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The 44-Year Report Card

Are you ready for a change of guard?
Primary Election: March 5th, 2024
March 5th, 2024

America’s future is in jeopardy! Lifer, sold-out politicians stay too long, are blissfully out of touch, and play partisan politics to get reelected while gas prices and inflation spikes. We suffer record crime, a declining education system, while draconian mandates like SB-9 facilitate a historical California land grab thanks to the nexus between politicians and land developers. America wants new blood! I will never sell out and I will always fight for the people. Our country’s future demands ethical representation! I would be honored to have your vote on March 5th.

Rishi Kumar

Rep. Anna Eshoo

Holding us Back Democrat

1978 - the year Apple launched the graphical user interface personal computer project - was the year Rep. Eshoo's 44-year long political career began, and it is clear that she is not representative of the urgent action needed, or of today’s values and aspirations of our citizens. In Congress, she has only managed to sponsor four trivial bills - such as renaming public buildings.

Rishi Kumar

Leading us Forward Democrat

Reelected with the most votes in 64 years of Saratoga's election history for fearlessly tackling the tough challenges and never selling out. Received the most votes compared to any Rep. Eshoo challenger in 30 years during the Nov. 2020 election. Executive in the Artificial Intelligence, Big Data industry who innovates to solve problems and has a track record for getting-things-done.

Why is this report card relevant for us?

If we truly want to create a better future for every American and preserve America's superpower status, then we need someone who will fight and deliver. We do not need more sellout politicians who make empty promises and play partisan politics dexterously. We have nothing but respect for Rep. Eshoo’s 44 years of long-standing public service. With this report card, we are highlighting the American issues that demand our attention, and the viewpoints of 3rd party sources that have largely stayed below the radar, sans a serious challenger the past few decades. Highlighting the failure of the policies and/or shortcomings are relevant data-points; the context of the past failures are necessary learning and vital in forging a new way forward, with a new energy and new leadership. If we don’t, we cause irreparable harm to future Americans and the future of our country.



Anna Eshoo has sponsored 4 trivial bills, but claimed 50

Jump to grading criteria:

The Getting Things Done Grade

Rep. Eshoo failed to legislate
What use is a powerful platform and a leadership role when politicians sell out?
Rishi Kumar brings the tech framework of an innovative getting-things-done problem-solving approach
  • Rishi gets it done as a Saratoga Councilmember; has a track record of tackling the tough people-challenges that others found daunting — and delivered results.
  • Rishi Kumar is a fighter, not a follower – Always fighting for the people; challenged the powerful, profitable San Jose Water Company rejected its 9 rate increases, saving money for a million residents of Silicon Valley - the only elected leader from 6 cities who continues battling with the water company for 6 years now.. Rishi even rolled out a mobile app on the App Store and the Google Play App Store to make the protests to PUC more convenient.
  • Rishi worked hard to reduce burglaries in his community with a series of innovative measures, including over one hundred neighborhood meetings. 57 Neighborhood Safety Watch programs were organized as a result. Burglaries dropped by 41% from 2016 to 2017. This was the largest year to year drop in the history of Saratoga and the most significant drop compared to any other Silicon Valley city.
  • Rishi stopped a potential 300-room hotel mega development project on a hillside in a high fire hazard zone, which would have been an environmental disaster, causing irreparable harm to local wildlife and vegetation.
  • When his colleagues on the city council proposed a new road repair tax, Rishi was the only dissenting vote, pushing for a budget optimization approach instead to free up dollars. The council ultimately put the brakes on the road tax.

The Dark Money in Politics Grade

Rep. Eshoo’s conflict of interest

We are concerned by the donations Rep. Eshoo has accepted from the pharmaceutical industry.
- Stanford Daily

After the Stanford Daily shared their concern for Rep. Eshoo’s ties to Big Pharma, Rep. Eshoo herself ADMITTED to receiving millions from the industry while justifying it. The justification didn’t convince us.


“Democratic challenger Kumar has campaigned on getting big money out of politics, pointing to the significant corporate lobbying directed at Eshoo. In her career, Eshoo has accepted close to $1.8 million in contributions—more than any other member of the House—from PACs for and individuals affiliated with the pharmaceutical industry. She is currently the Chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Health, tasked with regulating pharmaceuticals.
Eshoo responded to this critique in a statement to The Daily, admitting she received significant contributions from the health care community. She said the reasons for these contributions included her “expertise, tenure and geography,” --SNIP SNIP--. Nevertheless, we are concerned by the donations she has accepted from the pharmaceutical industry.” - Stanford Daily

Foreign Money or a connection?

Anna Eshoo was questioned by Prosecutors during the Rep. Fortenberry hearing. Anna Eshoo defended Fortenberry as honest hours before he was convicted on three felony charges for lying to the FBI about accepting illegal foreign money from Toufic Baaklini in 2016 - the source of the money was from a Nigerian billionaire named Gilbert Chagoury. Federal law prohibits federal election campaigns from accepting money donated by foreign national. Anna Eshoo said during the questioning that she wouldn’t say the same about other members of Congress - which alleges dishonesty in Congress by Eshoo.

Baaklini also contributed to Rep. Anna Eshoo's campaign on 7/12/2016. The question for Anna Eshoo: Did Anna Eshoo file an amendment? Was the money ever refunded? There is seemingly a tie between Eshoo and Chagoury: Eshoo and Fortenberry co-chaired a summit for &lduo;In Defense of Christians,” a non-profit with ties to the same Chagoury. IDC’s President is Toufic Baaklini.

Rishi Kumar seeks to restore integrity to American politics
  • Rishi will never sell out to Pharma, lobbyist groups or real estate developers.
  • On the city council, Rishi has consistently rejected campaign contributions from land-developers and real-estate developers. Rishi serves at the behest of the people – no one else. This is the reason why Rishi will always reject the PAC money and the Special Interest Group money.

The Medicare for All / Healthcare Grade

Rep. Eshoo is doing Big Pharma’s bidding!
  • As the #1 recipient of Pharma money in the U.S House of Representatives, Rep. Eshoo failed to support Medicare for All (H.R. 1384) – a bill that is currently supported by 118 of her Democratic congressional members, including all the congressional members of the Bay Area.
  • Rep. Eshoo actually supports privatizing Medicare, putting critical healthcare decisions in the hands of Wall Street firms that will decide whether or not seniors in your family can even access lifesaving medical care. More than 300 organizations including many Congressional watchdogs opposed Eshoo’s position on privatizing Medicare. Find the relevant data point of her privatization support here.
  • Rep. Eshoo’s seniority in Washington has become a detriment to American interestsshe sponsored H.R. 1548, going against President Obama, that increased the price of healthcare by increasing patent protection of biologic drugs from 5 years to 14 years.
  • There is nothing wrong with Pharma sellouts, it is just the old school way. The American Affairs Journal draws attention to the gerontocracy of American politics, by 2024, for twenty-four of the previous thirty-two years, America will have been led by people born in or before 1946.” And “perhaps the pharma lobby is so successful because it is not only the biggest donor but probably the largest vendor to the assisted living facility that is Congress.
  • She failed to challenge the sacred cows, a campaign pledge from 1988.
  • What use is a powerful chairmanship role, when it is the fox that is guarding the henhouse?
Rishi will never sell out to Big Pharma
  • Rishi plans to be the 119th cosponsor of Medicare for All in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2023. Here is his Medicare policy.
  • Rishi will fight to protect Medicare for All and the Bring Drug Prices Down Act, and sponsor bills to protect Americans from exorbitant healthcare costs in America.
  • Rishi's agenda is to revolutionize our healthcare system with AI/ML, Telemedicine, EMR and analytics, following the mantra of “cheaper, faster, better.”
We get it – There's nothing wrong with Pharma sellouts, it was just the old school way

The American Affairs Journal draws attention to the gerontocracy of American politics by stating: by 2024, for twenty-four of the previous thirty-two years, America will have been led by people born in or before 1946. and Perhaps the pharma lobby is so successful because it is not only the biggest donor but probably the largest vendor to the assisted living facility that is Congress.

The Term Limits Grade

Rep. Eshoo is in her 15th term
  • We need term limits in every strata of America’s political office. Obviously, Congress is never going to pass legislation that would lose them their jobs. But is this right for America? Senator Dianne Feinstein will be 92 years old when she finishes her term in 2024.
Rishi is a firm believer of term limits

America’s Crisis Grade

Rep. Eshoo failed with America’s Opioid Crisis, Big Tech and Covid-19
  • Rep. Eshoo, the chair of the House Health Subcommittee, did not hold a single congressional hearing on the opioid crisis; over a million Americans have died between 1999 and today, and Pharma companies were eventually fined $26 billion. She was missing again with the Opioid Recovery & Treatment bill H.R. 6 that was passed by Congress. Rep. Eshoo did not even make an appearance as a cosponsor which is the easiest “checkbox politics” in Washington.
  • In an op-ed piece, Rep. Eshoo claimed 15 years of work with pandemic preparedness, but failed to legislate that work. America was totally unprepared during the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Rep. Eshoo, as the chair, is in charge of America’s healthcare.
  • Rep. Eshoo’s failed with Cambridge Analytica and Facebook’s misuse of people’s data - and Facebook is located right in our congressional district. We loved her bravado at the tech congressional hearing with Zuckerberg. It is rather interesting that in an email sent to her constituents on November 3rd, 2021, Rep. Eshoo is asking if we should hold Facebook accountable? Congresswoman Eshoo, if you had done something a long time ago, we would not be in the situation we are today. It should be noted that Google also happens to be in Rep. Eshoo’s congressional district.
Rishi always takes charge in a crisis and finds innovative solutions
  • During a crisis, Rishi believes in operating with purpose and urgency – not waiting for help to arrive or waiting to be asked to help.
  • During the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, Rishi suspended his own campaign and instead launched the Neighborhood Pandemic Preparedness Team (NPPT) to call 86,000 seniors, offering them help with groceries, medications and masks. Here is his pandemic policy.
  • When Saratoga experienced rising burglaries in 2016, Rishi organized over a hundred neighborhood meetings, inviting dialogue and action that would help solve the issue. This led to a reduction in burglaries - the largest reduction compared to any other Silicon Valley city.
  • As a valley hi-tech executive, Rishi knows of what it takes for Silicon Valley’s economy to prosper and challenge the Big Tech transgressions. Rishi plans to proactively meet with Silicon Valley tech leaders, to highlight the need for tech to operate with a social conscience.

High-Density Housing & Silicon Valley exodus Grade

Rep. Eshoo has failed with our challenges of the day
  • Housing: Rep. Eshoo wants to apply the Regional Housing Need Allocation (RHNA) goals numbers to add new housing development projects for every city. So many cities have appealed the RHNA numbers allocation as the process to push high-density housing into the cities is flawed. Why is Rep. Eshoo pushing for these flawed RHNA numbers - see the results of the audit conducted by California’s State Auditor.
  • Traffic: During the debate last year, Rep. Eshoo expressed her vision to bring the high-speed rail to Silicon Valley to fix the traffic gridlock. This project has already failed! There have been no tangible plans made or actions taken to fix the Bay Area traffic challenges for decades. The light rail, for instance, has never been profitable and is in the bottom when it comes to average daily boarding per mile in the United States.
  • Water: Rep. Eshoo has not demonstrated a vision plan for the water infrastructure that California needs.
  • Wildfires: Rep. Eshoo was out of touch at the California Fires press conference as the fire raged. Rep. Eshoo (at the debate last year) blamed Cal Fire and said that California’s fire plan has not been updated for 100 years, yet she’s made no strides to address this life-threatening challenge.
Rishi has a pragmatic plan to address the exodus
  • We are tired of politicians making empty promises like affordable housing, only to profit the land developers. Draconian mandates like SB-9 facilitate a historical California land grab thanks to the nexus between our politicians and land developers. Our politicians promise progress but only give us crumbs.
    It is time we had someone who will actually keep their word, fight for the people and will NEVER sell out. We need to be smarter, more strategic about our investments and housing policies - we need a well thought out affordable housing plan, not just haphazard lot splitting, and a city-state partnership like this one for production must be part of the solution - not the preemption of local control. We need to explore options to fund low-income housing construction similar to the redevelopment agencies of the past, and launch new affordable cities. Rishi will fight the poorly planned housing push that preempts local control while ignoring the need for truly affordable housing, displaces small businesses, disregards any infrastructure plan for traffic, parking, water, sewers, environment and wildlife risks. This is the reason why Rishi was the only dissenting vote on his city’s Housing Element site plan. Visit Rishi's managed growth vision plan that will create true affordable housing and expand our economy.
  • Rish’s Mega Silicon Valley vision plan - the “21 minutes, 21 counties” plan to address the valley’s challenges with housing, traffic, and homelessness, will alleviate these challenges while expanding our economy.
  • Rishi believes that the push for high-density housing is flawed without a managed growth plan that includes addressing the supporting infrastructure such as water, sewers, roads and schools.
  • Rishi has a comprehensive plan for expanding California’s water infrastructure to address our recurring drought.
  • During the California fires, Rishi quickly established a fire information page updated with the latest and urgent information. Rishi then organized the outreach to evacuated residents helping them find and supporting them through the aftermath of the fires. Here is his policy to address the California fires.

The Climate Change Grade

Rep. Eshoo failed to legislate and address our Climate Change

At the 2020 debate, she took credit for the Green New Deal as a cosponsor even though the bill had a few hundred cosponsors. Rep Eshoo increased federal subsidies for fossil fuels (8/2020)- by voting Yay for H.R. 4447 - it was a Nay vote by progressives. Watch the debate on climate change and the response.

Rishi Kumar believes we have a ticking time bomb at hand:
  • He supports innovation and a clean-tech, net zero GHG mass transportation approach to accelerate the adoption of the Green New Deal globally, to ensure that other countries can carry their fair share too - not just the United States.
  • Rishi believes in protecting the natural open spaces, along with developing a housing policy that is in accordance with the climate agenda.
  • Rishi pushed for the roundup ban in Saratoga, inaugurated a new Quito Park in Saratoga (65 acres that is now locked as forever open space) and was the only councilmember that did not want vegetation and wildlife to be disrupted at the Mountain Winery hillside with a high-density project. The project was ultimately defeated. Rishi has also hosted natural and drought tolerant vegetation webinars for the community.
  • Rishi was completely in support of the Standing Rock movement.
  • Rishi is a vegan - a personal choice that is proven to help combat climate change. He has hosted documentary screenings, such as Cowspiracy, on this topic to highlight the relationship meat-based diets have with Climate Change.

The Women Empowerment Grade

Rep. Eshoo failed to protect women

Rep. Eshoo failed on multiple fronts: She was against the recall of Judge Persky, who gave a proven sexual assaulter only 6 months in prison - a lightweight sentence that was largely perceived as favoring the entitled. She also voted against allowing states to fight online sex trafficking (Fosta-Sesta) - which was supported by 174 of her Democrat colleagues and violated the privacy request by Christine Blasey Ford in the Brett Kavanaugh assault case. Beyond this, Rep. Eshoo voted against HR 1960, a bill that makes it easier to punish sexual assaulters in the military. She seems to think that loud TV noise is more in need of our intervention.

Rishi will champion women’s rights

Rishi will protect women’s rights! He's adamant about protecting women from sexual crimes, enforcing the right to equal pay, and ending the bro-culture in Silicon Valley tech. Rishi was one of the first people to call for the recall of Judge Aaron Persky, whose awful verdict allowed rapist Brock Turner to get away with the heinous assault he committed with a light sentence.

The Community Engagement Grade

Rep. Eshoo has been invisible

Rep. Eshoo is in her 30th year in office, but how many times have you seen her publicly? Since 1992, she has held the same teleconference calls - not face to face or over zoom. A teleconference call this day and age? Rep. Eshoo failed with her weekly email blasts that always miss a key piece of info - what problems were solved over the last week. It has been 30 years of “activity for the sake of activity” and dexterous partisan politics without any genuine actions taken to help her community.

Rishi is available and visible

Rishi held three face-to-face town hall meetings every month (pre-pandemic). Rishi continues to host “Ask Anything” town hall meetings over zoom that are never censored or orchestrated. He has held over a hundred neighborhood meetings as a councilmember to solve key challenges within the community. Community engagement and responsiveness is a very important agenda for Rishi. He has met with more neighbors this year than anytime else in his life combined - which demonstrates the value Rishi attributes to meeting people and getting a pulse of the community.

The American Civil Liberties Grade

Rep. Eshoo’s civil liberties vote is found wanting
  • Rep. Eshoo failed to protect America’s privacy by voting in favor of the American Patriot Act’s mass surveillance of Americans.
  • Voted against the USA freedom act which protected Americans from the collection of their personal data, like phone data, emails and other private records. 124 House Democrats voted Yay on the Freedom Act – while Rep. Eshoo voted Nay.
  • Rep. Eshoo’s is surprisingly absent from the Big Tech transgressions and monetization of American people – even though Facebook and Google are located right in the congressional district.
  • Rep. Eshoo failed to improve America’s justice system – She notably voted in favor of the Violent Crime Control Act and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 that increased America’s incarceration.
Rishi will fight to protect our civil liberties
  • Rishi believes that spying on Americans is UnAmerican – he will work to overturn such draconian measures and protect the rights and freedoms of the people.
  • Rishi will work to address the income inequality gap by creating opportunities for all, bridging the income gap via vocational education and more. Incarceration should not be the automatic response.

The American Jobs Grade

Rep. Eshoo sent jobs overseas

Rep. Eshoo failed to preserve American jobs by supporting every trade agreement since 1992 to send jobs overseas that compromised our labor force. Follow this link - search for NAFTA.

Rishi will focus on job creation

Rishi Kumar supports revamping many of the existing trade agreements and wants to get the American workforce ready for the AI/ML automation that is coming.

The American Wars Grade

Rep. Eshoo supported many American wars

Rep. Eshoo failed to protect American soldiers and servicemen. She supported almost every American war; thousands of people perished and $10 trillion was spent.

Rishi believes in bolstering America's defense capability

Rishi will fight for peace and will push to reduce our defense spending by NOT engaging in regime change wars or wars for “nation building,” and bolster our defense for cybersecurity, ransomware, biowarfare, and bioterrorism.

Click here for more of Rishi's policies. Or use the search box in the header