Rep. Maxine Waters is facing a challenger who grew up in South Central Los Angeles, saw combat during the Iraq War, and is running as a Republican.
Joe Collins said he decided to challenge Waters for her seat representing California’s 43rd District during the 2016 election after he found himself unsatisfied with what Democrats have done for minorities during the course of his life.
“There is no secret that the policies of the Democratic Party have destroyed the very fabric of minority communities,” Collins, who is black, told the Washington Times. “No economic development, lack of quality jobs, poor education, and Joe Biden’s 1994 crime bill have directly contributed to the demise of our communities.”
Waters, the most senior black woman serving in the House, has represented the district, which encompasses much of southern Los Angeles, since 1991. It is 23% black, according to Ballotpedia. Waters defeated the last Republican she faced in a general election by more than 50 percentage points.
Collins has been endorsed by the California and Los Angeles GOP. He has also hailed President Trump’s signage of the FIRST STEP Act as a win for people of color, especially in Los Angeles.
“The body of research clearly demonstrates that the size of the penalty doesn’t act as a deterrent. Crime is more often the result of one’s environment and lack of opportunity,” Collins said. “As such, the key to preventing inmates from receding back into the system is to ensure that, before they leave prison, they have the means and the opportunity to earn for themselves.”
As he has campaigned, Collins has attempted to tie Waters to presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden, whose stances as a senator hurt minority communities, he said.
“[Biden] introduced mass incarceration of men of color because he thinks that black people are ‘super predators,'” Collins said.
Waters has been sharply critical of Trump since he was elected, designating herself as one of the first sitting members of Congress to call for his impeachment in early 2017.
Since the death of George Floyd and a renewed conversation about race in the United States, Waters has blamed Trump’s rhetoric toward minority communities as a contributing factor to systemic racism in policing.
“My first thought was, ‘Not again. Not one more killing,'” Waters said after Floyd’s death. “And I’m reflecting on all of the killings of young black men in particular, but of course black women, too, at the hands of the police and at the hands of, you know, these white supremacists.”
Waters continued: “And I’m thinking about the way that the president conducts himself. In a way, he’s dog-whistling, and I think that they’re feeling that they can get away with this kind of treatment. And I’m just so sorry about the loss of another life.”
Collins said that it is Democrats such as Waters who are hurting communities they often publicly advocate for.
“There has never been a Democratic leader, including former President Obama and Maxine Waters, who has taken productive steps towards improving or reversing the decades of destruction the members of their party have caused,” Collins said. “Maxine Waters and other so-called leaders of the Democratic Party are pathetic, and they prove it daily. We don’t need any more pandering. We need action and opportunity.”
