Podcast By the Bay sits down with current candidate for US Congress CA District 15 Gus Mattammal to discuss the many issues of the day and why he’s running for US Congress.
“Candidates for Congress to fill Jackie Speier’s seat showed off their environmental credentials at a candidates’ debate last week … surprise of surprises, the only Republican candidate, Gus Mattammal, stole the show. He was smart. An environmentalist. A tech guy. And very likable. If only there were more Republicans in Congress like him. When asked to name the person who most inspired them, Beach and Mullin named Speier; Canepa, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive firebrand and one reason Democrats may lose the House to the Republicans; and Gus, John Adams, second U.S. president.”
“The Congressional Candidate Forum sponsored by Citizen’s Climate Lobby on Wednesday, April 6, 2022 included the four top candidates for the open 15th district seat in California.”
Is There A Conservative Case For Universal Healthcare? ft. Gus Mattammal
“Steve and Kristen sit down with Gus Mattammal, the Republican candidate for Congress in District 15, and they talk about his platform of conservative, market-centered policies that will achieve universal healthcare coverage, a secure border, meaningful education reform, and real progress on climate change.”
“In the first edition of TSV Politics, Opinions Editor Zack Navarra is joined by Gus Mattammal, a Republican candidate for California’s 15th congressional district. They discuss healthcare, education, housing and climate change. The primary date for the election is June 7.”
A new Tulchin Research poll found that Gus Mattammal was statistically tied for the lead in the
jungle primary for California’s 15th Congressional District. A heavily Democratic area stretching
from San Francisco to East Palo Alto, CA-15 is currently represented by retiring Rep. Jackie
Speier (D-CA).
The poll, which was released by David Canepa’s campaign, showed Canepa, Kevin Mullin, and
Gus Mattammal all in double digits and in a statistical tie when considering the margin of error.
Other prominent candidates, including Emily Beach, received support in the single digits. More
than two in five of those surveyed are undecided.
In response to the poll, Mattammal said “That this race is statistically tied despite my opponents’
having raised hundreds of thousands of dollars and having spent five to ten times as much as I
have proves that the people of California’s 15th are hungry for change. My message of bringing
practical, good-faith conservative solutions to the table is clearly resonating with voters. I will
continue to focus on the issues that matter to everyday folks, and I look forward to the journey
ahead.” The poll surveyed around 500 likely voters between February 1 and February 6, and the
margin of error was 4.4 percentage points.
“5 step forward to run for Speier’s seat”
El Granada resident Gus Mattammal is the lone Republican in the group. The tagline for his campaign is “Faith in People, Faith in America,” and he says he’s running “because I want to help restore people’s faith in each other and in this great country of ours.” With degrees in math and management he has spent a dozen years as an executive for a firm providing educational services. When asked about the prospects for a little-known Republican running against established politicians in a strongly Democratic district he says, “I’ll build name recognition through the most energetic, comprehensive grassroots canvassing of this district that our party has ever done. And I’m already building a volunteer team to help me do it. It’s going to be fun!”
“Beach, Canepa, Mattammal, Mullin running for Congress”
Gus Mattammal, a Republican from the coast, has also announced his intention to run for the seat. Mattammal said he hopes to build better access to education, health care and business in the district.
CONGRESSWOMAN JACKIE SPEIER’S UPCOMING RETIREMENT LEAVES REPUBLICAN GUS MATTAMMAL AS THE ONLY DECLARED CANDIDATE IN THE CA-14TH CONGRESSIONAL RACE
(San Mateo, CA)
Gus Mattammal responded to the announcement of Congresswoman Speier’s retirement by thanking her for her dedication to the district: “I thank Congresswoman Speier for serving the people of the 14th district for the last 13 years. Working in Congress is certainly not easy in these fraught times.” Following her departure, Gus hopes to build better access to education, healthcare, and business in the district.
Gus’s background in education uniquely positions him to tackle an issue at the forefront of parents’ minds: “I’ve been educating students full-time for 18 years, and part-time for years before that. I’ve worked with students of every race, creed, and income level, and that experience has shown me that every student can learn when given the opportunity. Yes, there are deep inequities in our education system. But the solution is not to take away opportunities from students through misguided policies like eliminating honors programs and advanced classes. The solution is to provide MORE opportunities to students, particularly those who don’t already have them.”
Coming from a family with deep roots in healthcare, Gus is also excited to work to build a better system for families in the 14th district and around the country: “Our party has spent too much of its energy over the last decade attacking ‘Obamacare’ and not enough developing a compelling alternative. Obamacare took a bad healthcare system and extended it from 80% of the country to 90% of the country. But it is incumbent upon us to develop an alternative plan that provides meaningful improvement, especially for working-class Americans. I will develop a conservative plan for healthcare reform grounded in market forces that offers more personal choice and yes—universal coverage. It’s a huge opportunity for our party to lead.”
As a small businessman for the last 14 years, Gus understands how difficult it can be to build a business in California, but also sees how big the opportunity is for small business to serve as a ladder out of poverty: “Small, local businesses are truly rooted in their communities. Everyone who is willing to work hard and take a risk—whether they’re a Hispanic immigrant family on the south side of Half Moon Bay, a Black teenager in East Palo Alto, or the child of an engineer on the Peninsula—should be able to take an idea for a business and run with it. Build your business, hire more people from your community, and let’s talk about what the Republican Party can do to help make it easier for you to succeed.”
Gus has been a resident of the coastside for the last 14 years, after growing up in inner-city St. Louis and living in Southern California; New Haven, CT; Richmond, VA; and New York City. He holds degrees in Physics and Mathematics from Pomona College and an MBA from the Yale School of Management. His wife Jill is from rural Georgia and has lived around the country as well. With friends and family from every part of the country, Gus can relate to people and their concerns no matter where they’re from or what their politics are.
Gus looks forward to bringing people together to get things done, and he believes it’s very much still possible. That was the genesis of his campaign slogan:
