In December 2024, before Donald Trump had even taken office, Jim Desmond was already on the phone with his transition team.
He had a mission. He wanted to make sure his own county would help round people up.
His county had just voted to keep local sheriff’s deputies out of the deportation business. Three to one. Desmond was the one. He called the vote “outrageous.” He called it “a betrayal.” He said he had already contacted the incoming administration and would “fight relentlessly to undo it.”
Then he tried. In March 2025 he forced a vote to repeal the policy. He wanted deputies free to help ICE again. It failed.
He was not done. When his county wanted to give migrants a safe place to rest, Desmond was the only one who voted against it.
A safe place. He voted no on a safe place.
What That Tells You
Jim Desmond does not scream. He does not post. He does not make national headlines.
He just votes. And every time it counted, he voted to put families in the back of a van.
Now he wants to take that to Washington. He looked at the map. He picked a new district. He got a Trump endorsement. He walked in with a million dollars and the NRCC behind him.
One more seat in the House is one more vote for mass deportation. One more vote against the people who work in jobs this country depends on every day. Desmond already showed everyone exactly what he would do with that vote. He showed them at home, when he thought only his county was watching.
The Man Who Should Replace Him
His name is Brandon Riker.
While Desmond was fighting to hand people to ICE, Riker was on the board of an organization that does the exact opposite. SafePlace International finds safe and stable homes for refugees and displaced people in 26 countries. People who fled war. People who fled persecution. People with nowhere to go.
That is what Brandon Riker does with his time. He helps the displaced find a place to land.
He is a fourth-generation Californian. He is a trained economist. If he wins he would be the only economist in the entire House. There are over 150 lawyers in Congress. There are zero economists.
He volunteers at his local food bank. He has held more than 120 listening sessions across the district, in towns no other candidate bothered to visit. He takes no corporate PAC money. He goes straight to the voters.
One man spent the last year trying to tear families apart. The other has spent his life helping them find safety.
The Vote Is in Three Days
This race ends June 2.
Desmond has the money. He has Trump. He has the NRCC. What he does not have is a single person making him answer for what he did to those families.
Brandon Riker has three days to close the gap. He has been on the ground the whole time. Now he needs to be heard.
Click Here to Support Him Today!
✦ Three days. One seat. Desmond is counting on nobody paying attention.
→ Click Here to Donate to Brandon Riker!
He handed his county to ICE and plans to take that to Washington. Help Brandon Riker stop him before June 2.
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