SAN DIEGO (NEWS 8) — With more than a year of campaigning to go, six people are already throwing their hats in the ring for the 2018 congressional race.
"In the end this is the longest job interview I've ever been on," said Josh Butner, one of several democrats targeting Republican Congressman Duncan Hunter.
Federal investigators are looking into allegations the five-time incumbent used campaign money to fund vacations and tuition for his children.
His attorney dismissed them as inadvertent mistakes.
"I wish I had a $60,000 to pull out of the campaign fund to help pay my student loans or to get my mortgage out of default," said candidate Pierre Beauregard.
For the most part an Indivisible Ramona event Sunday focused on policy discussion, with the first question targeting the idea of single-payer healthcare.
"The U.S. Spends, right now, 17% of its gross domestic product on healthcare and yet we lag behind almost every civilized western nation," said candidate Glenn Jensen.
"That we have universal healthcare for everyone, I don't care who it is. Let's take care of people," said candidate Gloria Chadwick.
Audience members also got to ask their own questions of the candidates during two 90-minute sessions.
The issue of jobs and education were a frequent topic.
"I want those infrastructure jobs for our district and I want our district to have the skilled labor ready and available to do those jobs here," said candidate Patrick Malloy.
"Education used to be the great equalizer and we've gone from first to nearly worst among the developed countries when it comes to education. And there's a reason why we've had a massive grown in income inequality – I think those two things are linked," said candidate Ammar Campa-Najjar.