Brynne Kennedy, a CEO and local resident, is best choice for Congressional District 4

In California’s 4th Congressional District, voters have an easy choice: Brynne Kennedy. She’s a sensible and thoughtful candidate to replace Rep. Tom McClintock, who is seeking a sixth — and, if the past is any indication, politically fruitless — term.

Kennedy is the former CEO of Topia, a business communications software firm. A Yale graduate and MBA graduate from the London Business School, Kennedy recently relocated from San Francisco to Roseville. That makes her the only candidate who actually lives in the district.

Rep. McClintock has never lived in the district he represents. Even worse, his tenure in Congress has been marked by naked obstruction, disinformation and goofy stunts. McClintock voted against a bipartisan relief bill for Americans suffering the economic fallout of the coronavirus shutdown. Even Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, and Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Tulare, supported the bill.

McClintock rails against the government but has drawn a taxpayer-funded salary for decades.

He denies the scientific reality of climate change even though much of his district is in areas threatened by climate change-driven wildfires. He claimed that government efforts to fight COVID-19 were an example of “authoritarian socialism” even as the death toll climbed toward 200,000.

McClintock is a career politician pushing a divisive partisan agenda that serves no one but himself.

Kennedy, in contrast, accepts basic science and seeks to heal partisan division. Kennedy, a businesswoman and entrepreneur, has worked to create hundreds of jobs in the private sector. Kennedy admonishes both parties and encourages an end to the tiresome gridlock that has (temporarily) frozen Washington, D.C.

Kennedy advocates a consensus-based course for voters in her district. She has a track record of success. Unlike McClintock, she might actually work to improve the lives of her constituents and try to get things done in Washington.

McClintock did not respond to interview requests from The Bee. Kennedy was more than happy to spend time explaining her positions and why she’s running.

Kennedy told The Bee Editorial Board she decided to run for Congress after meeting with congressional representatives in Washington and finding herself stunned by how out of touch they were with the concerns of American families.

“I was pretty horrified,” Kennedy said during an interview with the Editorial Board. “I just felt like members of both parties — Democrats and Republicans — had no clue about the real world. So detached from small businesses, from the reality of where our economy is growing, from working families like the one I grew up in. I just kept thinking, gosh, if I ever did my job like this — ignorant of substance, really focused on conflict instead of collaboration — I would have been fired very quickly, and with good reason.”

“I decided to run for Congress because I believe we deserve better than we are getting,” wrote Kennedy in an op-ed in The Bee. “What makes America exceptional are the core values that unite us — Republicans, Democrats and Independents. There are problems we can all see with our own eyes through our own lived experiences. The right question for a democracy is not who to blame, but how to bring people together to fix them.”

Voters in the 4th Congressional District, which stretches from Roseville down to Fresno County, should do themselves a favor by forcing McClintock to finally go get a job in the private sector.

Kennedy has real world experience and knows what it takes to run a business. She cares enough to live in the district, and she cares enough to actually do some real work.

The Sacramento Bee Editorial Board endorses Brynne Kennedy for Congress.

This story was originally published October 17, 2020 at 5:00 AM.