Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones, who said in a
YouTube video last year that President Barack Obama is "singularly responsible" for the lack of enforcement of the nation's immigration laws, is running for Congress.
Jones will run as a Republican for the seat currently held by Democrat Rep. Ami Bera, who squeaked by in the last two elections in California's 7th Congressional District and is again considered vulnerable in 2016.
"Our national leaders are driving us ever closer, ever faster to disaster," Jones said in announcing his decision to run Monday, citing immigration and national security as the two most important issues to his campaign, the
Los Angeles Times reports.
Bera lost a 2010 bid to GOP Rep. Dan Lungren in what at the time was California's 3rd Congressional District, the
Sacramento Bee reports.
Bera then won the seat over Lungren in 2012 in a redrawn 7th Congressional District and retained it after narrowly beating back a challenge from former Rep. Doug Ose in 2014.
"In [the 2012 and 2014] races, Bera trailed on Election Day but overtook his opponents as officials processed late-arriving mail ballots and provisional ballots," the Bee reports.
This time around, Bera is considered to be on shaky ground with one of his core supporters, organized labor, after he supported Obama's Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, the Times reports.
Sheriff Jones'
YouTube video address to Obama begins with him detailing the slayings of two police officers by an illegal alien:
"Two weeks ago today, I had the unfortunate distinction of burying one of my deputies. His name was Danny Oliver, and he was shot a single time in the head during a casual encounter with a suspect.
“During the ensuing manhunt that day, another deputy from nearby Placer County was also shot and killed by him. In his rampage, he carjacked several people at gunpoint, he shot or shot at several other officers, and shot an innocent civilian in the face.
"Why am I telling you this? Because this person is in the country illegally from Mexico. He has a significant criminal history. And on at least four prior occasions he was removed from this county, each time having no consequences for his actions.”
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