Stephen Houlahan is a Democrat, registered nurse and former Santee council member challenging Rep. Darrell Issa to represent California’s 48th Congressional District. In the 2022 race, he was one of the top two primary finishers for the seat but lost to the Republican incumbent in November.
To help inform voters, the San Diego Union-Tribune asked all the candidates a series of the same questions about their priorities, positions and campaigns. Their emailed answers have been lightly edited for clarity.
Why are you running, and what makes you the best candidate?
I am running because I care deeply about our country and our future. I am running because inaction by Congress has made our problems worse. I am a registered nurse, having graduated from SDSU’s School of Nursing in 1998 and the University of San Diego in 2003 with master’s degrees in nursing and business. I am the president of “Save Mission Trails” and led the bipartisan effort to stop the Quail Brush Power Plant from being built in Mission Trails Regional Park.
Elected to the Santee City Council in 2016, I served as the vice mayor of Santee in 2019. As a Santee city councilmember, I served on the San Diego River Conservancy, Mission Trails Taskforce, Goodan Ranch Advisory Committee and the Santee Fire Fighter/Paramedic County Service Agreement (CSA-69). Additionally, I qualified successful ballot measures bringing term limits to Santee and the Santee General Plan Protection Initiative.
What are the top 3 issues facing this district and California generally?
Women’s rights are human and family rights. When women cannot plan their families, they cannot plan and control their future. Women lose educational, job and career opportunities to unplanned pregnancies, and may even jeopardize their health. We must restore the rights lost when Roe v. Wade was overturned for women to fully participate in modern society.
Medicare is important for all of us. Affordable health insurance helps keep older Americans healthy and out of poverty. Medicare also reduces the burden a serious illness imposes on children and family, and Medicare payments support our entire health care system.
Social Security benefits are the major source of income for people over 65 and are a significant source of income for disabled and widowed people under 65. When the Social Security Trust Fund runs out of money, benefits will be reduced by 25 percent, throwing many people into poverty.
What are the first 3 things you would do in your first term in Congress?
When elected to Congress, I would reform the immigration system: More courts and judges in a reformed asylum system. Alternatives to detention — especially for families. Revamped ports of entry. Work with Mexico to support Central American migrants. Help make Central America a place people don’t need to flee.
Next, support Ukraine with weapons, money and aid. Stopping Putin’s aggression against a peaceful neighbor is vital to our national security. If Putin’s aggression is not checked now, it will draw us into more wars and more spending in the future.
Finally, create national standards to protect our democracy and the right to vote. Provide a federal voter ID card to eligible voters. Specify hours that polls must be open. Voting Day will become a national holiday, requiring employers to give time off for voting. Ensure minimum numbers of polling places per capita. And create nonpartisan redistricting, as in California.
What would you do to curb climate change and its effects on California?
Climate change is real, expensive and potentially disastrous. During the 1980s the United States averaged three billion-dollar disasters per year. From 2020 to 2023, we averaged 22 billion-dollar disasters per year, and in 2023 alone we had 28 billion-dollar disasters.
The effects of climate change are large and accelerating. In California home insurance has become expensive and often unobtainable. Yet in the face of this clear evidence, Congress has failed to offer solutions.
I will work to fund more research into finding safe, effective means of capturing carbon that’s in the atmosphere now, and cost-effective means of decarbonizing our transportation system.
How should U.S. migration and asylum policy change, what should guide it, and what specifically will you pursue in Congress?
Our borders are overwhelmed by migrants attempting to enter this country, but it has been nearly 40 years since Congress addressed comprehensive immigration reform. The most recent bipartisan attempt at addressing the border crisis failed because Republicans wanted a campaign issue instead of a solution.
We must stop treating immigration reform as a political football and work for a humane solution that meets the needs of immigrants who are already here, asylum seekers who seek safety here and businesses that need the labor both skilled and unskilled immigrants can provide.
What is your stance on the war in Gaza, and on U.S. involvement in and support of it?
The people of Israel and the people of Palestine both deserve a homeland. On Oct. 7, Hamas proved it cannot be a partner in building a homeland for Palestinians. But the current Israeli government also rejects a two-state solution, and the destruction of Gaza makes that solution ever more difficult.
Every death, whether in Israel, Gaza or the West Bank, causes more grief, anger and hate. The killing and destruction must stop. We need to pressure the Israeli government and reasonable Palestinians to work together to find a solution that provides a homeland for both.
Would you support federal statutory restrictions on, or protections of, abortion rights? Which, and to what extent?
I support a woman’s right to choose. The current crisis was created by a minority of the country that wants to impose their personal, religious views on everyone else.
This country was founded on the idea that every individual should have the right to pursue life, liberty and happiness as they see fit. We should ensure that right by codifying the law according to Roe v. Wade. While sometimes necessary, no one likes abortions. We should do more to support families and women, so abortions are safe, legal and rare.
Would you support or oppose stricter federal gun laws and background checks? Which, and to what extent?
I am a gun owner. I’ve lived in rural Alaska and know how important a gun can be for hunting and home protection. I support the right of people to have and use guns for recreation and protecting themselves.
But that right cannot be unlimited.
I support comprehensive, national background checks to keep guns out of the hands of people who are mentally ill, convicted criminals or violent towards others. And no one needs a weapon of war in their home. I support banning assault weapons that threaten the lives of law enforcement officers and civilians alike.
