Lea este artículo en español aquí.
In November 2024, Susan Ellen “Zoe” Lofgren (D) was reelected as the 18th District’s representative in Congress, defeating San Benito County Republican Peter Hernandez with 64.6% of the vote. Having first been elected to Congress in 1994, Lofgren maintained her popularity in an election year that was generally harsh on incumbents.
The 18th District, redrawn following the 2020 census, comprises all of San Benito County and parts of Santa Cruz, Santa Clara and Monterey Counties.
Lofgren was born in San Mateo on Dec. 21, 1947, and graduated from Stanford University with a degree in political science. She went on to receive a Juris Doctorate from Santa Clara University School of Law. Before serving in Congress, she was a partner in an immigration law firm, served on the San Jose City College board, and spent 13 years on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors.
Lofgren might be best known nationally as a member of the House Select Committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. She also serves as the ranking member of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, and on the influential Committee on the Judiciary.
Lofgren participated in a Zoom interview with BenitoLink and discussed her concerns for the county, as well as legislation and funding requests she has sponsored. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
BenitoLink: San Benito County’s roads need repair, and recent fatalities due to poor conditions on the local highways have stunned the community. Do you see us getting any assistance there?
Lofgren: We do have substantial funding in the works. Again, most of that is state-funded, but I have requested $15 million for the Hwy 25 expressway conversion project, which will help with public safety. Again, that’s stuck in the appropriations process. We’re now doing a temporary funding measure until March, and then we will have to see again what, if anything, will happen there.
You won the election district-wide by 15 points, but here in more conservative San Benito, it was five points. What must you do to convince those who did not vote for you that you are on their side?
I would rather win by 15% than 5%, but most people in the country would be quite excited to win by 5%. As you know, Peter Hernandez is a San Benito County resident, and I am not. He has long-time friends and associates there. I do not begrudge him those personal ties and have nothing against him. I think my role is to do the best job I can for the people of San Benito County, bring the resources they need, and stand up for them. And that’s what I intend to do.
San Juan Batista is in considerable debt because of the ongoing water and wastewater projects. Do you see any possible relief from this?
There’s community project funding that members of Congress are allowed to designate. In my request, I have a $3 million proposal for a drinking water supply regionalization for San Juan. But we are not doing the appropriations process as it is a complete mess. I’m hopeful that somehow that will make it into a spending bill, but there’s no guarantee. The Republicans cannot get the votes to pass anything. One of the things that we’ve done is emergency funding, which will help because money is owed to various localities, including San Benito County. But there’s no guarantee on any of it.
San Juan School needs to be rebuilt because it’s located on an earthquake fault. Does that fall into any consideration as well?
Part of the deal is that people need to raise these issues and officially ask for funds, and no one did that on that project. Ordinarily, schools and school construction are a matter of state funding. I would be happy to participate, but people need to identify the issues under our process. We need a proposal so it’s all transparent. It has to be posted. It can’t be a private interest; it has to be public. I hope that they will approach me on that and we can explore what, if anything, we can do to help.
What do you see as the biggest issue facing San Benito County?
Growth/no growth is a hot issue. I have declined to get involved in the disagreements. That’s really a decision for the localities to make. It’s not the federal government’s role to tell people what path to take. That’s for those living in San Benito County to decide, whatever that decision is. My job is to try to help implement those decisions that local people have made. I’ve had people on the losing side of [Measure A] express concerns that it’ll have this or that impact. We don’t know. My job is to stand up for what the people decide to do regarding economic issues.
What support can you offer local agriculture?
Supporting agriculture is another big issue in San Benito County and the rest of my district. This continuing resolution gives us a big extension on agriculture, and some funding for disaster relief that will help. It’s more for Monterey County than San Benito, but it’s still important.
I’ve been a leader in a bipartisan effort that was supported by both growers and the Farm Workers Union to address immigration in the farm workforce. More than half the farmworkers in the country are undocumented, and they’re an essential part of having ag work. We have a bill that would legalize their status and streamline the temporary work program. It’s passed the House twice and died in the Senate twice. But we haven’t given up. I’m hoping, especially if there’s the kind of enforcement action that the incoming president has talked about, that it will stimulate the Senate to take some action to address immigration in the farm workforce. You’ve got people who have been here 10, 15, or 20 years in the fields, and if they’re not there, what will we do?
You don’t see much general bipartisanship anymore, whereas it was common 40 or 50 years ago. How do we get back to that?
I’m one of the members who has a real record of bipartisanship. I’m the senior Democrat on the science committee, and the chairman and I work together very collaboratively. In fact, all of our bills have been bipartisan so far and, except for one, they passed unanimously. They are in important areas, including AI, quantum computing, fusion, and the space program—it’s all important stuff, and it’s all been bipartisan. We’ll see if that can continue in the next Congress. I’m hopeful that it will.
The main focus of the incoming chairman, Dr. [Brian] Babin from Texas, is space, as opposed to some of the other issues. We will have proposals from the incoming administration that I think would be very harmful to science and ultimately to the country’s well-being. For example, eliminating the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Weather Service, which is the basis for predicting the weather. I don’t think that it’s a very good idea. So, some of these basic things need to be defended, and I’m hoping we can defend them on a bipartisan basis.
How do we counter the amount of misinformation from some of those in government?
We’ve got the legacy media, and then we’ve got whole new sources of information distribution that we need to be better at using to get the facts out. And then you can make what you will of the facts. People who watch TV for their news tend to be over 45. People who are 18 are getting their news in different ways.
We had a big discussion in the Democratic caucus about the proposals being floated regarding Medicare and Medicaid. One thing people don’t understand about the Medicaid Program is that more than two-thirds of the nursing home bills in this country are paid for by Medicaid. It is the basic lifeline for seniors in facilities because of their frailty. Eliminating that would be a catastrophe not only for those seniors but for their families. I mean, how can the average family afford to pay the cost of a nursing home? They can’t.
So when you start talking about eliminating these programs or returning them to the states that have no money, that impacts people. We need to resist that, and part of that is making people aware of the role it plays for the disabled.
What are your thoughts on the issues that Hazel Hawkins Hospital keeps going through and insurers like United Healthcare Medicare Advantage leaving the county?
I’ve talked with Hazel Hawkins. They have a big challenge. Part of what we’re fighting for is reimbursement rates under the Medicare and Medicaid programs that will allow health providers, including small rural providers, to actually make the finances work. It’s been a challenge for Hazel Hawkins, but they’re not alone. We’ve had hospitals out in the Central Valley close; we have a Watsonville hospital that’s really very financially challenged. And even the bigger hospitals, like Salinas, are facing fiscal challenges. So part of this is adequate reimbursement rates so that they can proceed.
There’s also a problem of scale. When I was in county government, I chaired a hospital oversight committee for 12 years. A smaller-scale hospital is more difficult to pencil out. There’s really no way to change that, but I think people don’t want to have to travel up to Gilroy to get health care, especially in an emergency situation. I want to do whatever I can to help them, but it’s obviously a local governance issue. But they know where I am.
What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned during your career?
First, don’t assume people know what you are doing. Second, ask people not to assume that I know what they need. If people don’t tell me what they’re facing and what their hopes and expectations are, then I can’t possibly try to meet them. I come down to the new parts of my district quite frequently. We do Zoom meetings, and I have staff that goes to all the business council meetings in Hollister just so we can hear and understand what the communities are facing and what role I might play to support their efforts. That’s the real thing you need to do.
The other thing is not to be afraid to stand up for what’s right. You know, you can’t appease the bullies. You have to just stand up. Stand your ground. Say what is fair and what’s right. And let the chips fall where they may.
As a member of the minority party in the House, you might have a difficult time over the next couple of years. What motivates you to get up every morning and go to work?
Well, there are days when I think, “What the heck are you doing?” I’ll be honest. It’s not necessarily a daily pleasure to do this work at the moment. However, especially in this new administration, there might be some challenges to ensure the protection of our basic system of government. Having three branches of government is very important, and I want to ensure that the power of the purse remains in the legislative branch, as the founders intended, and that we have a judicial system that is blind to influence—that just calls it on the facts and the law.
We need to stand up for the little guy. We’ve got a group of multi-billionaires who are now the main advisors to the incoming president. Being a billionaire is not a sin, but I do hope that we are looking out for regular people and their families. The kind of family I grew up in, where my mom and dad were high school graduates and both were blue collar workers. They had to work for a living, which wasn’t always easy. Somebody needs to look out for those folks. That’s very much in my mind.
Zoe Lofgren can be contacted by email and through her local offices:
Salinas District Office
142 West Alisal Street, Room E116
Salinas, CA 93901
Phone: (831) 837-6000
San Jose District Office
635 North First Street Suite B
San Jose, CA 95112
Phone: (408) 271-8700
Lofgren also has a mailing list with legislative updates.
We need your help. Support local, nonprofit news! BenitoLink is a nonprofit news website that reports on San Benito County. Our team is committed to this community and providing essential, accurate information to our fellow residents. Producing local news is expensive, and community support keeps the news flowing. Please consider supporting BenitoLink, San Benito County’s public service nonprofit news.