Famela Ramos, a hospice nurse and anti-abortion activist, on Monday became the first Republican to enter the race to succeed Democratic Rep. Susan Davis in the deep-blue 53rd District.
Her announcement came three months after she revealed a race against Democratic incumbent Scott Peters in the 52nd District.
“As you can imagine, this is a huge step for me and my family, but I feel obligated to run in order to help preserve the America that I know – an America built on entrepreneurship, innovation, bravery and morals,” Ramos said in a “Dear Friend” letter.
The 43-year-old mother of four cited her background as founder of the Right to Try Foundation, “a nonprofit organization which accelerates access to experimental medication for patients with terminal diseases” and a medical researcher for a team she says published seven peer-reviewed papers.
On July 13, she filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission for a race in the 52nd District.
Three days later, she said in a press release: “I look forward to providing a social and fiscal conservative alternative to voters in 2020 who disagree with the positions and policies of Scott Peters.”
She continued:
“I am running for Congress to preserve the America I know. The America built on entrepreneurship, innovation, bravery and morals. I will fight to stop the America that Progressive Ideologists want, an America without Competition, without the Constitution and without Christianity.”
In November 2018, Ramos was a nonpartisan candidate for Area 3 member of the Chula Vista Elementary school board, losing by 5 points to Leslie Ray Bunker.
By switching races, she’d represent the district where she lives — near High Tech High School in Chula Vista.
Ramos will face at least three Democrats in the 53rd District — Sara Jacobs, Jose Caballero and Joaquin Vasquez. The March primary will decide the top two for a November 2020 runoff in the district with a 2-to-1 Democratic registration advantage.
Davis said last week that she wouldn’t seek an 11th term in Congress, opening the door to a potential flood of Democratic candidates.
On July 8, Ramos held a small rally outside the downtown federal courthouse to protest what she called the unfair treatment Rep. Duncan Hunter was receiving in a “case that is clearly politically motivated.”
“It is plainly obvious that due to Congressman Hunter’s strong support for American Exceptionalism, Family Values, and President Trump, he is being targeted by leftist and socialist forces in this highly political witchhunt,” she said in a press release.
Ramos has been a San Diego County voter since September 1995, eligible to cast a ballot in 31 elections. But she’s voted only six times — the last time in June 2018, according to the county Registrar of Voters Office.
Jumping districts isn’t the first time she’s changed her mind.
The voter office Tuesday said Ramos was registered with the Natural Law Party between September 1995 and November 2002. She was a registered Democrat between November 2004 and June 2010 and a Republican since November 2010.
Updated at 12:20 p.m. Sept. 10, 2019