California Is Broken — And I'm Done Just Talking About It

I recently joined Patrick Jordan on Briefing with the Chief for one of the most candid conversations I've had since announcing my campaign. We covered three issues that I believe are at the heart of California's decline — and frankly, at the heart of why I decided to run in the first place.

I'm a fifth-generation Californian. I love this state deeply. But I am disgusted with the way it is being governed — at both the state and federal level. At some point, you have to stop complaining and do something about it. That moment came for me, and this campaign is the result.

Here's what we talked about.

Election Integrity: When the Count Can't Be Trusted, Nothing Else Matters

The recent events in Riverside County — where Sheriff Chad Bianco seized ballots after evidence suggested probable cause of irregularities tied to Proposition 50 — should concern every Californian regardless of party. When a law enforcement officer follows the evidence and a judge backs him up, the appropriate response from our state's leadership is transparency, not obstruction.

Proposition 50, for those unfamiliar, would have redefined California's redistricting process — effectively removing the independent commission that voters previously approved and handing that power back to politicians. The implications of compromised ballots in that vote are serious.

But this isn't an isolated incident. California's election infrastructure has systemic vulnerabilities — ballot harvesting with no meaningful oversight, duplicate and triplicate ballots sent to the same households, and voter rolls that haven't been properly maintained in years. Dead voters remain registered. Non-citizens are registered at the DMV with no verification. And anyone who raises these concerns is dismissed as a conspiracy theorist.

Here's what the data actually says: 71% of Californians believe first-time voters should show proof of citizenship. 68% support voter ID. This is not a fringe position — it is the majority position. The federal SAVE America Act reflects exactly what most Americans across party lines already want.

At the congressional level, I will fight for clean voter rolls, verified citizenship requirements, and election processes that every voter — regardless of party — can trust.

Affordability: The Numbers Don't Lie, Even When Sacramento Does

Governor Newsom likes to tout California's median household income as proof that our economy is thriving. What he won't tell you is that when you factor in our tax burden, energy costs, and housing prices — all driven by deliberate policy choices made in Sacramento — that income advantage disappears entirely. According to a forthcoming study by Dr. Wayne Winegarden, California's so-called income premium becomes a 35.2% deficit in real purchasing power.

Let that sink in.

Families making $200,000 a year are leaving this state because they cannot afford to stay. The Pacific Research Institute has said it plainly: California cannot address its affordability crisis without lowering its tax burden. I agree completely.

We are watching this play out in real time:

• The wealth tax being proposed in Sacramento would accelerate the exodus of high-net-worth individuals who already have the means to establish residency elsewhere. The Hoover Institution estimates that roughly 30% of potential tax proceeds have already left the state.

• The mansion tax in Los Angeles didn't generate housing — it stopped housing from being built. Developers simply moved outside city limits.

• BART, the Bay Area's transit system, is now looking at closing stations in my district while simultaneously asking for increases in sales taxes to keep it afloat. If a system cannot sustain itself, the answer is not to make working families pay more — it's to fix the system.

• Energy costs in California average 33 cents per kilowatt hour — among the highest in the nation. The people most devastated by that number are not the wealthy. They are seniors on fixed incomes and working-class families who have no margin.

And yet California refuses to implement the federal tips and overtime tax exemption. Refuses to eliminate the state tax on Social Security income. Is actively considering taxing the Trump savings accounts established for children. The direction is always the same — more taxation, less accountability for where the money goes.

At the federal level, I will push for transparency requirements tied to every dollar California receives from Washington. Fraud in hospice care, child care, homelessness funding, and unemployment insurance has cost this state — and this country — billions. That ends when oversight has teeth.

Gender-Affirming Care for Minors: This Is About Science, Not Politics

This is the topic I know will generate the most reaction, so I want to be precise about what I believe and why.

I am not talking about adults. Adults have the right to make decisions about their own bodies, and I will always respect that.

I am talking about children — minors whose frontal lobes are not fully developed, a neurological fact that our own legal system acknowledges when it applies reduced sentences to juvenile offenders. We cannot simultaneously argue that a teenager lacks the cognitive development to be fully culpable for a violent crime while also arguing that the same teenager can make an irreversible, lifelong medical decision about their body.

That is not compassion. That is contradiction.

The science that was used to justify gender-affirming care for minors has been thoroughly reviewed and found wanting. The UK's National Health Service commissioned the Cass Report — one of the most comprehensive independent reviews of pediatric gender medicine ever conducted. Its conclusion was clear: the evidence base for transitioning minors does not support the outcomes being promised. Children who received gender-affirming interventions were not better off than those in the control group. Many experienced worse outcomes — including increased rates of regret, depression, and an inability to reverse what had been done.

England heard that report and changed course. California declared it a civil rights issue and pressed forward.

63% of Californians do not support gender-affirming medical interventions for minors. Once again, our legislators are governing against the will of the people they represent.

We heard from Chloe Cole — a young woman who underwent a double mastectomy at 15, was placed on puberty blockers and testosterone beginning at age 13, and now lives with consequences that cannot be undone. Her testimony is not an outlier. It is the emerging story of an entire generation of young people who were told that discomfort during adolescence was a medical condition requiring surgical correction.

It was not. It was a normal part of growing up.

President Trump's executive order stopping federal funding for these procedures in minors was the right call. But executive orders are temporary. What we need is permanent federal legislation that protects children — and I will work to pass it.

Why I'm Running

I did not enter this race because politics is comfortable. I entered because I woke up one day and asked myself what right I had to keep complaining if I wasn't willing to do anything about it.

California deserves representation that reflects the values of its people — not the agenda of its loudest donors. The 10th Congressional District deserves someone who has read the Cass Report, who understands transit finance, who has sat in budget meetings and knows how fraud hides in plain sight, and who will show up to Congress ready to work on day one.

That is what I am offering.

Watch the full interview on Briefing with the Chief and visit drgriffithsforcongress.com to learn more, make a donation, or request a yard sign.

Every conversation matters. Every dollar matters. Every vote matters. But only if we show up.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlrORD-wgzk