Early voting returns show Rep. Eric Swalwell with a sizable lead over opponent Vin Kruttiventi in California Congressional District 14 as each candidate has offered a more moderate message to voters than the rest of their party.
Swalwell has taken a stance against Alameda County progressive District Attorney Pamela and some of Democrats’ most progressive policies in immigration, while Kruttiventi has pitched voters to support his moderate Republican platform that focuses on public safety and stricter immigration.
Swalwell is running for his seventh term in Congress in a redrawn district that spans West Oakland to Livermore and Fremont. Kruttiventi is the CEO and president of the global consulting firm A5 who is running for elected office for the first time.
Swalwell has vastly outraised Kruttiventi in the campaign with $3.7 million in total compared to $846,335, according to campaign financing website OpenSecrets. The combination of campaign cash and Swalwell’s name recognition across the district gives him a major advantage heading into election day.
The district’s population is heavily foreign-born, with nearly 2 of 5 residents being immigrants. Both campaigns have prioritized public safety and fixing America’s immigration system, but Swalwell said only Democrats are serious about fixing it, while Republicans use the issue during election season.
“Democrats want a fix. Republicans want the fiction. Democrats have solutions. Republicans only want the politics,” Swalwell told Bay Area News Group last month.
But Kruttiventi, an immigrant himself, said that Democrats cannot be trusted after their handling of the border in recent years when a record number of migrants crossed the southern border illegally. He said the immigrant community of District 14, who came to the country seeking safety and opportunity, are finding their neighborhoods unsafe amid a recent spike in crime.
The migration issues at the border, Swalwell said, could have been solved if not for Republicans’ rejection of a bipartisan border bill that would have provided for more border patrol officers and increased funding for border security. But if Swalwell and other Democrats are able to retake the house, he believes they will have the power to finally reform the immigration system.
“Democrats wake up every day to work for working people,” Swalwell told the Bay Area News Group last month. “We can have security and address the workforce crisis in America.”
