Peter Mathews
Peter Mathews (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent California's 42nd Congressional District. He lost in the primary on June 7, 2022.
Mathews completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Peter Mathews earned a bachelor's degree and a graduate degree from the University of North Texas in 1973 and 1989, respectively. Mathews' career experience includes working as a professor of political science and international relations at Cypress College. He is affiliated with the Progressive Democratic Club, California Teachers Association, and Progressive Democrats of America.[1]
Elections
2022
See also: California's 42nd Congressional District election, 2022
General election
General election for U.S. House California District 42
Robert Garcia defeated John Briscoe in the general election for U.S. House California District 42 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Robert Garcia (D) | 68.4 | 99,217 |
 | John Briscoe (R) | 31.6 | 45,903 | |
| Total votes: 145,120 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for U.S. House California District 42
The following candidates ran in the primary for U.S. House California District 42 on June 7, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Robert Garcia (D) | 46.7 | 43,406 |
| ✔ | | John Briscoe (R) | 26.1 | 24,319 |
 | Cristina Garcia (D) | 12.6 | 11,685 | |
 | Peter Mathews (D) | 3.7 | 3,415 | |
 | Nicole López (D) | 3.4 | 3,164 | |
 | Julio Cesar Flores (G) | 2.7 | 2,491 | |
 | William Summerville (D) | 2.5 | 2,301 | |
 | Joaquín Beltrán (D) | 2.4 | 2,254 | |
| Total votes: 93,035 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Angel Rios (Independent)
- Saul Castillo (D)
2020
See also: California's 47th Congressional District election, 2020
General election
General election for U.S. House California District 47
Incumbent Alan Lowenthal defeated John Briscoe in the general election for U.S. House California District 47 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Alan Lowenthal (D) | 63.3 | 197,028 |
| John Briscoe (R) | 36.7 | 114,371 | |
| Total votes: 311,399 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for U.S. House California District 47
The following candidates ran in the primary for U.S. House California District 47 on March 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Alan Lowenthal (D) | 45.4 | 72,759 |
| ✔ | | John Briscoe (R) | 16.8 | 27,004 |
 | Amy Phan West (R) | 14.5 | 23,175 | |
| Peter Mathews (D) | 11.0 | 17,616 | |
 | Jalen McLeod (D) | 8.7 | 13,955 | |
| Sou Moua (R) | 3.7 | 5,866 | |
| Total votes: 160,375 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
2012
Mathews ran in the 2012 election for the U.S. House to represent California's 47th District. He was defeated in the open primary on June 5, 2012.[2][3]
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
|---|---|---|
 Alan Lowenthal (D) |
33.8% | 27,356 |
| Gary DeLong (R) |
29.4% | 23,831 |
| Steven Kuykendall (R) | 10.8% | 8,769 |
| Peter Mathews (D) | 9.8% | 7,951 |
| Steve Foley (R) | 7.2% | 5,848 |
| Sanford Kahn (R) | 3.2% | 2,563 |
| Usha Shah (D) | 2.9% | 2,350 |
| Jay Shah (D) | 2.8% | 2,273 |
| Total Votes | 80,941 | |
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Peter Mathews completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Mathews' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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Peter Mathews has spent 30 years as a College and University Professor. Peter Mathews is a full-time Professor of Political Science at Cypress College, an adjunct Professor of Sociology at Long Beach City College, has taught at California State University, Fullerton, and is currently a featured Political Analyst and Commentator on several television and radio programs During 2012 and 2013, Peter Mathews served as a Political Analyst on KTLK Progressive Talk Radio’s popular “The David Cruz Show” in Los Angeles. Since 2003, Peter has ben serving as a Political Analyst on CNN, CNN International, KNBC-TV, KCBS-TV, KTLA-TV, Sky News TV, Al Jazeera English TV, TRT World News TV, CNN radio, KPFA radio and guest host on KPFK radio, guest on NPR stations, and as a commentator on KNX News Radio and other venues. On several occasion during 2014, Peter Mathews was a guest host on Pacifica Radio’s KPFK 90.7 FM with the theme of “Standing up for Economic and Social Justice.” He was a contributing columnist for the Long Beach Register and on-line Orange County Register, and other publications. He has been a guest op-ed writer in the Long Beach Press Telegram. Having lived, traveled, taught and conducted research in 27 countries including Britain, France, Denmark, Germany, Canada, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, India, and elsewhere, Peter Mathews has gained first-hand knowledge of public policy issues such as healthcare, education, economic development, international relations, ...
- The Green New Deal to Combat Climate Change and Create High-Paying Jobs, with Full Employment and a Federal Jobs Guarantee In order to combat global climate change, Peter Mathews strongly supports the transition to a 100% renewable energy system that is carbon-free.
- Reduce Income Inequality to help the Working Poor and the Working Middle Class achieve the American dream. Skyrocketing income and wealth inequality is destroying democracy in America and dismantling the working middle class. There is something profoundly wrong with the income distribution in the United States right now. It allows the top 1% to control the lives of the 99%. To help achieve this goal Peter Mathews believes we must guarantee tuition free college/University and cancel student debt.
- Medicare for All, Single Payer Healthcare. The number of Americans without health insurance increased to 27.5 million in 2018 according to federal data from the U.S. Census Bureau. That was up from 26.5 million people in 2017. It is unacceptable for the United States to be the only advanced industrialized nation with millions of uninsured people.
The Green New Deal to Combat Climate Change and Create High-Paying Jobs, with Full Employment and a Federal Jobs Guarantee
Reduce Income Inequality to help the Working Poor and the Working Middle Class do better and achieve the American dream.
Medicare for All, Single Payer Healthcare
Cancel Student Debt
Fully and Equally Funded Public Schools K-12
$20 Minimum Wage with Lower Taxes and Increased Federal Funding for Small Businesses to help pay their employees the minimum wage.
Tuition Free College, Technical, Trade, and Arts Schools for All
Women's Rights / Gender Equality
Full Reproductive Freedom for Women
Get Corporate Money Out of Politics / Establish Public Financing of Elections
Fully Fund and Support Programs for Seniors (Expand Social Security)
Support LGBTQIA+
Guaranteed Universal Child Care
Guaranteed Parental Leave
Guaranteed Paid Vacations
Criminal Justice Reform, End Private Prisons
Immigration Justice / Pass the Dream Act Immediately / Pathway to Citizenship
Economic, Racial, Environmental, and Social Justice
Gun Control / Assault Weapons Ban
Fully Fund and Support Programs for People with Disabilities
Create Public Banks
Curb Wall Street Gambling with a 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act
End Homelessness / Housing is a Human Right
Build A Peace and Justice Econo
Senator Paul Wellstone and Dr. Martin Luther King because they were fighters for Environmental, Economic and Social Justice and uncorrupted by corporate lobbyists' money.
Dollar Democracy On Steroids: with Liberty and Justice for Some; How to Reclaim the Middle-Class Dream for All by: Peter Mathews
www.dollardemocracyonsteroids.com
Integrity is number one, compassion is number two and Boldness/Fearlessness in fighting for social justice is number three.
Empathy, Integrity, Fearlessness and Vision
Guaranteeing human rights, economic, social and political.
a world full of equal opportunity for everyone.
John F Kennedy assassination
Professor Wellstone Goes To Washington.
Get up, stand up, stand up for your rights, Get up, stand up, don't give up the fight.
Trying to get elected while refusing corporate money.
It has the power to represent the full diversity of views in the United States.
It's beneficial for representatives to have been involved in some form of political activism in order to better the community and nation. I am the founder of Rescue Education California which successfully fought to temporarily prevent college tuition increases. We also helped to temporarily lower classroom sizes, fought for updated text books and to enhance science education.
Reducing the gap between rich and poor, providing equally funded high quality education for our children from Kindergarten through University, overcoming the the crises of climate change, healing the divisions in America before a civil war could erupt, guaranteeing full gender, racial and ethnic equality for all.
The House Ways and Means Committee, House Energy and Commerce Committee, House Committee on Education and Labor.
Term limits for corporate lobbyists is the real solution.
<p>Senator Paul Wellstone, Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders.</p>
Yes, Lieber Machuca's fourth grade daughter's story: Ms. Machuca's fourth grade daughter was concerned that she would never be able to be a scientist. The reason was that because of a shortage of science textbooks in her classroom, her teacher had to make black and white xerox copies to distribute to the fourth graders. The little girl was afraid of missing important information on the color graphs.
Consensus building with progressive values is necessary.
The revenue bills that I would introduce while in the House Ways and Means Committee would bring in billions of dollars for social and physical infrastructure by taxing billionaires more, closing corporate tax loopholes and shifting wasteful spending from the Military-Industrial-Complex.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign website
Mathews' campaign website stated the following:
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The Green New Deal The Green New Deal to Combat Climate Change and Create High-Paying Jobs, with Full Employment and a Federal Jobs Guarantee In order to combat global climate change, Peter Mathews strongly supports the transition to a 100% renewable energy system that is carbon-free. In Congress and outside of Congress, he will work to galvanize support for building a fully modernized electrical grid by 2030. Peter believes renewable fuels must be produced to achieve and accomplish our environmental and energy security goals, so we can move beyond fossil fuels in the fight against Global Warming/Climate Change/Climate Disruption. By transitioning to electric vehicles, sustainable home heating, rooftop solar generation, and converting the power grid to zero-emissions energy sources, Peter believes we can and must be 100% free of fossil fuels by 2030. Here are some of the reasons why: The U.S. Government's Fourth National Climate Assessment report, released in November 2018, warns of a damaged and shrinking U.S. economy. The 1,656 page assessment "describes the effect of Climate Change on the economy, health and environment, including record wildfires in California, crop failures in the Midwest and crumbling infrastructure in the South. It says that American exports and supply chains could be disrupted, agricultural yields could fall to 1980s level by mid-century, and fire season could spread to the Southeast... Climate Change could slash up to a 10th of gross domestic products by 2100, more than double the losses of the Great Recession a decade ago." (nytimes.com, Nov. 23, 2018, "U.S. Climate Report Warns of Damaged Environment and Shrinking Economy", by Coral Davenport and Kendra Pierre-Louis). Therefore, Peter recognizes the relationship between economic stability and environmental sustainability. Peter says, "It’s time to immediately and fully implement the Green New Deal. This will require a transformation that brings a measure of structural change in our political and economic systems in order to create public and private sector jobs that save our climate, environment, economy, and our very lives. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt faced a similar challenge in the Great Depression and overcame it with a New Deal for America. We face a similar and monumental challenge with Climate Change and must overcome it with the Green New Deal. Right now, our economy, government, and politics are controlled by big corporations, including fossil fuel oil, gas, and coal companies whose profits are dependent on the continuation of Climate Change. Most of our politicians are bought by them through campaign contributions, and influenced by them through moneyed lobbying, including 47th Congressional District area politicians (opensecrets.org). Peter Mathews refuses corporate money for his campaign and has signed the "No Fossil Fuel Pledge", because he knows this corrupt arrangement benefits the few, the 1 Percenters, but is detrimental to our planet and all its inhabitants. The effects of Climate Change are life-threatening, and are especially already felt by low-income communities, both in the U.S. and globally. In California, places like Imperial Beach, San Diego County, Long Beach, Pacifica, San Francisco, and many more California coastal areas are being affected and threatened by erosion and rising sea levels. Global Warming/Climate Change is also devastating California with drought and uncontrollable wildfires. Rather than continuing to depend on this system that sees Climate Change as inherent to economic life, the Green New Deal believes that we must rationally, scientifically, morally, ethically, and radically address Climate Change. This is the path towards a more equitable economy with increased employment, widespread financial security, and freedom for all. The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) special report on global warming released in October 2018 says that we have to limit global warming to a maximum of 1.5 degrees Celsius in order to limit the dire effect of Climate Change. And we only have until 2030 to do so. Global net human caused emissions of carbon dioxide would have to fall by about 45% from 2010 levels by 2030, reaching net zero around 2050. The IPCC report finds that in order to limit Global Warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius would require "rapid and far reaching" transitions in land, energy, industry, buildings, transport, and cities. The activities of human beings have already warmed the planet around 1 degree Celsius since the preindustrial era, which is defined by the IPCC as the second half of the 19th century. With the current rate of warming, the Earth would reach the 1.5 degree Celsius threshold between 2030 and 2052. (climatecentral.org). Climate Change is the single biggest national security threat for the United States and the single biggest threat to worldwide human civilization. The effects of Global Warming/Climate Change/Climate Disruption can be hard to predict and self-reinforcing. We need to avoid this worldwide multi-faceted crisis by fighting for environmental and climate justice by mobilizing our population and our government. We must begin this battle immediately by making the United States a leader in the actions taken globally and locally. Outrageously, President Trump has withdrawn the U.S. from the Internationally agreed-upon Paris Climate Agreement. Send Peter Mathews to Congress to help reverse this by reinstating the United States in the Paris Climate Agreement once again. Peter Mathews has been a leader in the fight for the Green New Deal and has demanded support for Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's call for a House Select Committee on the Green New Deal (with full subpoena and legislative powers), unlike his main primary election opponent.
Income and Wealth Inequality Reduce Income Inequality to help the Working Poor and the Working Middle Class do better and achieve the American dream. Peter Mathews believes that skyrocketing income and wealth inequality is destroying democracy in America and dismantling the working middle class. There is something profoundly wrong with the income distribution in the United States right now. It allows the top 1% to control the lives of the 99% in many ways. The U.S. is the wealthiest country in the history of the world, but the majority of this wealth is owned and controlled by only a few individuals. The top 10% of Americans own and/or control 90% of the wealth in America. The United States currently has more income inequality than any other major developed country in the world. The richest Americans, who are corporate CEOs make 361 times the income of the average American worker. This gap is the widest its been than at any time since the 1920s. The top 0.1% owns as much wealth as the bottom 90%. The system is fixed to benefit the billionaire class at the expense of everyone else. People working minimum wage jobs cannot sustain their families, and many people struggle with student loan debt for a long time after their graduation. 45 million American college students and college graduates have an average debt of over $33,654 each. The total student debt in the U.S. is $1.6 trillion, second only to the U.S. federal government debt! As our Congressman, Peter Mathews will fight to benefit the middle and working classes by taxing billionaires, Wall Street, and large corporations. He will also close corporate tax loopholes and eliminate corporate welfare. Peter will use this money for programs that benefit the working poor and working middle classes: Tuition free college and technical and trade schools, smaller class sizes K-12, and for tax reductions on middle and lower incomes. Peter will lead the effort in Congress to raise the federal minimum wage to a livable wage of $15 an hour by 2020, and to $20 an hour by 2025. In order to help small and medium businesses to pay their workers this higher wage, Peter Mathews will reduce taxes on small and medium businesses. As our Congressman, Peter Mathews will work hard to guarantee working Americans annual paid vacations, on site child care, and parental leave. In Congress and outside Congress, Peter Mathews will work tirelessly to restore and expand the American middle class and to reduce income inequality in the United States.
Medicare For All Single Payer Healthcare The number of Americans without health insurance increased to 27.5 million in 2018 according to federal data from the U.S. Census Bureau. That was up from 26.5 million people in 2017. It is unacceptable for the United States to be the only advanced industrialized nation with millions of uninsured people. The only adequate solution to this crisis is to improve Medicare and expand it to cover all Americans. It is the ethical, moral, rational and affordable path to fully cover all people in the U.S., just as Canada has done for over fifty-five years. The Medicare for All non-profit, government funded insurance system, has much lower overhead costs, unlike our present unwieldy, wasteful, and inadequate for-profit system. In Canada, the cost per person is 2/3 of what it costs in the U.S. An American Medicare for All system will also deliver health care through private doctors and nurses, give patients their choice of doctors, and will not have co-payments and deductibles. This will save the taxpayers and patients a tremendous amount of money right away. By allowing everyone in the U.S. to buy into this non-profit, Single-Payer Universal Healthcare system we will reduce the existing costs of healthcare (and make Medicare cheaper, too!). The health care dollar will go directly into medical and mental health care for the patient and not into the pockets of millionaire CEOs, and billionaire Wall Street investors! Expanded Medicare for All will include complete vision, dental, and mental healthcare. It's preventive care aspects will bring true healthcare, which is about the whole self. All other developed nations in the world have universal healthcare. We must catch up to the rest of the world by ensuring all people living in America have real healthcare coverage, and that we don’t leave Americans broke with insurmountable medical debt. Because Peter Mathews believes that health care is a human right connected to the Right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, Peter Mathews will work tirelessly in Congress to cancel medical debt for all Americans. He will fund this by closing unnecessary corporate tax loopholes, ending corporate welfare, establishing a wealth tax on billionaires, taxing income brackets over $10 million at 70%, and ending waste, fraud, abuse, and overspending in the Military-Industrial-Complex. You can count on Peter to fight for people-centered healthcare more than any other candidate, because he’s the ONLY candidate that doesn’t accept money from pharmaceutical lobbyists, or health insurance corporations, and for-profit HMOs. Peter Mathews Endorses: H.R. 1384 - the Medicare for All Act of 2019, which will have great positive effects on the American people. It will enable them to take less time off of work, to keep more of their hard earned money, to reduce homelessness, mass incarceration, and prevent the spread of communicable and dangerous disease. This is because, under Medicare for All, the American people will finally have high quality, cost effective, patient centered, comprehensive medical and mental health care. So far, we Americans have tried almost every other system of healthcare, and we know it doesn’t work. The Affordable Care Act was a step forward in attempting to insure the previously “uninsurable.” But it still left costs far too high. The prices of co-pays, premiums, and deductibles have been skyrocketing. We’re paying more for less health care coverage every year. The real solution to all of our health care problems is a Single Payer, Comprehensive, Universal Medicare for All Healthcare System.
Tuition Free College Technical, Trade and Arts Schools for All Cancel Student Debt We Americans invented tuition-free public education K-12 which served as a foundation for our growing and industrializing economy. By the 20th century, America had expanded the tuition free public education concept to some of our colleges and universities, and made the rest of our public colleges and universities affordable to the children of working class families. By 1960, America's flagship public university, the University of California, Berkeley was made tuition free along with the other UCs, the California State Universities, and the California Community Colleges; all under California's Master Plan for Higher Education. At each of the three levels students were only asked to pay a small service fee. For example, former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger paid a $6 ($34 in today's dollars) service fee per semester for a full load of classes at Santa Monica College in the early 1970s. Former California Governor and U.S. Senator Pete Wilson paid $37 ($204 in today's dollars) service fee per semester for a full load of classes at U.C. Berkeley Law School. My friend Dr. Paul Garver graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) medical school in 1979. His tuition-free education service fees were $225 per quarter, in other words $675 per year to attend UCLAs world class medical school full time. Dr. Garver graduated with no student loan debt, unlike present California medical school graduates, because California practiced its Master Plan for Higher Education at that time, unlike today, and unlike many other states in the U.S. As our Congressman, Peter Mathews will work hard to bring tuition free higher education that existed in California for 20 years, to the whole nation today. Tuition free colleges, universities, medical and other professional schools, trade schools and arts schools will give every American student a chance to fully develop all of her/his talents and human potential. Peter insists that this will strengthen the American economy, democratize American society, and enlighten American citizens to take back power and defend our democracy. Along with making higher education tuition-free, Peter supports a one-time policy of student debt cancellation. Peter's plan will enable the federal government to cancel the loans it holds directly and buy back the financing of privately owned loans on behalf of borrowers. This will free generations of Americans who are trapped in student loan debt which holds them back from buying a home, starting a family, participating in the greater US economy, and living life fully. This violates their Rights to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Also, canceling student debt will boost real GDP by an average of $86 billion to $108 billion per year. Over the 10-year forecast, the policy generates between $861 billion and $1,083 billion in real GDP (2016 dollars). Peter will pay for the above by taxing billionaires, a Wall Street transaction tax, increasing taxes on annual income brackets over $10 million, closing corporate tax loopholes, ending corporate welfare, and redirecting some of the wasteful spending in the Military-Industrial-Complex.
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| —Peter Mathews' campaign website (2022)[5] | ||
2020
Peter Mathews did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
See also
2022 Elections
2020 Elections
External links
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Candidate U.S. House California District 42 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on February 12, 2022
- ↑ California Secretary of State, "Official primary candidate list," accessed March 13, 2014
- ↑ California Secretary of State, "Unofficial election results," November 6, 2012 (dead link)
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Peter Mathews For Congress, “Issues,” accessed March 13, 2022
