Steve Cohen, 79, a Republican and former KUSI news director, is running for Congress to represent the 50th Congressional District in San Diego and inland North County.<\/p>\n
Originally from Philadelphia, Cohen now lives in Pacific Beach.<\/p>\n
The San Diego Union-Tribune emailed a series of questions to Cohen and other candidates to help inform voters about their positions, priorities and plans if elected.<\/p>\n
1) Why are you running, and what makes you the best candidate? (150 words max)\u00a0<\/p>\n
Need for aggressive, inventive, policy-based representative. Who has spent last 20 years serving community through offering platform and analysis of all pubic issues at KUSI TV. Congress is broken and needs experienced bridge builders and focus on future.<\/p>\n
2) What are the top 3 issues facing this district? (150 words max) <\/p>\n
Expand growth of jobs, construct affordable housing for middle class, protect our environment and quality of life.<\/p>\n
3) What are the first 3 things you would do in your first\/next term in Congress? (150 words max)\u00a0<\/p>\n
Move toward a balanced budget, save Social Security, increase the defense budget above 3.5% GDP.<\/p>\n
4) If your party wins control of Congress, what should be its first priority? If your party loses control of Congress, what should be its first priority? (100 words max)\u00a0<\/p>\n
(Candidate did not respond to this question.)<\/p>\n
5) President Trump has made cracking down on immigration a cornerstone of his administration, ordering widespread arrests and detentions of immigrants nationwide and directing military resources to a new military zone along the U.S.-Mexico border. What impact have these had on this district? What are your goals on immigrants, immigration and the border, and how would you pursue them if elected? What is your message to constituents who are immigrants? (150 words max)<\/p>\n
Approve closing of borders, agree with active pursuit of illegal immigrants and the detention and deportation of criminal felons, after due process. And the elimination of sanctuary cities and state.<\/p>\n
6) It\u2019s been nearly two months since the United States began a war with Iran. Do you believe Americans are better or worse off for it? What should Congress\u2019s role be? Would you vote to let the president continue the war beyond the 60 days after which congressional authorization is required? (150 words max)\u00a0<\/p>\n
The war was required to remove Iran as a bad actor internationally and the root of all radical Islamic terrorism. Further, the end of nuclear capability was a requirement for world peace, and the temporary gas and diesel price hikes, a consequence of action that was over 40 years overdue. Economic sanctions now can resolve this with some more patience.<\/p>\n
7) Recent jumps in the cost of fuel, food and other goods \u2014 combined with federal cuts to safety-net programs, new limits on certain federal loans and more \u2014 are squeezing residents already struggling with San Diego County\u2019s high costs of living. What relief would you seek to offer, and how? (150 words max)\u00a0<\/p>\n
From groceries to gasoline and other economic issues. Our macro outlook remains strong with 2.5% GDP, 4% unemployment and strong consumer demand. We still need to work on inflation at 3.4% to a goal of 2% and thus lower interest rates. The ultimate fix is to move towards a balanced budget, offset $40 trillion debt and end our $1.2 trillion in interest rate payments.<\/p>\n
8) Like much of California, this district has been affected by the effects of climate change. How should Congress mitigate those impacts, and what would you do to pursue such efforts? (100 words max)\u00a0<\/p>\n
I consider the climate change narrative the most destructive series of actions taken that have upended our region and state. We have no refineries left, produce the most diesel and can\u2019t process it, our roads are in disrepair, our gasoline forced into seasonal blends, EVs being pushed with millions for charging stations also in various stages of repair. We need all energy, not just solar and wind. We need fracking, natural gas and refineries and to lower our energy costs.<\/p>\n
9) Polling underscores that one chief concern of California voters in the 2026 midterm elections is the issue of threats to democracy. What do you believe are the greatest threats to American democracy? How would you, and how should Congress, protect against these? (100 words max)\u00a0<\/p>\n
The threat to our republic is both external and internal. The internal is a lack of belief in the value of our democratic system, separation of powers and our optimism that we can as one nation solve problems. There is always common ground if we but seek it. The surge to anti-capitalist and anti-constitutional concepts is destructive. That my opponent could not vote yes on HR 1490, to condemn socialism in all its forms, shows the decay of fundamental understanding of who we are as a nation.<\/p>\n
10) Do you support a ban or restriction on congressional lawmakers and their families buying or selling individual stocks? Why or why not? And what would you propose to ensure lawmakers aren\u2019t using their positions to engage in insider trading? (100 words max)\u00a0<\/p>\n
(Candidate did not respond to this question)<\/p>\n
11) By design Congress is supposed to serve as a check on the executive branch through budgetary, legislative and oversight powers. Do you believe that Congress has fulfilled that obligation in recent years? Why or why not? Should Congress do more to hold the president accountable? Explain. (150 words max)\u00a0<\/p>\n
(Candidate did not respond to this question)<\/p>\n
12) A recent San Diego Union-Tribune poll found voters overwhelmingly disapprove of the job Congress is doing, by higher margins than they disapprove of the job Trump is doing. Why do you think this is? How can Congress win back voters\u2019 hope and trust, and what would you personally do to achieve this? (150 words max)\u00a0<\/p>\n
Congress is broken. It must have its own zeitgeist that answers to people and their districts, not party nor president. The low Gallup rating of \u201cbelief in institutions\u201d was at 14% for Rs and 5% for Ds. It needs to be active and focused on the needs and ideals of the majority again \u2014 not elites or chosen minorities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Steve Cohen, 79, a Republican and former KUSI news director, is running for Congress to represent the 50th…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":495473,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[1400,204,989,181,23,2582,100,13,74,76,75],"class_list":["post-495472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-2026-elections","tag-election","tag-elections","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-national-politics","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=495472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495472\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/495473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=495472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=495472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=495472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}