The Competition

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Click here for a Press Release to learn more about the lives of action governed by virtue of the CA-39 Republican candidates.

It is important for voters to make an educated choice.  Please find brief bios of all the Republican primary candidates for the June, 7th primary listed here.

Please click here for extended information. 

Click here for even more detailed information about the candidates.

Odds of Winning Primary:  1:1

Positives:  Tony Moreno is the ideal candidate to represent CA-39.  

• Tony has both elected (City Council) and appointed (State) experience.
• He understands Federal public policy inside and out and with award winning results.
• His Hispanic heritage resonates in a district registered with over 50% Hispanic voters.
• Tony is a solid Republican and conservative in matters of fiscal policy and constitutional law.  Not a RINO.  Tony is a prayer warrior!
• He can also work with incumbents of both parties to achieve sound public policy.
• He sticks to his guns- pro- second amendment and pro-life.
• All issues outlined in the platform can be backed up with solid legislative recommendations.  Will pro-actively produce bills that matter.  
• Actively standing up to serve our country to run for US Congress. 

Negatives:  Tony always rolls up his sleeves.    

• His hands always get dirty doing work nobody else wants to do.

Candidate Website:  www.moreno.vote

Odds of Winning Primary:  3:1

Positives:  Aja Smith is a great person.  

• She presents herself well and has a fabulous website.  
• A veteran who represents the district demographic well.

Negatives:  This will be Aja's third unsuccesful try to win this Congressional seat.  

• Each time Aja has come up short- by a lot.  She just has not been able to  beat incumbent Mark Takano.  Odds are she won't win again and it is time for someone new to step up.
• Aja appears to have great fundraising, but it is a bit of an illusion.  She is using a Newport Beach based fundraising company who keeps most of the money raised as overhead.  She's an ideal minority candidate so it's easy for them to raise money as there are few good Republican candidates like her.  But check where the money goes- it's not effective.
• Even with all the money she raises, Aja struggled to recieve 36% of the vote in the 2020 general election, and 35% in 2018. Not a good return on investment.  

Website needs update-(still says CA-41?):  https://www.ajasmithforcongress.com/

Odds of Winning Primary:  5:1

Positives:  John Minnella has his heart in the right place.    

•  John genuinely cares about America and the 39th district.
• A very smart guy, a pillar of the community and a great family man.  

Negatives:  It seems John has never held public office.

• With no previous political experience representing us in Congress will be difficult.  
• Because John has never held public office before the learning curve will be steep.
• Viewing his website most of his policy platform is generic and lacks specifics and important details.  He needs to spend extended time framing these ideas into legistlative proposals.
• As a Congressman he will need to learn how to network legislative proposals behind the scenes to gain majority support. Difficult to do without experience. 

Candidate Website:  https://minnellaforcongress.com/ 

Odds of Winning Primary:  6:1

Positives:  Bill Spinney is a committed candidate.  

• Bill has the right outlook- constitutional conservative, 2nd Amendment supporter, fiscal conservative.  
• A man of faith and puts God first. 

Negatives:  Bill has no real working public policy background or experience. 

• As an engineer and business manager it will be hard for Bill to make the transition to the world of public policy.
• Bill's website needs some work.  His policy positions are not well developed or thought out.  Often he just provides link throughs to news articles.
• Bill was among the first to jump in the race early and had a lot of time to learn how to be a candidate.  He still needs more time and experience.  

Candidate Website:

https://www.spinneyforcongress.com/home

Odds of Winning Primary:  12:1

Positives:  Art Peterson means well. I hope. 

• Art literally has done everything.  He has been elected, appointed and who knows what else...   
• Art has been around the block.  No really- Art has been there and done that. What an amazing guy.

Negatives:  Art may run out of time before he runs out of energy.

• Art is currently 95 years young!  Riding on planes may set him back.  A Congressman has to travel to Washington DC.  Showing up to take important votes is also an issue.  Can we count on him?
• As a Congressman it's import to get out and talk to people and represent "we the people." 
• Congress relies on seniority.  Even Strom Thurmond retired when he was 100.  We need someone who will serve multiple terms and see the Republican majority though.
• Art was President of Thunderbird University.  A noted CIA proving ground.

Candidate Website:

https://petersoncongress.us/

Odds of Winning Primary:  30:1

Positives: Emmanuel Suarez has the greatest campaign slogan ever.  

•  The "Pool Man for Congress" proves that anyone in America can step up and run for political office. We need more people to do exactly this. 
• Emmanuel is tired of endless government and has had enough. Haven't we all.  
• The 39th district is over 50% Hispanic registered voters.  His background and ethnicity resonates.
• Emmanuel is one of the only candidates with enough guts to push for Congressional term limits.  Solid.

Negatives:  Emmanuel has his hat on crooked in his website picture.  

• Not a good look as America is tired of crooked politicos.  He seems very honest and brings a common man's candidacy but being in the public eye is difficult and perceptions do matter. 
• Emmanuel, like many other candidates in this race, needs to hone his public policy skills at the local or regional level as a member of a City Council or a board or commission before throwing into a high stakes Congressional race. 

Campaign Website:  https://poolmanforcongress.com/index.html