Politics & Government

Webb Spins His Message in RSM on Election Eve

Congressional candidate John Webb of Rancho Santa Margarita talks jobs the night before the election.

John Webb is running for United States Congress, and he spent Primary Election eve in Rancho Santa Margarita meeting with the public at a local restaurant. 

It wasn't much of a stretch for Webb to hang out at Embarcadero Restaurant for a couple of hours Monday. Webb has lived in the RSM area for the past eight years, the last six in Dove Canyon.

Organized by the Rancho Santa Margarita Tea Party, the turnout was low, but Webb's confidence was high that he can defeat Democrat Sukhee Kang, the mayor of Irvine, and face off with John Campbell for the newly drawn 45th district in the November general election.

Find out what's happening in Rancho Santa Margaritawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"I can't beat John Campbell tomorrow," Webb said, "but I can beat him in November."

Campbell is the sitting U.S. congressman of the 48th district and has a definite name recognition advantage over Webb, who contends that Campbell's voting record is inconsistent. The top two vote-getters in today's will vie for the seat in the general election. 

Find out what's happening in Rancho Santa Margaritawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

A United States Marine combat veteran of Vietnam, and retired ex-cop and robbery/homicide detective, Webb touched on jobs, his interest in limited government, and the challenge facing him in the upcoming months.

But it's clear where Webb's emphasis was.

"I'm about jobs," he said. "I've been poor in my life and I happen to know that you can't save your way to prosperity when you don't have a job. My whole emphasis is that we need to be creating jobs in the United States.

"When people have jobs, when they know they can pay their rent, when they can take care of their family, then there's less of a need for government."


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here