Bee endorsement: The best candidate to represent Fresno in Congress survived Jan. 6 riot

If ever there was a time to keep Jim Costa in Congress, this is it.

The longtime representative from Fresno was in the House of Representatives’ chamber on Jan. 6 when rioters stormed into the Capitol and began ransacking offices. The rioters were furious over the expected congressional ratification of the Electoral College result that awarded the presidency to Joe Biden over Donald Trump. So the insurrectionists shut down the government and hunted for key legislators, like Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The Bee ran a chilling photo of Costa seeking shelter in the gallery area of the House chamber as rioters tried to break in below. Only the efforts of Capitol police kept that from happening.

More than most, Costa has felt the peril of upholding America’s democracy.

Rather than shrinking from duty in the wake of that horrific day, Costa stayed the course, and this year has achieved an impressive record of votes and wins for his district.

An example: Helping the Fresno County Economic Development Corp. win a $23 million Good Jobs Challenge grant. The grant creates a project focused on apprenticeships, training programs and career placement services in the fields of financial services, manufacturing, transportation and logistics, and construction.

There were more than 500 applications for Good Jobs grants, and just 32 projects nationwide got awarded. Costa was the only congressional representative in the San Joaquin Valley to vote for the American Rescue Plan, which funded the challenge grants, and he advocated for the Central Valley project.

Costa is a Democrat who has represented parts of Fresno and Madera counties and all of Merced County in the 16th District. Under redistricting, he is now running for the 21st District, which covers most of the city of Fresno and stretches southeast to include Reedley, Fowler, Selma and Kingsburg before ending at the northern part of Visalia.

His opponent is Republican Michael Maher, who served in the Navy, is a former FBI agent and now owns and operates a private aviation firm.

Maher faces an uphill battle: 43.6% of voters are registered as Democrats, with 26.2% registered as Republicans. Another 22.4% are no party preference.

Voting record

For Maher to win, he has to convince voters that Costa needs to be replaced. Costa’s record this year makes that difficult:

▪ Costa was among the House’s Democratic majority passing the Inflation Reduction Act. Among its provisions are reductions in health-care premiums as well as lower prescription drug prices, and a cap on co-payments for diabetics who must buy insulin and are on Medicare.

▪ Costa supported the Right to Contraception bill passed by the House that protects Americans’ access to contraceptives.

▪ He voted to back a bill that expands health benefits for veterans, particularly those who have been affected by toxic fumes from burn pits. Of note, the legislation gives additional coverage to Vietnam War veterans, including those who served in Cambodia, Laos and Thailand. The measure passed in the House.

▪ Costa joined Valley GOP members Kevin McCarthy and David Valadao in co-sponsoring legislation called Save Our Sequoias Act. It would prioritize controlled burning and other fuel reductions in sequoia groves in the Sierra at high risk of fires. The measure would also create a reforestation strategy and streamline environmental reviews.

When asked if he would support a national ban on abortion, Maher did not answer directly, but said he backed the Supreme Court’s decision to let states decide for themselves.

Costa’s one-word response to the same question: “No.” He fully backs letting a woman make such a decision herself, in concert with her family, doctor and faith leader.

Sustaining democracy

A week after the Jan. 6 riot, Costa joined fellow Democrats in voting to impeach President Trump for inciting the attack. Subsequent hearings by the Jan. 6 committee have shown how the former president allowed the riot to continue long into that afternoon, and how he played a key role in inciting it from the start.

Fast forward to now, and Costa recently voted with the House majority for the Presidental Election Reform Act. It would tighten up how the Electoral College process is handled, including how the vice president’s role is simply to certify, not overrule, the college’s results, as Trump tried to get former Vice President Mike Pence to do.

America must not allow self-centered politicians like Trump or his cast of followers parroting his election denials wreck our democracy. The nation needs leaders who cherish our principles and the rule of law. The nation requires leaders ready to take on real problems facing the nation, like the threat of climate change, not culture-war nonsense.

Michael Maher is an even-tempered Republican whose day may come. For now, many of his points are the standard fare Republicans are dishing out this election season: stop inflation, get crime under control, protect families. Maher easily describes the problems, but is short on ideas for how to fix them.

Jim Costa is the man for this moment. Voters would do well to return him to Congress.