| Tech & AI | Supports establishing local safeguards and potential regulations on artificial intelligence data centers to protect residents from higher energy and water costs and strain on infrastructure. He advocates exploring options such as on-site energy generation, infrastructure cost-sharing, water-use limits, and preventing incompatible development near homes, hospitals, and schools. | high | |
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| Climate/Energy | Jim Desmond advocates common-sense climate and energy policies that protect the environment while keeping energy affordable and reliable for families. He supports keeping energy costs down by opposing rate-hiking or mandate-based proposals, endorses energy choice (from natural gas to renewables) without unnecessary mandates, and invests in energy innovation (including carbon capture, hydrogen, and nuclear) while expanding domestic energy production. He also emphasizes balancing environmental protection with economic growth, prioritizing forest management on federal lands to reduce wildfire risk and water storage projects to protect communities during drought, and supporting a diversified energy mix that includes expanding nuclear power and modernizing energy infrastructure. | high | |
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| Local Issues | Supports a treatment-first homelessness strategy that funds local governments to move people off the streets into mental health and addiction treatment. He emphasizes accountability and transparency in federal funding to deliver real results for CA-48 communities. | high | |
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| Economy | Supports an 'An Affordable California' agenda focused on lowering the cost of living for families, including housing and energy costs. He emphasizes balancing affordability with reliable energy and sustainable economic growth. | high | |
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| Healthcare | Treatment First, Accountability First: I support mandatory treatment for severe addiction and serious mental illness, expanding inpatient psychiatric health facilities across Southern California, and tying federal funding to measurable outcomes by integrating mental health care with general healthcare funding. | high | |
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| Abortion & Reproductive Health | As a county supervisor, Desmond voted against measures to stockpile abortion medication (mifepristone/misoprostol) and against a reproductive freedom policy, saying the county has no authority over abortion and that he opposes items outside county jurisdiction. He has not detailed a federal abortion policy platform for Congress. | high | |
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| Immigration | Supports a "strong, fair, and dignified" immigration system centered on border security, including finishing the wall, ending catch-and-release, and restoring federal-local law enforcement cooperation. He backs a merit-based legal immigration system for skilled workers, streamlining legal pathways, and requiring asylum claims to be filed at legal ports of entry or designated centers abroad, while opposing illegal entry and line-jumping. | high | |
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| Firearms & Second Amendment | As a county supervisor, Desmond voted against a resolution supporting a proposed federal constitutional amendment on gun safety, arguing the focus should be on the mental health crisis rather than new gun restrictions. He has not detailed a federal firearms policy platform for Congress. | medium | |
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| Foreign Policy | Desmond, a Navy veteran, supports a strong national defense and said confronting Iran's nuclear ambitions was necessary, though he acknowledged the resulting costs to American families. He believes Congress has a constitutional duty under the War Powers Resolution and would support military authorization only with clear objectives, a defined strategy, and a responsible path for servicemembers. He supports additional defense spending when the administration makes a clear case for it. | high | |
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| Civil Rights & Equality | As a county supervisor, Desmond proposed a resolution endorsing a federal bill (H.R. 28, the "Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act") that would bar transgender females from competing in women's sports; the proposal failed to advance. He has also been described by the Human Rights Campaign as having a record of opposing LGBTQ+ rights during his time on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors. He has not detailed a federal civil rights or equality platform for Congress. | medium | |
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| Education | Proposes a "Vocational Military Education" program that would offer free vocational training (from trades to coding, engineering, finance, and healthcare) to encourage volunteer military service, addressing workforce shortages in skilled trades and STEM while strengthening the military and expanding economic opportunity for underserved communities. | high | |
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| Election Policy | Supports requiring proof of citizenship and voter ID for federal elections, arguing voter eligibility falls under Congress's Article I authority. He also supports banning members of Congress and their families from trading individual stocks, mandatory blind trusts, term limits, and restoring congressional oversight of the executive branch. He opposes partisan redistricting such as California's Proposition 50 map-drawing. | high | |
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