In a couple weeks, ballots will begin to be mailed out to voters across the state ahead of the midterm. Leading up to Nov. 3, \u00a0Insight Host Vicki Gonzalez is going to sit down with the candidates across local, state and federal races.\u00a0<\/p>\n
California’s 6th Congressional District includes parts of Sacramento, Roseville, Rockland and Citrus Heights along I-80.<\/p>\n
The candidates looking to represent the newly drawn district are current Congressmember Kevin Kiley, running as No Party Preference and former Democratic State Senator Dr. Richard Pan.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The pediatrician is a former state lawmaker in both the Assembly and Senate who also ran an unsuccessful campaign for Sacramento Mayor in 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.<\/p>\n
Interview highlights<\/p>\n
You’re no stranger to elected office, was a run for Congress in this midterm a natural next step?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Well, it’s not really a next step as much as the fact that we need better representation in Congress. You know, as a pediatrician, I spend time with families and I talk to them and I hear how much people are struggling, right? Families are struggling with the cost of living, they’re struggling trying to access health care. I took care of kids who are at the county clinic, many of them dependent on programs like Medicaid. And frankly, things have gotten a lot worse for them in the past couple of years with this administration.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And so, what I saw was when I was in the state legislature, I worked hard to be sure we got more people health care coverage. In fact, we got 4 million more Californians health care coverage, right? I tried to address medication costs by authoring a law to have the state contract produce its own medication. We have $11 insulin in the State of California now when it was over $100 before, right?<\/p>\n
And then when we had a large measles outbreak that began at Disneyland in 2015. I have authored laws to strengthen our vaccination rates to prevent future outbreaks. A law that\u2014actually RFK, Jr., came to Sacramento, he actually came to Sacramento twice\u2014he incited his followers to assault me on the street, throw blood at me. And we still got those laws passed. In fact, we’ve not had a measles outbreak that large since 2015, even though there’s large outbreaks across the country. So, it really is about keeping people safe.<\/p>\n
It’s also being sure people have access to the care they need. And when I saw that kind of work being reversed because of what was happening at the federal government with this administration, with this Congress, that’s why I decided I need to run.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Your views are dramatically opposed to the Trump administration and Secretary Kennedy, how would you turn those views into actual meaningful change at the congressional level? What avenues could you see making inroads?\u00a0<\/p>\n
The founders of this country, when they wrote the Constitution, established three branches of government and the balance of power. So in other words, the job of Congress is to pass the laws but also hold the executive branch accountable.<\/p>\n
They weren’t saying, \u2018oh only if it’s of a different party,\u2019 right? And so one of the big problems we have is that we have a Congress, a Republican Congress, that refuses to hold their president accountable. And since they’re not willing to do that job, that’s one of the reasons I’m running for Congress.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My opponent, Kevin Kiley, is not willing to do that job. Not willing to hold this president accountable for what he’s doing, whether it’s his appointment of RFK, Jr., and public health and he himself has made inaccurate statements as well. Or about the war we have in Iran, a war that he started, right? Or many other things that this administration’s doing that frankly Congress should be stepping in and saying we need to hold you accountable. You need to answer questions. You need to explain to the American people. Why is our nation doing this?\u00a0<\/p>\n
The district that you’re running in, District 6, was redrawn under Prop. 50. What makes this area and its residents unique?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Well, it’s a great district. I had the honor to represent 70% of this district while I was in the state legislature, right? The people in the district are people who work hard. They want to be sure that the laws are enforced, that there’s opportunity for themselves and their children. And what we’re seeing is that too many people are struggling because instead of having a government that works for them, they have a government that’s pulling the rug out from under them. You know, my opponent voted for HR-1, the big terrible bill, right? And what does that bill do? Well, it’s taking away health care from people. Millions of Californians will lose health care, including thousands of people in the district.<\/p>\n
When the tax credits for Covered California expired, many middle-class families, especially people who are small business owners and are self-employed, they depend on Covered California to buy their health insurance. Well, those tax credits, they worked hard to pay those taxes to get some of that money back, help them get health care, got taken away. They can’t afford it anymore, right? And so they’re losing their health care. There’s food assistance. We see that millions of people are losing their food assistance. In fact, it’s only going to get worse, right?<\/p>\n
Many of these things actually don’t kick in until after midterms. So, people like Kevin Kiley voted for it, knowing that the worst will happen after the midterms because they didn’t want to face the voters and what the impact was going to cause. And so that’s what they did. They pulled the rug out from under families who are struggling.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When it comes to the breakdown of voter registration in your district, more than half of registered voters are Republican or No Party Preference. It’s about 53-54%. Why should they elect you as a Democrat? What meaningful conversations are you having with voters across the aisle who are just critical of establishment politicians?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Well, first of all, I’m a doctor. I take care of patients. I don’t ask them what about their party, right? I don’t ask them what’s your political registration. I work with families and I help them. And that’s also my record in the legislature. And so, what happens is that we have families who are struggling.<\/p>\n
Whether I talk to a Democrat family, a Republican family, or a family who is No Party Preference or Independent, they’re all struggling with the cost of living. When they go to the gas pump and they see it’s $6 a gallon, that’s Trump’s war, right? We’re paying over a dollar per, actually probably $1.20 now I think per gallon more from last year because of this war. A war that has no congressional authorization, right?<\/p>\n
When you go to the grocery store, you see the cost of food. It’s beef or any other other types of food as well. And that is again, that’s Donald Trump and right now we’re harvesting the food, diesel prices. The mass deportations means the workforce isn’t there to harvest the crop. That’s driving up our cost of food.<\/p>\n
So we just think about these things and it’s not about party, it’s about do you want a federal government that’s actually focusing on the problems that you’re facing?\u00a0<\/p>\n