Kevin de Leon, a candidate for the U.S. Senate, spoke at the Benicia Public Library for Tuesday’s Progressive Democrats of Benicia meeting.

De Leon was introduced at the meeting by Vice Mayor Steve Young, who described the state senator’s upbringing. He grew up in the barrios of San Diego as the son of an immigrant housekeeper and was elected to the Assembly in 2006. Four years later, he was elected to the state Senate, where he held the position of President pro tempore from 2014 to 2018, being the first Latino to hold that position. During his time in the state Senate, de Leon co-sponsored separate legislation to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, require background checks for ammunition purchases and prevent local police agencies from cooperating with federal authorities on immigration issues except those convicted of serious felonies. De Leon is challenging incumbent Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who is running for her fifth full term. In February, the California Democratic Party made headlines by endorsing de Leon at its San Diego convention over Feinstein.

During his speech at the library, de Leon criticized Feinstein’s voting record— noting that she voted for the Iraq War and is not ready to take a position on single-payer health care—and expressed a desire for a change in leadership.

“This is a time when we need a voice that is not on the sidelines but on the frontlines,” he said.

De Leon said he chose to run for the U.S. Senate because he felt California’s values were not being reflected in Washington.

“I don’t think our values in Washington are being reflective of who we are today as a great state,” he said. “Perhaps a quarter of a century ago, but not today.”

De Leon said the day after Donald Trump won the presidency, he was going to make an effort to “lead the resistance.” He noted that if candidates like Jeb Bush, John Kasich or Chris Christie had won, he would have been disappointed but eventually would have given time to find common ground.

“When we can’t find common ground within the normalcy of the parameters of the spirit of the American body of politic, we can debate our ideas, we can dialogue, we can even argue and fight our ideas,” he said. “That is within the normalcy of the spirit of the American body of politic. I identified this as abnormal from day one.”

After the election, de Leon brought in former Attorney General Eric Holder as his senior counsel as they authored Senate Bill 54, the California Values Act although more commonly known in the press as the “sanctuary state” bill. In March, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a lawsuit against the state over the bill.

“We look forward to our day in court because we’re gonna win,” he said.

De Leon spoke in favor of universal health care, clean energy and moving fossil fuels into a clean energy space. He also stressed the need for a unified California, noting that the issue was not “Northern California versus Southern California or the Central Coast versus the Central Valley, but one coherent California that has progressive values.”

De Leon also took questions from the audience. When asked about unemployment, the candidate said the workforce is continually changing, citing companies like Amazon and Instacart offering the ability for people to order groceries online and have them delivered the same day.

“Regional and local supermarkets are under immense pressure now when you’re at the negotiating table on benefits, health care and wages to start taking that away,” he said. “Amazon has now started to crush them. That’s why the UFCW folks are starting to lose their jobs or are starting to lose great benefits at the table.”

De Leon said a debate was needed over how consumers could receive the benefits of technology while still examining technology’s role in the workforce.

Mayor Elizabeth Patterson spoke about proposed legislation by Sen. Bill Dodd to triple fines for violations of emission standards by refineries. She said she would not support the bill because she felt it would not help and instead requested that fines be spent on fixing such issues.

“This is the cost of doing business,” she said. “This is not fixing the problem, so the fines to me are irrelevant if they’re not going after the fix and they’re not benefiting the community that is the brunt of it.”

Patterson asked De Leon if it would be possible to get some of the necessary refinery improvements. The candidate said the idea was practical and was supportive of a community benefit fund.

“It goes to the source of the problem itself,” he said.

Finally, De Leon was asked about how he would cut government spending without cutting programs that serve economically disadvantaged populations. His goals include trying to repeal the Republican tax cuts and not spending as much of the budget on the military.

“I don’t want to weaken our men and women who put their lives on the line to protect us,” he said, “but I want to be smart at the same time.”

De Leon ended by reiterating that he would serve California’s values in the U.S. Senate.

“The world is watching what we do in California,” he said. “It’s important that we remain America’s beacon.”

For more information on de Leon, go to kevindeleon.com.

In addition to Feinstein and de Leon, there are many candidates in the Senate race, although only the top two vote-getters will face off in the general election. Other candidates include Democratic attorney Eugene Harris, national Wolf PAC director Alison Hartson, conservative author Erin Cruz, and perennial Republican candidate Rocky De La Fuente. For more information on any of the candidates, visit ballotpedia.org.