Quick Take
In a time of rising cost of living and escalating war spending abroad, voters in Santa Cruz County face a stark choice in the vote for U.S. House District 19 representative, writes activist Unhae Langis. She argues that current federal budgets favor militarization over community needs such as housing, healthcare and climate resilience, and contrasts incumbent Rep. Jimmy Panetta’s record with challenger Sean Dougherty’s platform. She believes Dougherty is a better choice for Santa Cruz County voters who don’t support military spending.
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As Santa Cruz County families face crushing housing costs, strained healthcare, childcare burdens and climate anxiety, we are constantly told there is not enough money. Yet Congress can still move billions for war with barely a pause.
That is why my vote in the race for our congressional representative (District 19) comes down to a simple moral principle: Public money should fund life, not death.
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The U.S.-Israel war with Iran has made that trade-off impossible to ignore. Analysts estimate the opening phase consumed roughly $900 million per day, with later estimates rising closer to $1 billion to $2 billion per day, even as Washington advances a $1.5 trillion Pentagon budget request.
Those billions come from the same treasury that says there is no money for affordable housing, clinics, teachers, wildfire resilience or dignified jobs.
Martin Luther King Jr. named this moral crisis in his 1967 speech “Beyond Vietnam,” warning that a nation spending more on war than on “social uplift” is approaching “spiritual death.” Santa Cruz County residents feel this reality in tangible ways: The missile launched abroad returns home as unaffordable rent, delayed mental healthcare, neglected schools and climate vulnerability.
Journalist Chris Hedges, in “America: The Farewell Tour,” has similarly described how the costs of empire return as the “cannibalizing of democracy and human flourishing” — abandoned communities, collapsing health systems and ecological strain. That same equation is visible here when Washington can always find money for bombs but hesitates over Pajaro Valley housing, drought resilience or clean-energy infrastructure.
That is why I support Sean Dougherty’s campaign and oppose Rep. Jimmy Panetta.
Dougherty’s message — “for the many, not the money” — speaks directly to the material crises people in Santa Cruz County are living through. His platform calls for cutting military spending and reinvesting in universal healthcare, affordable housing, climate action and labor protections.
Panetta’s record reflects a different set of priorities. He has received significant financial support from pro-Israel advocacy networks and the arms industry, and his legislative record consistently aligns with expanding U.S. military commitments abroad.
In a recent mailer that reads like campaign advertising, Panetta presents his position in bold terms: “END THE WAR NOW, the mailer reads, in all capital letters. The postcard states that it was “paid for by official funds authorized by the House of Representatives,” a designation typically reserved for constituent communication rather than campaign messaging, raising questions about how such materials are used and presented to voters.
Yet it remains unclear how Panetta would vote if new war authorization were sought. His support for H.Res. 1099 reaffirming Iran as a leading state sponsor of terrorism reflects continued alignment with a hawkish posture. Between 2022 and 2024, Panetta introduced or co-sponsored multiple bills — including the STARS Act, the DEFEND Act, the MARITIME Act and the LINK Act — which deepened military coordination among the United States, Israel and Abraham Accords partner nations.
The Abraham Accords have become a central pillar of U.S. regional strategy. Critics argue that this framework prioritizes normalization and security integration while sidelining Palestinian rights, entrenching long-term militarization rather than resolving underlying conflict.
Since Oct. 7, 2023, Panetta has maintained consistent support for Israel’s “right to defend itself.” He backed $31 billion in military aid packages in 2024 and has supported continuation of the annual $3.8 billion U.S. military commitment to Israel.
While he later co-sponsored the West Bank Violence Prevention Act, he has not supported measures such as the Block the Bombs Act (H.R. 3565), which would place conditions on weapons transfers, or H.R. 2411 to restore U.S. funding to United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) for humanitarian relief to Gaza. Panetta is out of sync with our county’s Democratic Central Committee, which has backed both measures.
Panetta’s record shows consistent support for Israel’s military campaign, which the United Nations and genocide scholars have described as marked by devastating civilian loss and suffering. Directing billions toward war instead of human needs runs counter to international law, to the priorities of many constituents, and to the principle that public money should fund life.
His foreign policy positions extend beyond the Middle East. He has co-sponsored legislation to designate the Frente Polisario in Western Sahara as a terrorist organization and supported efforts to expand U.S.-Philippine military ties that critics say undermine the spirit of the Philippine Human Rights Act.
Panetta’s record also intersects with domestic free speech concerns. He co-sponsored the Israel Anti-Boycott Act and supported H.R. 9495, a counterterrorism-related bill that civil liberties groups warned could give the federal government broad authority over nonprofit organizations, potentially chilling advocacy and dissent. Even as the U.S. spends billions of our children’s money to take the lives of other people’s children, Panetta’s support for the ENLIST Act and the SERVE Act, which broaden eligibility for military service and expands military recruitment in high schools, extending the reach of militarism into young people’s lives. Even as the U.S. military that he so vigorously supports is the world’s largest institutional greenhouse gas emitter, Panetta presents himself as “a steward” of our majestic Monterey Bay – as he did at the April 25 Veterans Hall community meeting on offshore drilling.
But every bomb approved abroad is money not invested in housing, mental healthcare, education, climate resilience or clean infrastructure here at home. This is the moral budget choice shaping daily life in our community.
I want the next billions to go toward homes, schools, a clean environment and dignified work — not bombs.
That is why I’m voting for Sean Dougherty.
Unhae Langis is a writer, former teacher and activist focused on peace, economic justice and climate transition in Santa Cruz County.