Why I’m Running
Too often, we’re stuck with a false choice: fighting to defeat the chaos of the Trump era, only to elect the ineffectiveness of status quo Democrats who’ve forgotten how to deliver for families. We can’t afford more of the same: We need new ideas, new energy, and a new focus on getting big things done for everyday people.
When fires tore through my childhood home in the Palisades Fire, I didn’t wait for help—I rolled up my sleeves and got to work. I launched the Department of Angels, a community organization delivering relief to survivors of the Palisades and Eaton Fires. The experience exposed a familiar failure: government too slow to respond and communities left disillusioned with their leaders.
I’m running for Congress to lower costs, build new housing, expand the film and TV industry in Los Angeles, keep our communities safe, and deploy the limitless potential of clean energy to reduce our electric bills.
People all across CA-32 are tired of waiting. We’ve been waiting for basic transit solutions like the Sepulveda Transit Corridor; for an adequate remediation of the Santa Susana Field Lab; for a true shut down of the Aliso Canyon fossil fuel facility in Porter Ranch; and for a plan to finally accelerate the recoveries in Malibu and the Palisades after the fires.
I’ve never waited to solve hard problems like these – when politicians in Washington were debating a Green New Deal, I launched one in California, by building the California Climate Action Corps, which has put more than 20,000 young people to work. When our community was terrorized by ICE and CBP, I didn’t wait to join a community patrol, and then petition the City of LA with hundreds of signatures calling for the end of unconstitutional conduct on City property. I’ve helped build a successful clean energy startup, which has saved people billions on their electric bills, and I’ve put the coalitions together to pass sweeping environmental justice legislation in California.
I know how to get hard things done – and after thirty years of the same old Washington politics, CA-32 deserves actual results.
About jake
I’m Jake Levine: a third-generation Angeleno, clean energy advocate, national security professional, business and development finance leader, and a new dad.
I’ve spent my career fighting to get hard things done.
From suing to stop President Trump’s reckless agenda to serving at the White House National Security Council, I have a deep record of public service in California, and in the federal government.
I’ve worked to enact leading environmental and public health legislation and, during the pandemic, I helped design the California Climate Action Corps, a first-of-its-kind statewide program that puts thousands of young people to work tackling the climate crisis. As an attorney, I represented clean energy advocates taking the Trump administration to court to defend clean air protections. As an entrepreneur, I helped families save on their electric bills, and deploy clean energy around the world.
I helped build Opower, a clean tech company helping families reduce their utility bills, from a small stage start-up to a successful IPO just 4 years later. And at the Development Finance Corporation, I led the collaboration with the private sector to drive clean energy and climate investments from $450 million to $4 billion in just 3 years. I know how to grow a business, be accountable to a bottom line, invest successfully, and deliver on concrete goals—crucial governing skills that are sadly too rare in Washington today.
The skills I honed running businesses and leading development initiatives became essential when disaster struck closer to home. For me and thousands of others across LA, this year marked the first time that entire communities lost their homes.
I got to work immediately, helping to launch the fire recovery nonprofit, the Department of Angels. Together with fire survivors and community leaders, we stood up a network of organizers that is presently working to help their communities rebuild and recover.
In March, my wife, Jackie, and I welcomed our first child, Wilder, into the world. That has only intensified my desire to change the things that are broken, and to come together with the community to build a better future for everyone.
Jake’s paternal and maternal grandparents
About ca-32
California’s 32nd Congressional District covers communities across San Fernando Valley, Simi Valley, and the Westside of Los Angeles.
This includes the neighborhoods of Studio City, Sherman Oaks, Encino, Tarzana, Reseda, Winnetka, Canoga Park, Woodland Hills, West Hills, Porter Ranch, Chatsworth, Northridge, North Hills, the southern portion of Granada Hills, Topanga, Malibu, Pacific Palisades, Brentwood, Bel Air, Beverly Glen, and the northern portion of Beverly Hills.
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