KEVIN DE LEON

I am not delusional. Listen, I am not naive to the fact that people are not shouting my name all over the state of California.

I think that many Californians have been accustomed to, have normalized, that being good sometimes is good enough.

President Trump's threat to weaponize federal funding is not only unconstitutional but emblematic of the cruelty he seeks to impose on our most vulnerable communities.

My name is Kevin de Leon, and I am the president of the most progressive legislative house in America.

California will not become a cog in the Trump deportation machine.

As the youngest child of a single immigrant mother with a third-grade education, I never thought in my wildest dreams that I'd ever be an elected official.

If I've learned one thing as a state leader, it's that California will never fulfill its truest potential if we wait for Washington to change on its own.

I am not just a defender of the California Dream. I am a product of it.

Dependence on oil from volatile foreign markets undermines our economic security and threatens our national security. Moreover, that addiction is producing toxic air and a public-health epidemic.

From education to the environment, from high wages to health care to human rights, California is proof that progressive policies put into action improve the human condition of all individuals.

I'm not into political gamesmanship.

Thanks to policies mandating clean energy development, California's electric grid is one of the least carbon-intensive in the world.

Unlike Washington, the California legislature has proved that cooperation is both possible and essential to successful policymaking, while stubborn absolutism will have you trailing head lice in popularity polls.

California continues to pass the most ambitious laws in the world to expand clean energy and combat climate change.

I would never vote to allow federal agents to spy on American citizens without warrants.

No one wants dangerous criminals in our communities.

In California, we celebrate our diversity. We celebrate who we are because we're proud of who we are; we're proud of where our families come from.

Yes, we absolutely need to eliminate the single-use plastic bag, but we don't have to eliminate the jobs of hardworking Californians to accomplish this goal.

Seniority means nothing if you don't do anything with it.

We have proven that you can actually move strong, progressive policies, grow the economy, and improve the human condition.

We're planting trees to break up the concrete jungle. We're building public transportation and affordable housing.

California is the greatest beacon of opportunity the world has ever known. But we didn't get here through years of political seniority - we built it through acts of audacity.

Lawmakers must stand up for companies that choose public safety over profit margins.

Police chiefs know a thing or two about public safety.

Our State Senate must lead by example, restore trust and transparency, stop sweeping workplace misconduct under the rug, and do everything we can to protect women who work in and around the Capitol.