

“They can get fined for something that they [legislators] make up the next day … They’re not cutting them any break at all,” she states.

Equipment replacement expenses can be costly, and Hamilton says that farmers in California have many restrictions.

She believes in transparency and wants to open up the books and investigate as to why other states have less regulations on agriculture.

When asked about President Donald Trump, she believes he is a family man and wants to protect American citizens and that he’s doing all that he can do, given the time he’s been in office.

During her military services, she has served under three presidencies, and she thinks people should support the leadership. Hamilton recognizes that people may have differing opinions.

“Whoever [the] president may be, we need to be offering constructive criticism, we don’t need to air out every opinion that we have. Spewing negative thoughts does not help anyone.”

She continues, “It doesn’t matter if you’re in politics or not, being negative never helps anybody.”

Campaign Efforts

Hamilton mentioned she’s had many conversations with Democrats, with several of them telling her they hope she’d win.

She says that she relies on donations from supporters, and that her family and husband work overtime so that she can run her campaign full time.

From her Facebook page, “[She] began speaking with people in her district and learned first hand how they struggle to survive, want to relocate out of state, and dissatisfied with the elected officials. Many seemed to believe that California would never change.”

It continues, “Tamika decided that being an outsider wouldn’t stop her from pursuing a seat in Congress. She believes in the people. She believes in the Constitution. She believes in California.”