David Kim faces a tough race against incumbent Jimmy Gomez, but he’s no stranger to fighting
uphill battles. He claims to be running because of his desire to help others and advocate for his
community, and his record supports it. Kim built a legal career early on helping workers and
artists defend their labor and assets, but changed directions to work as an immigration attorney
focused on asylum cases. He currently sits on the MacArthur Park Neighborhood Council, which he
was elected to in 2019.
Kim has committed to only accepting donations from independent donors, unlike Gomez.
He often cites the fact that CA-34 is the 10th poorest district in the nation,
and doesn’t want to have to answer to the interests of corporations and manufacturers
ahead of those of the people he represents.
We find that Kim aligns with many of our shared values — he’s a supporter of a Medicare for
All and reallocating funding in addition to demilitarizing and disarming police. Kim
supports Covid-19 Rent & Mortgage Relief, the cancelation of student debt, free public college,
guaranteed housing, and the abolition of ICE. David Kim is a supporter of Universal Basic Income,
and has received an endorsement from Andrew Yang whose democratic presidential primary platform
centered UBI as a policy preference. Kim has also received an endorsement from renowned Neon Genesis
Evangelion Superfan Marianne Williamson.
Incumbent Jimmy Gomez was first elected in a special election race in 2017 to replace Xavier Becerra,
who was in turn elected the 33rd Attorney General of California. A win in 2020 would mark Gomez’s
third term in office. Compared to Kim’s small donor financing, Jimmy Gomez has raised close to one
million dollars, a majority of which comes from outside of District 3. Gomez has a true goon squad
of donors — Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Goldenman Sachs, Amazon, Monsanto, Facebook, and Google, to name just a few.
Gomez has a voting record that leans left, including co-sponsoring a bill to increase police accountability,
but also includes a yes vote to ICE funding, yes to reauthorize the USA FREEDOM Act, no on a prison reform
bill, and yes on an authorization for a $733 billion military spending increase. In 2018 he was endorsed by
Bernie Sanders, who took the district in the 2016 presidential election. He has not received the same endorsement
for 2020.
New information has come to the surface about Gómez running for Lieutenant Governor, which makes us
think his next term will be spent neglecting his district as he campaigns and raising campaign cash.
Gomez also ran misleading ads to make it seem like he was endorsed by Bernie Sanders this year and
even though he was endorsed in 2018 we are convinced that Bernie would endorse David as we would in
2020. For this reason, amongst others, we endorse Kim.