Keith Cascio

Keith Cascio, a Mar Vista resident, is running for California’s 55th Assembly district as a moderate, pro-choice, social justice-oriented Republican in 2024. He’s chair of the 55th Assembly District Republican Party Central Committee [ad55.gop] and since Dec 10, 2022 serves as the Treasurer of the Los Angeles County Republican Party [lagop.org/executive-board]. He ran for the same Assembly seat last cycle, improving on Republican performance. His Assembly Campaign is endorsed by CAGOP, LAGOP, and CYRF and he is the only Republican running against a single political opponent, who is the Democrat incumbent Assemblyman Isaac Bryan. Keith is originally from Brooklyn, New York. He’s lived in Los Angeles, mostly West LA, for 22 years. He’s a software developer, worked in the UCLA Computer Science department for eight years, and since 2010 he works for a major software company in Silicon Beach, developing digital advertising products.

• Public safety is a balance and that balance has shifted too far in an experimental direction where we do not protect our most vulnerable. Yes we must champion racial justice. Recent FBI data shows it is counterproductive to racial justice for elected officials to give the appearance of disparaging law enforcement agencies.
• Los Angeles housing policy should be based on research and data, but policy makers should be curious and skeptical when presented with quickly, cheaply-obtained research results, paid for by agenda-driven uber-charities, with recommendations that contradict everyone's gut intuition.
• To nurture our students of all ethnicities and races, who are our future, we should generously fund schools. But that funding from hard-earned tax dollars only benefits the students when combined with budgetary accountability we must demand of our education professionals.

The three greatest concerns facing our beautiful district in 2022, all of which can be addressed with a commitment to economic justice and racial justice, are (1) emerging victorious from the disruption of COVID-19, (2) rebalancing of public safety and renewal of the community's relationship with our law enforcement agencies, (3) compassion and discernment in improving the housing security of our neighbors in a time of housing scarcity.

I am a major fan of former California Governor George Deukmejian, a moderate Republican, who was governor from 1983 to 1991. Like me, he was also a New Yorker who moved to California, and was embraced by the Golden State, and also like me, he was Episcopalian. Deukmejian was a realist about public safety, and he championed the role of economic opportunity in improving the lives of Californians. I would follow Deukmejian's example, and also former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, because they were moderate Republicans who helped California thrive economically.

The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion, a 2012 social psychology book by Psychology Professor Jonathan Haidt.

In 2024 we need elected officials who are selfless and profoundly optimistic.

When working with groups of people to solve problems, I possess the qualities of compassion and humility. I forgive many times and I acknowledge that the best answers are usually hidden in places nobody has looked yet.

The core responsibility is to gather all information by listening, digest it, and then carefully, patiently balancing the needs of all citizens with policy.

I would like to be part of the political team that leads the United States to a new era of political compromise and cooperation rather than polarization and party antagonism.

I was almost six years old in March 1985 when Mikhail Gorbachev became leader of the USSR.

Software development intern at a software startup in Northern Virginia for the summer of 1999.

The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion, a 2012 social psychology book by Psychology Professor Jonathan Haidt. It's my favorite because it explains what happened to American politics.

I would be King Solomon from the Hebrew Bible.

"Happy Together" by the Turtles (1967) [en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Together_(song)]

When I was younger I struggled with social anxiety.

Ideally, the governor identifies and prioritizes problems, and the state legislature solves the highest priority problems.

California's greatest challenges beginning in 2024 are achieving fairness for all citizens, and modernizing how we value and care for the most vulnerable citizens.

It is beneficial for state legislators to have experience with (a) committee process, (b) parliamentary procedure, (c) political consensus building, (d) business contract negotiation.

Relationships are everything. A problem solver must embrace colleagues and never stop building relationships.

I would model myself after Frederick M Roberts, the first ever Black California Assemblyperson, elected in 1919 as a Republican.

No. I am focused on serving my community in the California Assembly.

I was buying groceries in the Vons checkout line. The cashier told me he was worried that corporate would close the store because there has been so much retail theft there. All the liquor is locked in the front behind glass. He said that thieves wait for a legitimate customer to ask to buy liquor, then when the store employee opens the glass, they push him out of the way and steal thousands of dollars of liquor. There is a paid security guard who is under instructions to record evidence but otherwise not interfere with the theft. Thieves also bring rolling carts and steal all the displayed merchandise from Starbucks. This man was on the verge of tears over fear of he and his colleagues losing their jobs.

President Ronald Reagan's Pony Joke. “there must be a pony in here somewhere!'”

Emergency powers were necessary in the case of the 1994 Northridge earthquake, and would be necessary under similar circumstances.

Given the Democrat Party supermajority in California, compromise is absolutely necessary.

I would introduce a bill to help foster youth, modeled on a similar bill in Texas, which allows a youth advocate to speak on behalf of a foster youth in court.

California Republican Party
Los Angeles County Republican Party
California College Republicans
Los Angeles Moderate Voter Guide

Housing and Community Development
Public Safety
Transportation

Keith Cascio, a Mar Vista resident, is running for California’s 55th Assembly district as a moderate, social justice-oriented Republican in 2022. He's chair of the 54th Assembly District Republican Party Central Committee [54thradcc.org] and a full member of the Los Angeles County Republican Party [lagop.org/districtcommittees]. He was elected to the Committee in the March 3, 2020 Republican primary [results.lavote.gov/text-results/4085], with 2,636 votes, and began serving January 1, 2021. His Assembly Campaign is endorsed by CAGOP, LAGOP, CRA and CYRF and he is the only Republican running against a single political opponent, who is the Democrat incumbent Assemblyman Isaac Bryan. Keith is originally from Brooklyn, New York. He's lived in Los Angeles, mostly West LA, for 21 years. He's a software developer, worked in the UCLA Computer Science department for eight years, and since 2010 he works for a major software company in Silicon Beach, developing digital advertising products. He serves as a liaison between

• Public safety is a balance and that balance has shifted too far in an experimental direction where we do not protect our most vulnerable. Yes we must champion racial justice. Recent FBI data shows it is counterproductive to racial justice for elected officials to give the appearance of disparaging law enforcement agencies.
• Los Angeles housing policy should be based on research and data, but policy makers should be curious and skeptical when presented with quickly, cheaply-obtained research results, paid for by agenda-driven uber-charities, with recommendations that contradict everyone's gut intuition.
• To nurture our students of all ethnicities and races, who are our future, we should generously fund schools. But that funding from hard-earned tax dollars only benefits the students when combined with budgetary accountability we must demand of our education professionals.

The three greatest concerns facing our beautiful district in 2022, all of which can be addressed with a commitment to economic justice and racial justice, are (1) emerging victorious from the scourge of COVID-19, (2) rebalancing of public safety and renewal of the community's relationship with our law enforcement agencies, (3) compassion and discernment in improving the housing security of our neighbors in a time of housing scarcity.

I am a major fan of former California Governor George Deukmejian. Like me, he was also a New Yorker who moved to California, and was embraced by the Golden State. Deukmejian was a realist about public safety, and he championed the role of economic opportunity in improving the lives of Californians.

In 2022 we need elected officials who are selfless and profoundly optimistic.

When working with groups of people to solve problems, I possess the qualities of compassion and humility. I forgive many times and I acknowledge that the best answers are usually hidden in places nobody has looked yet.

"Happy Together" by the Turtles (1967) [en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Together_(song)]

Ideally, the governor identifies and prioritizes problems, and the state legislature solves the highest priority problems.

California's greatest challenges beginning in 2022 are achieving fairness for all citizens, and modernizing how we value and care for the most vulnerable citizens.

Given the Democrat Party supermajority in California, compromise is absolutely necessary.