Teacher enters crowded race to topple Rep. Ken Calvert, with Barbara Boxer's blessing
Katherine Aleman, an Inland Empire public-school teacher and part-time chicken farmer, is the latest Democrat to join a crowded field of challengers hoping to unseat 41st Congressional District Rep. Ken Calvert, the longest-serving Republican in California's congressional delegation.
The race against Calvert, who for more than 30 years has represented Riverside County, will be one of the most closely watched in the nation as Democrats push to retake control of the U.S. House in 2026. The congressman, a Trump loyalist, has been a perpetual white whale for Democrats despite his controversial votes to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
This time, Democratic insiders are bullish that Aleman – a mother of four sons who teaches middle school in Corona – will be the one to break their cycle of losses.
Aleman is leaning into her background as a working parent and lifelong Inland Empire resident as she works to make affordability her primary message. Along with cost of living, she said veterans' issues and education are important to her as the daughter of a Marine helicopter pilot and an elementary school principal.
'Folks deserve someone who has walked in their shoes, who's had to balance a household budget, who's struggled,' Aleman told CalMatters. 'We have a congressman who really has only been serving himself and his friends.'
Calvert will not be an easy target. This past quarter he outraised all of his Democratic challengers combined, pulling in more than $1.3 million in contributions and bringing his stockpile of cash on hand to an eye-popping $2.5 million.
'This massive fundraising haul shows just how energized voters are to keep him in Congress,' Christian Martinez, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee wrote in a statement when the fundraising numbers were released earlier this month.
The W-shaped district spans from working-class towns like Corona and El Cerrito in the west to wealthier Coachella Valley cities like Palm Springs in the east. Aleman's fluency in Spanish, which she refined during two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Paraguay, is an asset in a district where nearly 40% of the population is Hispanic.
Aleman's supporters, who include former U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, say her deep roots on the western side of the district – where more than 70% of the population is – differentiate her from her competitors. That background also sets her apart from Will Rollins, a former federal prosecutor who lost to Calvert twice and whose campaign Boxer vigorously supported.
Former U.S. Sen Barbara Boxer is a fan
'She's an undiscovered star,' said Boxer, who sought to support a female candidate from the western side of the district. 'I've been around a long time, and I never say that.'
Boxer, a 24-year veteran of Capitol Hill who, alongside former Sen. Dianne Feinstein, won election to the Senate in 1992's 'Year of the Woman,' pointed to Aleman's successful 2020 campaign for Norco City Council as proof that she can win Republican votes. Aleman, the council's lone Democrat, won despite a nearly 30% Republican voter registration advantage, but lost her reelection bid last November.
When the two women met for lunch a month ago, Boxer said she was immediately impressed with Aleman's straightforward assessment of her district's top issue – affordability.
'She said, 'Senator, people can't afford to live here anymore, and I grew up here.' And I just saw the authenticity of her,' Boxer said of Aleman. 'She fits so well into what we're looking for,' Boxer added, 'someone who has lived the lives of her constituents.'
This time, Calvert has attracted at least eight other Democratic challengers. Among them are Brandon Riker, an entrepreneur who ran for lieutenant governor of Vermont in 2016, and Anuj Dixit, a voting rights attorney who was born and raised in Riverside County. Tim Myers, the bassist for the band OneRepublic, has already bowed out and announced he will instead run for lieutenant governor.
'Katherine is exactly the type of candidate the Democratic Party needs,' said Orrin Evans, a media strategist working on Aleman's campaign launch. His has helped Democratic candidates such as Rep. Derek Tran defeat incumbent Republicans in tough races.
Evans said the takeaway from the 2024 election should be the importance of candidate quality, and that a 'homegrown leader' like Aleman would gain the most traction.
'Katherine's not from Hollywood or Vermont,' he said. 'She's from the Inland Empire.'
In addition to teaching, Aleman raises chickens and sells eggs at a family farm stand. What began as a side project during the pandemic to provide eggs for her family has grown into a small business known as 'Fluffy Butt Ranch.' The additional income helps cushion the family budget.
She also runs a chicken club at her school, which provides extra food security for students in the form of farm-fresh eggs.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Who is challenging Ken Calvert for Congress
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Bernie Sanders I-Vt., on the other hand, told The Intercept that now is the time for the U.S. to push back on Netanyahu's government's 'racist, reactionary' policies. 'Israel is now run by right-wing extremists who are in Gaza starving children and shooting people lining up for food, and now in the West Bank, we've seen vigilantism,' said Sanders. 'I think the time is now for the United States government to make clear that we are not going to continue to support these racist, reactionary policies of the Netanyahu government.' Sen. Tim Kaine. D-Va., argued that this would harm peace talks and threaten long-term regional stability. 'It's going to hurt Israel in the long run,' said Kaine. 'You got a peace discussion that's going on right now where Arab nations are saying we want to be peaceful partners with our neighbor, Israel. But this also means that we need to have a future for Palestine as was promised to Palestinians in the U.N. resolution in 1947, and we're not willing to find this regional peace unless you agree to do that.' Kaine argued that the Knesset vote further isolates Israel in the region. 'It looks like the Knesset is just shutting the door in the face of Arab partners who want to try to work together to promote regional stability,' he said. 'There is a credible opportunity for Israel to be less isolated in the neighborhood, but a vote like this makes it harder, not easier.' Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., told The Intercept that the vote speaks to the broader 'endgame' for the Netanyahu administration. 'For Netanyahu and his administration, annexation and control have always been the endgame,' said Ramirez, in a statement. 'We must end the U.S.'s complicity in the Netanyahu Administration's regime of terror. Congress must do its oversight job, demand an end to the blockade and pass Block the Bombs.'
