Democrat Kim Mangone is the first new candidate to throw her hat in the ring for the U.S. House of Representatives 23rd Congressional District seat in 2020. In one of her first campaigning appearances, Mangone announced her intention to run against incumbent and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy at the Democratic Club of the High Desert meeting Saturday.

Mangone is a United States Air Force veteran, an aircraft mechanic and systems engineer. She describes herself as a former single working mom, who got her degree while working full-time.

"I know what it means to work hard, to fight hard and go after what you want," she said.

In response to a question, Mangone later explained how she would apply her training as a systems engineer to representing the district.

"In systems-engineer-speak, the requirement is to actually understand what we need as constituents, identify those problems and get back to Washington and actually act on what would help our district," she said.

Mangone has never run for political office, but she worked on former McCarthy opponent Tatiana Matta's campaign last year.

Mangone spoke at length about her background, priorities and political philosophies to a packed room and attentive crowd at the well-attended democratic club meeting.

Her platform priorities include healthcare; she supports a universal health care system that includes Medicare for all but would still allow private health care plans for those who want them.

Magone described healthcare as her most driving issue.

"Nobody should have to go to the poorhouse because of worry about medical care. The fact is that universal healthcare does work," she said.

Another key issue for her is social security.

"Social security has to be protected," she said in a campaign flier. "Working people paid into this program and they should not have to worry about reduced benefits."

She also supports better jobs and wages.

"All working Americans deserve to earn a living wage. Equal pay needs to be a priority for all lawmakers," she said in the flier.

Mangone told the club she is pro-union. She also supports economic development in her district, including bringing in well-paying jobs and investing in infrastructure and community.

Other priorities include voters' rights, women's rights, the environment, veterans, criminal justice reform, immigration reform and education.

Mangone is pro-choice and supports women's rights, access to reproductive medical care and ending workplace harassment and discrimination.

She supports protecting the environment by continuing to invest in clean technology and taking actions that will positively affect climate change. She also said she supports re-instating environment protection laws that were recently overturned and rejoining the Paris Accord.

"We have to believe in science," a club member said.

"Yes, we have to believe in science," Mangone agreed.

On gun issues, she said, "gun control should be sensible. We are not going to take people's guns from them. Nobody is going to take my dad's gun or my brother's gun. But what it is is, you have to have sensible gun laws. You don't need 100-round-capacity magazines. What are you going to hunt with that?" She said she supports background checks and waiting periods for gun purchases.

She said that as a veteran she is very concerned with veterans' affairs.

"What we are doing with the vets, even with their medical isn't so good," she added.

She later added, "I am pro-defense. My dark secret is I used to be a Republican. The reason I was a Republican was two things only, because I had always been pro-choice." She said she was a Republican, however, because she was pro-defense and pro-fiscal responsibility.

"They are not for that anymore," she said about the current Republican party and fiscal responsibility. "I don't know what they are for but it's not that."

Mangone said she fully supports rebuilding China Lake in the wake of the Searles earthquakes. She said the base is obviously necessary for national security.

"We have too many enemies out there," she added. "I don't trust North Korea. I don't trust China."

Mangone said she supports "a good immigration policy." She said, "We made citizenship promises to individuals who served in our military and the DREAMers -- we need to honor these promises. A good immigration policy is the best way to protect our borders," Mangone said in her flier. She said she particularly objects to the separation of children from their families.

"Those people are not criminals just because they crossed the border," she said. "You don't do that to children."

According to her campaign flier, she has this to say about voter's rights: "We need to ensure the voters, not big business, are making the decisions for our country. We need national voting laws that protect every American citizen's right to vote. We must ensure foreign governments do not impact/affect our elections in any way."

She also supports equal rights, including working for the rights of minorities, people with disabilities, the LGBTQ community. "Discrimination defiles our core values and must end," she said.

Asked about legalized cannabis, Mangone had an interesting reply. She said that after her retirement from the Air Force that she grew cannabis for a friend whose son needed the substance for medical reasons.

"So for about four years I grew cannabis for medical reasons," she said with a laugh. "As far as the legal goes it should be no different from alcohol. Just make it legal, tax it and call it a day."

Her take on prison reform: "We need to eliminate the systemic racism, reduce incarceration of non-violent offenders and abolish for-profit prisons."

"Investment in education, teachers, skills-based training and jobs programs are required to prepare our children for the challenges they face today and in the future," she said about education in her flier.

As to why she thinks she can beat McCarthy, she said "McCarthy has done a lot of things lately that don't make sense. We have one of the most diverse districts out there and he is supporting the racial rhetoric." She also disputed McCarthy's recent statements that video games are at least partly to blame for gun violence.

"I don't think if we take video games away from dangerous people that that is going to stop gun violence," Mangone said. She also noted that she opposes McCarthy's stands on medical benefits.

"All of those combined, his sheer actions, have shown he does not care about the people in the district," she said.

For more information on Mangone and her campaign, see www.mangoneforcongress.com, email mangoneforcongress@gmail.com or call 661-417-4754.

The other scheduled speaker, Kern County Democratic Club Chairman Ricky Perez, was unable to make it to the lunch meeting due to a family obligation. Perez will likely speak at an upcoming democratic club meeting.

Democratic Club of the High Desert President Eddie Edwards notified the club that there were technically not enough club members present when the current slate of officers was elected in May, so the club will be holding elections for new officers in January.