Hornet Media and the Fullerton Observer interviewed Dave Obrand, running for the California State Assembly District 59, at a candidate forum at Fullerton College on Oct. 7, 2024. The Fullerton Observer reached out to all candidates running for this office for the opportunity to take part in a video interview at the forum and interviewed those who responded.

This video series is a joint production of the Fullerton Observer, a volunteer-run community newspaper, and Hornet Media, the student-run media outlets housed in the Fullerton College journalism program. 

Interviews have been edited for length and clarity but have not been independently fact-checked. 

View live coverage of local elections returns on Nov. 5, 2024, at 7 p.m. on Hornet Media’s YouTube channel @fchornetmedia 

Video Transcript:

Hornet Media / Fullerton Observer 

What are your top priorities if elected?

Dave Obrand 

Number one, I think the biggest concern we need to address in the state is cost of living and housing costs and housing availability. Number two, my father was a schoolteacher. I’ve only gone to public schools my entire life, including through law school. Public education is an issue I take very seriously near and dear to my heart. I think we need to bolster public education and include pathways for everyone to have access to higher education, including a bachelor’s degree or a trade so that everyone can be successful in this current society that we have here in California. And lastly, I think it’s really important to have campaign finance reform and improve government transparency. 

Hornet Media / Fullerton Observer 

Who has donated to your campaign? Who is endorsing you? 

Dave Obrand 

So the vast majority of donors, probably in the high 90% of donors are individuals. Most of those people come from my personal network of friends, family, former coworkers, former students that I went to school with teammates over the years. My largest single donor is the ILWU, which I think a lot of people will recognize as the Longshoremen Union. They’ve also endorsed me. That’s one that I’m very proud to get because I grew up in a place called Harbor City right next to the Los Angeles port. And I grew up with longshoremen, their kids, and I appreciate that level of hard work. Other endorsements include other unions, such as California School Employees Association, the United Steelworkers Local or Unite Here, Local 11. There’s also groups who have similar values to mine, like Equality California, the Honor PAC and Six Pack California. And lastly, I have those institutional endorsements such as California Democratic Party, California, Young Democrats, Orange County, Democratic Party, things of that nature. 

Hornet Media / Fullerton Observer 

What would you do differently than the person currently in this position? 

 Dave Obrand 

I think the main thing that I intend to do and what I’ve tried to do with this campaign is to be honest about my values, Clearly define those and work towards policies that support those values. And why that’s different than my opponent is throughout almost eight year legislative career. His latest legislative record shows that he doesn’t really have any clear values. He doesn’t take a stance on any of the important social issues facing us. He has a voting record that shows he sits out more than a third of the votes. And so no one really has a clear idea of where he stands on things such as abortion, LGBTQ rights, even things like housing that he says he is for. He has abstained from votes that would have meaningfully improved the housing situation here. So I think it’s important for people to understand my values. The number one being bringing equity to people in my community and in the state. 

Hornet Media / Fullerton Observer 

What kind of help or services can be provided for immigrants whose status in the U.S. is still being decided? 

Dave Obrand 

Sure, As I understand that question, it’s people going through the court system and it’s unclear whether or not they’re legally here in the United States or not. This is, again, one that is important to me. My mother was an immigrant from Nicaragua, and I think like a lot of immigrant stories, the visa that she came here on, it’s not abundantly clear to me that that was always in effect the entire time she was here before she met my father and eventually became a citizen. Those people, like any other person in a United States court of law, are innocent until proven guilty. And we need to provide them the basic resources so that they can be educated, so that they can live with dignity, so that they can be healthy and have access to health care. And the important thing about that is not only is that the morally right thing to do from a fiscal policy standpoint, ensuring that these people are educated and given the opportunity to live with dignity, dignity allows them to hit a stride and be successful once their status is indeed considered legal and otherwise. Again, it’s just the morally right thing to do. 

Hornet Media / Fullerton Observer 

What specific policy do you propose to address the rising cost of housing and ensure affordable housing options for college students, seniors and low-income individuals? 

Dave Obrand 

Yeah. So my favorite idea related to addressing housing is social housing initiatives, which is a form of government subsidized housing, but it’s tiered. So not every house is rented out to people at a certain certain income level. There’s different levels of income that receive a different level of subsidy from the government. And what that does is it attracts different socioeconomic backgrounds to the same area. It brings people from what have been traditionally marginalized, underrepresented, underfunded, affordable areas and brings them into the areas that have the most resources where they work. It limits the amount of commuting. And the most important thing to me, again, is the equity issue and ensuring that people are living together, not just because they make a certain level of money, but because they go to the same jobs or they have the same values that are supported by the specific area that they live in. It puts people in the areas that they feel most comfortable, rather than relegating those who don’t earn a certain amount of money to additional housing away from the resources that they need most.  

Hornet Media / Fullerton Observer 

Do you have any plans to help students struggling with student debt, especially in a time when the economy is not in their favor? 

Dave Obrand 

Sure. I think, you know, again, I go back to the idea of ensuring that everyone, at least in the state, I would love it to be nationally, but everyone in the state has the ability and the real ability to go to college. And that includes, obviously, subsidizing college for some. I know junior college is free for the first two years for students that sign sign up for a certain program. Whether or not that’s attractive to all students, I’m not sure. It’s been a long time since I’ve been in school. We need to make sure that we’re meeting people where they are. And one thing that I think is something that should be considered is students with children or students from certain socioeconomic backgrounds that are in school full time, working towards a degree, trying to get on that American dream that we all preach, all of us that sit in this chair, talk about American dream opportunities. Those are the people that perhaps deserve a universal basic income, because if they have a child, they need to be able to support that kid. If they have a sick parent, they need to be able to support that parent. And by not ensuring that kids not only have school paid for or subsidized, but have their lives so that they can focus on school, so that they can become productive people in their careers. That’s the missing part that I don’t think we’re taking care of.