David Esrati's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
Key
Official Position: Candidate addressed this issue directly by taking the Political Courage Test.
Inferred Position: Candidate refused to address this issue, but Vote Smart inferred this issue based on the candidate's public record, including statements, voting record, and special interest group endorsements.
Unknown Position: Candidate refused to address this issue, or we could not infer an answer for this candidate despite exhaustive research of their public record.
Additional Information: Click on this icon to reveal more information about this candidate's position, from their answers or Vote Smart's research.
Other or Expanded Principles & Legislative Priorities are entered exactly as candidates submit them. Vote Smart does not edit for misspelled words, punctuation or grammar.
Issue Positions
For Presidential and Congressional candidates who refuse to provide voters with their positions, Vote Smart has researched their public records to determine their likely responses. These issue positions are from 2024.
- "IâM 100% PRO-CHOICE Thankfully, voters approved Issue 1 in Ohio. But, we still need to resurect Roe V Wade. Doctors and women get to choose in my America, not Republican Congressmen like Turner." (electesrati.com)
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
- "College should be affordable and not a debt sentence. We can make sure that a public education is available to all, with the first 2 years paid for in exchange for public service and the 2nd two years with interest free loans, repayable based on your income level after graduation." (electesrati.com)
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
- "The environment matters. I believe in clean energy, emission free vehicles, free public transit, recycling, electric high-speed rail, ending sprawl, and locally grown organic food. We have to fight climate change now." (electesrati.com)
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
- "However in light of the recent shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, I issued a real proposal for Constitutional Gun Control- and how to implement it using the 14th Amendment." (electesrati.com)
- "Upon election, I would immediately call for the "Equal protection of the 14th Amendment" to be used on existing gun control rules. The "Equal Protection from Gun Violence act" would require from now on, federal buildings, courthouses, federal facilities including VAâs, and military bases, the Capitol, the Supreme Court and the White House may not have rules against carrying weapons within their premises. Same goes for airports. If the right to bear arms is absolute, there can be no exceptions, or un-equal protection for the people in power. They should feel just as safe as we, the general public do, when at school, the supermarket, at a concert, at a movie theater, in a nightclub, etc." (electesrati.com)
- ""No American should have to choose between health care and bankruptcy. Insulin shouldnât cost 15x more than in any other country. I believe in single payer, universal health care. If we canât do that right away- we can as an interim step, allow small businesses to buy into medicare to balance the playing field as we begin the giant undertaking of retraining the entire medical insurance industry into health care providers instead of deniers and unnecessary overhead." (electesrati.com)
- "Letâs be clear, I want universal health care for all. But, if we canât do it right away, let small businesses buy coverage through Medicare. No other business operates the way health care in America does- a different price for every procedure based on who you pay a vig to, or who your boss chooses to buy your health care from." (electesrati.com)
- "This whole health care thing? Amazing how the government could afford to pay for vaccines against Covid, but, canât make sure that insulin or health insurance is affordable? Small business canât compete with Amazon in negotiating health care coverage- so, why not just institute health care for all and level the playing field. Sorry, itâs time to pay doctors and nurses instead of insurance paper pushers and stuffed suits "running" hospitals." (electesrati.com)
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
- "No American should have to choose between health care and bankruptcy. Insulin shouldnât cost 15x more than in any other country. I believe in single payer, universal health care. If we canât do that right away- we can as an interim step, allow small businesses to buy into medicare to balance the playing field as we begin the giant undertaking of retraining the entire medical insurance industry into health care providers instead of deniers and unnecessary overhead." (electesrati.com)
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
This candidate has responded to a Political Courage Test in a previous election. As a continued effort to provide the American public with factual information on candidates running for public office, these archived responses are made available here.
| Pro-choice | Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| I believe that health care should be between doctors and patients, not insurance companies or government. | |||
| Yes | Do you support expanding federal funding to support social safety net programs such as Social Security and Medicare? | ||
| Our medical system is the most expensive and least effective in developed nations. It's time we eliminated the 35% overhead of middlemen- "Health insurers" and replaced them with "Health Care Providers" and we'll be better off. Less delays, more preventative care and better outcomes. | |||
| Yes | Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations,unions, and individuals? | ||
| I believe in overturning Citizens United and building a "Donor Registration System" that prevents anybody but individuals from donating to political campaigns. Ultimately, I believe we would be better off subsidizing elections via a universal voter information system with direct answers from candidates- and matching tests for voters. Also- a move to Ranked Choice Voting. | |||
| No | Do you support the protection of government officials, including law enforcement officers, from personal liability in civil lawsuits concerning alleged misconduct? | ||
| We have seen people do horrible things under the cover of immunity. We must learn to apply the golden rule more- and lawsuits less. Public officials should be held to a higher standard in most cases. | |||
| No | Do you support increasing defense spending? | ||
| I believe in investing in statesmanship- and peace. If there is one thing we've learned, spending more doesn't win wars. The invasion of Ukraine has shown that the Russians aren't as formidable as we thought. We already spend more than the next 10 countries- and they are mostly allies. | |||
| Yes | Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| Yes | Do you support providing financial relief to businesses AND/OR corporations negatively impacted by the state of national emergency for COVID-19? | ||
| Yes | Do you support the federal government taking action, beyond those of the Federal Reserve, to alleviate inflation? | ||
| It's time to regulate the wild swings of the Wall Street Casino- and stop making billionaires in this country. We've seen wild profit taking, growing inequity and a lower standard of living for too long- waiting for "trickle down" to work. Stop stock buy backs, hold Wall Street accountable for their bad decisions in 2009. Provide low interest loans to working families for affordable housing. | |||
| Yes | Do you support the forgiveness of federal student loan debt? | ||
| It's time to examine the cost of student loans- and the cost of higher ed. Both are bad for our economy and future. I would like to trade 18 Months of mandatory public service for 2 years of higher education as a starting point. | |||
| Yes | Do you support requiring a government-issued identification in order to vote at the polls? | ||
| I don't believe that an ID is too much to ask for- as long as we consider options for those who are homeless or working in a gig economy. We've failed to modernize our voter registration systems to account for either population. | |||
| Yes | Do you support government funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, geo-thermal)? | ||
| Yes | Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
| Global warming is real- and the risks of ignoring it are potentially terminal. We have to get serious fast. | |||
| Yes | Do you generally support gun-control legislation? | ||
| I was part of a well regulated militia. The US Army. Our weapons were stored in an armory, under guard. We did not take them out by ourselves. We had organized training- and we were in uniform when using them. I also believe in applying the 14th amendment guaranteeing equal protection. I believe that we either regulate semi-automatic weapons to people in a militia- or remove protections for Government officials who do not allow them into Federal Buildings, Courts etc. Either we're all safe- or none are. | |||
| Yes | Do you support a government-run (single-payer) healthcare program, such as Medicare-for-All? | ||
| Yes | Do you support expanding paid family AND/OR medical leave opportunities? | ||
| Yes | Do you support lowering the cost of prescription drugs? | ||
| I get my health care through the VA- it is far superior to private health care in 99% of the cases. There is no reason not to expand it for all. | |||
| Yes | Do you support increasing security along the southern US border? | ||
| No | Do you support requiring immigrants who are unlawfully present to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship? | ||
| I believe in asylum. I am a first generation American. I believe we need better immigration policies and need to work on solving the problems that are driving people here. We need to solve our drug problem here in order to stop the drug lords from making life bad in South America. | |||
| Yes | Do you support economic intervention as a means of resolving international conflicts? | ||
| Yes | Do you support the U.S. providing increased offensive military aid to Ukraine? | ||
| We left the Ukrainians out to dry after only promising protection from nuclear attack. It's time to stand up to Putin. | |||
| Yes | Do you support raising taxes, on any income or on any entity, to promote economic growth? | ||
| We need to tax wealth differently in this country. We also need to simplify our tax code to make it more efficient and effective. Currently, the system is rigged to make it expensive to comply for all- and the IRS needs more funding and updated tools. | |||
| No | Do you generally support removing barriers to international trade (for example: tariffs, quotas, etc.)? | ||
| I used to, but other countries have taken advantage of our markets without reciprocal trade (China- mainly). We need to make sure we don't lose entire industries and skill sets to foreign countries. | |||
Vote Smart does not permit the use of its name or programs in any campaign activity, including advertising, debates, and speeches.