Chris Duncan, a Democrat and a San Clemente city council member, is challenging Republican incumbent Laurie Davies for the 74th Assembly District, representing North County and southern Orange County. To help inform voters, the San Diego Union-Tribune asked all the candidates a series of the same questions about their priorities, positions and campaigns. Their emailed answers have been lightly edited for clarity. Why are you running, and what makes you the best candidate? I’m running for the Assembly because the middle class deserves a champion who understands their struggles, fights for real change and delivers results. As a former border prosecutor, I protected our communities from dangerous people. As a local mayor, I added more police and firefighters, lowered costs and supported our small businesses. As an Assembly member, I’ll fully fund law enforcement, fight to lower taxes for working families, and defend our values, especially a woman’s right to choose. That’s the type of leadership middle-class families deserve in Sacramento. My opponent has missed over 907 votes in the state Assembly! Instead of doing her job, she partied on expensive trips funded by lobbyists. She rallied with a convicted Jan. 6 terrorist and pushed to ban abortion nationwide. She is extreme, doesn’t share our values and isn’t doing even the most basic part of the job, which is showing up to vote. What are the top 3 issues facing this district and California generally? As a former federal prosecutor and a dad, keeping communities safe is my top priority. Before becoming mayor, I worked at the Department of Homeland Security, where I successfully stopped drug smugglers and child sex traffickers. In the Assembly, I will fully fund public safety and hold fentanyl dealers accountable. Another challenge facing our residents is the punishingly high cost of living. I’ll fight to lower housing, utility and insurance costs, and I’ll work across the aisle to drive down the price of everyday necessities. I will hold the line on taxes and work to ensure every Californian has a fair shot to achieve the California dream. We also must do more to reduce homelessness. The state has wasted lots of money on programs that sound good but don’t work. As mayor of San Clemente, I reduced homelessness by 23%, and I will do the same in the Assembly. What are the first 3 things you would do in your first term in the Legislature? First, I will work with leaders of both parties to address the rising cost of living in California. We need a middle-class tax cut, more housing at all income levels and reduced costs for everyday necessities like healthcare, groceries and gas. Second, I will fully fund police officers, firefighters, and emergency responders to protect against cross-border crime, retail theft and climate threats like wildfires, landslides and floods. Third, I will fight for our community’s fair share of state and federal funds to save our beaches, protect our homes and infrastructure and alleviate traffic on I-5 through Camp Pendleton. What would you do to curb climate change and its effects on California, including the fact that those effects are often borne disproportionately by communities of color? We must stabilize our climate to protect our coastline, economy and way of life. The state has prioritized clean energy to lower emissions levels, but we must do more. I will support clean energy policies that lower gas and utility prices, increase U.S. energy production and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. It is critical to do more to ensure new energy technology is not just developed in California, but built and manufactured here at home by California workers. I worked with Rep. Mike Levin, D-San Juan Capistrano, to protect our coastline from oil spills, improve ocean water quality and replenish sand on our local beaches. On the county fire authority, I secured new advanced firefighting helicopters and added a new specialized wildfire station to best prepare our community for the worsening wildfires. I’m proud to be endorsed by the Sierra Club and California’s firefighters. Do you agree with the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Grants Pass v. Johnson, allowing cities to criminally penalize homeless people with nowhere else to go for sleeping in public? Do you support the governor’s executive order directing agencies to clear encampments on this basis? Why or why not? As a career prosecutor, I believe the Grants Pass decision was correctly decided, yes. As anyone and everyone who has worked on this problem knows, enforcement is only part of the solution. As mayor of San Clemente, I reduced homelessness by 23% without relying on costly solutions like shelters or hotel vouchers. Instead, we hired skilled outreach teams to connect homeless individuals, including veterans, with drug treatment and services, helping them get off the streets permanently. I’ll bring my experience to Sacramento, focusing on cost-effective solutions that work. I’m committed to making housing more affordable and ensuring cities have resources for mandatory treatment programs like CARE Court. If it means going against my party to prioritize real solutions, I’ll do it. What more would you do to combat California’s housing, affordability and homelessness crises? The number one cause of homelessness is lack of affordable housing. We need more affordable housing for families at all income levels and a focus on supportive housing with drug addiction and mental health treatment for the chronically homeless, especially for veterans. The state has spent lots of money on homelessness without a long-term system in place to ensure the money is spent effectively. Spending millions to put homeless people in hotel rooms is not the long-term answer our residents deserve. As mayor, I approved a senior housing project and reduced homelessness by 23%. I did it by addressing all causes of homelessness, bringing our community together in a bipartisan way and using proven methods to get our homeless off our streets. I will use this same common sense approach to overcome California’s housing and homelessness crisis. Do you support or oppose stricter gun laws and background checks? Which, and if you support them, to what extent? As a federal prosecutor, I put gun smugglers in prison. I personally know federal officers who were shot and killed in the line of duty, so I know firsthand how critical tough gun laws are to keeping our country and communities safe, and you can be sure I’ll enforce them. My opponent has an A rating from the NRA gun lobby, and she opposes even the most common-sense gun safety laws like background checks that can help prevent school shootings, which most responsible gun owners support. How would you evaluate the record of Proposition 47 in the decade since voters enacted it? Should voters scale it back by passing Proposition 36? Why or why not? I support Prop. 36. It’s clear our state needs to take action to better equip and empower local law enforcement to prosecute crime and ensure repeat offenders are properly sentenced. As a former federal prosecutor, I know this is about common-sense public safety policies to get drug traffickers and thieves off our streets. We all see how fentanyl threatens our families and retail theft harms local businesses, but serial criminals often avoid serious consequences by taking advantage of unintended loopholes that inhibit law enforcement. Proposition 36 will close loopholes and give police and prosecutors the valuable tools to prosecute crime. Proposition 3 would enshrine same-sex marriage in the California constitution by repealing the state’s 2008 ban, which has been unenforceable since the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage but still remains on the books. Will you personally vote for or against Prop. 3? I will vote Yes on Prop 3. After the Dobbs decision, we have to safeguard even our most basic rights from the right-wing extremists, like my opponent, who are trying to take away voters’ basic liberties. I am proud to be endorsed by Equality California, California’s leading organization fighting for LGBTQ rights. In contrast, my extremist opponent pledged to support a nationwide ban on abortion, even in cases of rape and incest. I reject her extremist ideology. I stand for freedom.