MADISON AUMENT, REPORTER: Republican candidates Ken Calvert and Young Kim are battling it out in the race for California’s 40th congressional district that stretches from Mission Viejo in Orange County to Woodcrest in Riverside County. It is one of the only safe Republican seats in Southern California. In order to appeal to the district’s moderate voters, Kim has tried to distance herself from President Trump’s MAGA politics, while Calvert has gone all in.
Calvert joins us today by phone from Corona. And one important note: we are working to schedule an interview with Young Kim. Congressman Calvert, hello.
REP. KEN CALVERT: Hello.
AUMENT: So affordability is a big issue heading into the midterms. 96% of California’s likely voters say affordability is their number one concern, which is according to a report from the Public Policy Institute of California. If you’re reelected to Congress, how would you address the affordability crisis?
CALVERT: Well, it all comes down to energy. And in California, we have the highest energy costs pretty much anywhere in the United States. Why? Because we have terrible policies that keep coming out of Sacramento that makes it much more expensive. A lot of that is state; we’ll do what we can on the federal side, bringing more oil and gas to the marketplace. So that’s the biggest thing we can do to bring more affordability to the people here in the state of California.
AUMENT: Continuing with affordability concerns, gas prices are currently more than $6 a gallon here in the Inland Empire, which is about $1.70 more than it was a year ago. Due to the war in Iran, which you support, economists predict that oil prices will continue to rise through the winter. I’m curious how you square away supporting the Iran war with the effects it’s having on Americans at home.
CALVERT: Sometimes conflict is necessary. I pretty much saw the same intelligence data the President of the United States saw. Sometimes you have to do things that you don’t want to do.
AUMENT: So it sounds like if you’re reelected, you will continue to support this action in Iran.
CALVERT: Well, I think this action will end relatively soon. So I think you’re going to see declining price of oil and gasoline prices in the near… relatively near future.
AUMENT: Another issue that’s top of mind for local voters is the Trump administration’s large-scale immigration enforcement and deportation campaign. A poll released by UC Berkeley’s Institute of Government Studies this week found that 70% of California voters, including one in five Republicans, believe that the president’s immigration policies are hurting California’s economy and local businesses, and many local voters have said ICE has gone too far. Is there any part of the Trump enforcement program that, in your view, has gone too far?
CALVERT: Look, our primary focus are criminal aliens, people who commit crimes, and get them out of the United States as rapidly as possible. It’s obviously having an effect. Sometimes there’s some difficulties when you have— when you’re trying to enforce existing law, but that’s what we’re trying to do. I certainly support that. I wrote the eVerify law many years ago, and I think that’s the best way to have civil enforcement is to enforce the law to verify the legal status of employees that are being hired. If they don’t have legal status, they won’t be hired, and they’ll self-deport. You don’t have to have stringent ICE and enforcement if we enforce at the point of employment.
AUMENT: Does that mean that you agree people should be deported to third countries where they have no family and don’t know the language?
CALVERT: Look, I prefer that people leave this country voluntarily if they’re here illegally, and that way, they can go back to their home country. And I think that’s the— that’s the right choice for these individuals to make, so they don’t have to face that choice.
AUMENT: Many Republicans running this year have distanced themselves from President Trump amid the president’s low voter approval numbers. But you’ve criticized your opponent, Young Kim, for scrubbing references to the president from her campaign page. In a year when President Trump is not very popular, which of his policies do you disagree with, if any?
CALVERT: Well, you know, you know, there’s no president that I’ve agreed with 100% of the time. You know, I think some of the tariff policies that, you know, sometimes go a little too far. I would like to get some of these tariff agreements done sooner rather than later. It affects the economy, but overall, I think on the economy… things are improving. The Biden administration was a disaster. So we’re working to get this economy back on track.
AUMENT: The Republican Party controls all three branches of government. So if something is going wrong in the district or in the country, I’m wondering how you respond to that, since for the past two years, your party has been in charge.
CALVERT: Look, the state of California, we’ve had the same party in charge for the last 15 years… over two thirds of the majorities in the state legislature and the state senate are Democrat. You know, you can’t blame anything other than them.
AUMENT: You are running against another Republican incumbent. Just for voters who are undecided, what sets you apart from Young Kim?
CALVERT: Well, I’m a consistent conservative. People know where I stand… so, you know, you need to— you need to believe in things. You just can’t change your position from day to day.
AUMENT: Well, thank you for your time, Congressman.
CALVERT: Thank you.