Sean Dougherty’s campaign slogan for 2026 is “For the many, not the money.”
Dougherty, a Santa Cruz community member and activist, announced that he will run against incumbent Jimmy Panetta and other candidates in the 19th Congressional District race, both in the primary on June 2 and the general election on Nov. 3. Panetta is currently serving his fifth consecutive term in office.
However, Dougherty believes Panetta’s candidacy fails to represent the needs of District 19, which includes the Santa Cruz community and neighboring areas along the Central Coast, including parts of Santa Clara, Monterey and San Luis Obispo. Dougherty, along with other members of Santa Cruz for Bernie Sanders, a progressive political advocacy organization, attempted to arrange a meeting with Panetta to discuss efforts to compromise on salient issues effecting the community in 2023. However, the group was denied.
“We wanted to see efforts at diplomacy in our foreign policy, not just all these missiles and bombs and threats and sanctions,” Dougherty said. “We just tried to have five minutes of his time when he was in the district, and we couldn’t get it, and I was furious.”
He added, “Well, if you won’t listen to us, then I’m going to run.’”
Dougherty canvases outside of UCSC’s McHenry Library as students pass by. Environmental studies undergraduate Kaylyn Valenzuela, [blue sweater] joined Dougherty. They originally met during a Santa Cruz Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines meeting.
In an attempt to change the problems that he believes have persisted under Panetta’s direction, Dougherty switched his party affiliation in 2020 from Democratic to Green. Without the funding supplied by a larger political party and immense grants provided by endorsement companies, Dougherty says he can make choices that aren’t influenced by benefactors or other external sources.
On his campaign website, Dougherty outlines what this grassroots approach would mean for the future of the 19th District.
His main objectives are to lower the high costs of living in California, reduce the use of pesticides on produce, divest federal funding from Israel and prioritize international cooperation
Recently, Dougherty expressed major dissatisfaction with how Panetta is handling ICE’s presence in the district. While Panetta has gone on record advocating for internal reconstruction and transparency — actions that would deter but not fully eliminate ICE’s work in Santa Cruz — Dougherty favors a more transformative approach.
“We shouldn’t be dealing with immigration using guns and prisons. We should be dealing with immigration using paperwork,” Dougherty said. “It’s not necessary to use guns and prisons with families, and that’s what we’re seeing with these ICE raids.”
Dr. Yusra Hussain, a physician at Stanford Medicine and member of the executive board for the American Muslim Public Affairs Committee in Santa Cruz, has advocated for Dougherty since 2017.
“I’ve known way too many politicians who start as seemingly decent people,” Hussain said. “But when they get big donations from public affairs committees, they are invariably catering to these entities.”
In line with Hussain’s sentiments, Dougherty hopes that his decision to remain a donations-based campaign will encourage more residents in the 19th District to consider the Green Party as a viable option.
Dougherty and Valenzuela pass out various flyers promoting his campaign and a film screening he hosted Jan. 31.
To tackle the growing housing crisis in Santa Cruz, Dougherty aspires to give residents more accessible loans and cut down the fees associated with home ownership.
“I would like to provide much more affordable housing, which I think could be done through low interest mortgages,” Dougherty expressed. “I would like to provide a state bank, whether it be California [or] federal, that provides low interest loans, maybe as low as zero percent.”
Jeffrey Smedberg, a long-time supporter of Dougherty, fellow member of Santa Cruz for Bernie Sanders and author for Lookout Santa Cruz, explained how this lack of deep-pocketed funding may substantially benefit the campaign’s mission.
“The Green Party has restrictions on any candidates running under their banner about campaign contributions,” Smedberg said. “He’s not taken any money from corporate political action committees, so he’s never going to get in the situation that Jimmy Panetta is in with being beholden to special interests.”
Dougherty’s Green Party candidacy seeks to generate support from voters who are frustrated with decisions made by both the Democratic and Republican parties and hope to find more personal, community-based representation.“I can really win if I switch to one of the corporate parties,” Dougherty said. “But then, if I win I have lost, because I’m not going to be able to do what I want to do or what my constituents want me to do. I’m not going to answer to corporations or party bosses that answer to corporations.”
