Congressional candidate Jessica Morse stops by South Lake Tahoe

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Jessica Morse, a candidate for California's 3rd congressional district, stopped by South Lake Tahoe to visit Cuppa Tahoe, the South Lake Tahoe Democratic Club, and the League to Save Lake Tahoe's volunteer appreciation event.

Five generations of Morse's family have lived in the Sierra foothills, with many of them dedicated to public service. She follows in their footsteps, having worked in the Department of Defense, the Department of State, and the Agency for International Development. Since she ran against Tom McClintock for Congress in 2018, Morse was named Deputy Secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency.

Morse met with Sandra Santane, owner of Cuppa Tahoe, as did the man running against her this election, Congressman Kevin Kiley. Santane is worried about the issues facing small businesses, the "backbone of our communities."

"I'm looking for solutions in the big picture," Santane told Morse.

Morse told her that the government needs to fund what they are asking small businesses to do. She said if business owners are required to provide training for certain laws, become ADA compliant, and other issues, then the government needs to help fund it. She listened to Sandra's current dilemma on insurance, with her annual costs going from $12,000 to $25,000 a year. Morse said insurance reform is needed or the State will continue to be the go-to insurance company and that can't be sustainable.

She said insurance is driving up the cost of living, solve it and other pressures will subside.

"I want to create federal reinsurance," said Morse. "This is usually only available to insurance companies."

There are four main areas that need to be handled in Congress: Fire insurance, fire resilience, health care, and housing.

"There is no room for partisan politics," Morse said of the issues facing Congress.

Morse is also a champion for women's rights.

"I'm working hard to keep the message up front," said Morse of her visiting Tahoe and the rest of the congressional district she'd like to represent. "Tahoe is important for the election. Young people need to get out and vote."

Since moving into her Natural Resources Agency position, Morse has coordinated California’s approach to wildfire resilience including increasing the pace and scale of forest restoration and vegetation treatment. She was the architect of the Governor’s $3 billion wildfire resilience strategy and developed the joint forest stewardship strategy between California and the US Forest Service signed in 2020.

Her background is also in national security and has worked on federal budgets, something she said will help in Congress.

She'd like to see two states created in the Middle East, one for Israel and Palestine. "What's going on isn't safe for either," said Morse.

"We need to understand the cost of human conflict and see how we can help deescalate it," she added.

In the fight against terrorism, Morse said financial forensics is an effective way to fight it. Follow the money trail and you find the people responsible.

"I know the challenges we face here are not partisan," said Morse. "I’m ready to roll up my sleeves and tackle the issues that matter to our community."

For more on Morse, visit https://www.morseforcongress.com/.