Q&A | A sit-down with CA’s 40th district candidate Asif Mahmood

Democratic physician and pulmonologist Asif Mahmood is running against Republican incumbent Young Kim for the state’s 40th district seat in the House of Representatives. Photo courtesy of Asif Mahmood

As the U.S. prepares for its 2022 midterm election on Nov. 8, Orange County is in the midst of four major congressional races for the 40th, 45th, 47th and 49th districts. While the county used to be primarily Republican-dominated, residents have been seeing purple in recent years due to the mixture of Democrats and Republicans holding seats throughout the county’s districts.

Asif Mahmood, a physician and pulmonologist who currently practices in San Marino, is bringing over two decades of physician experience and political advocacy into his campaign for CA’s highly contested seat in the 40th congressional district.

Mahmood is up against Young Kim, the Republican incumbent who is currently holding the seat for the 39th district. According to the results from the June 7 top-two primary election, Mahmood secured over 59,000 votes (41%) while Kim received over 50,000 votes (34.6%). The seat is currently being held by Democrat incumbent Lucille Roybal-Allard, who is not running in the upcoming election.

The Panther spoke with Mahmood about his campaign and what he hopes to accomplish if elected into office. The Panther also reached out to Kim for an interview request, but received no response.

Mahmood’s answers have been lightly edited for clarity and stylistic standards.

Q: Why did you decide to run for Congress?

A: I’m a practicing physician and I’ve been active politically ever since I’ve lived in California for 23 years. I’ve been advocating for the right causes and helping people, and my major passion is, of course, healthcare. I find so many challenges and so many difficulties and so many problems and so many issues people face every day. I thought this is the time that somebody other than traditional politicians, somebody who really cares about and understands people’s issues and people’s challenges should get in there and take the real voices to Washington, D.C. My only goal is to serve people, to help people and to be the voice of people.

Q: You said that you’ve been doing advocacy work. Could you talk more about that?

A: Yes, so obviously, education is one of my top priorities because I come from a very humble background in my very rural area in Pakistan from a small village. About 16 or 17 years ago, I was doing some after school tutoring for kids whose parents didn’t speak English in the El Monte School District. Kids struggle because both parents don’t speak English. So I started the after school tutoring program with the Association of Pakistani Physicians of North America, and I was the president in the California chapter. After that, I served on the Easter Eg College Foundation Board to help underprivileged children get resources, mostly scholarships, and I served on that board for five years. I served on the board of Western United UNICEF to take care of kids’ health issues globally, and I am presently serving on the largest homeless shelter because homelessness is a huge problem and a lot of people are suffering. 

Q: That’s a pretty impressive career. How have these experiences prepared you for this congressional race?

A: Some people might have an additional factor of they went to law school, but on the common people’s issue, what I do is when I do medical practice, I not only see a patient and write them a prescription, but I also fight for their prescription drugs. I know so many families who spend more than 50% of their income just buying prescription medication. Some people have an income of about $1,200 or $1,300, and they are paying anywhere from $400 to $800 just for insulin. It is really devastating. I know how hard it is to fight when somebody comes in with a stroke and how much health plans are fighting for them to get physical therapy.

Q: If you’re elected into office, are there any topics that you’d want to tackle immediately?

A: My major focus is going to be on healthcare, but on healthcare, my top focus now is going to be on codifying Roe v. Wade. We want to make sure this thing is resolved once and for all. We don’t want to keep on coming and hiding from this thing. My other fight is going to be on prescription drug capping cost because that is a huge issue for everybody. It’s not just for poor people. Many middle class people are also suffering a lot, and I will try to work more on healthcare like finding people, getting them more benefits and accessible, affordable and quality healthcare so that people are not worried about that.

Q: Can you talk about what your experience has been like running for Congress?

A: It is really definitely as challenging as it is hectic, but it’s a really amazing experience. It is just when you talk through everything, I preach everything I say. I don’t have to pretend, I don’t have to fake and I don’t have to learn, ‘Okay, how do we say this thing?’ I say right from the heart, what I feel exactly and people appreciate that. I talk to them candidly one-on-one. It’s been really enlightening, it’s been an eye-opener and it is really such an amazing experience of how much people appreciate when they find somebody who’s talking to somebody and somebody who’s not running for any vested interest.

Q: You mentioned that this experience has been challenging. Can you talk about what’s been challenging?

A: It’s been challenging in that there are so many different avenues in the campaign, like raising funds. I decided not to make any money from any invested interest, like I’m not taking money from oil companies, the pharmaceutical industry, bankers and realtors or those big corporation political action committees. I am running this campaign just from the people funding the campaign. Number two: in the same schedule, you go on and do your campaigning and canvassing and phone banking and dealing with all of your team and learning some new things and some issues. It’s also challenging in that there is a lot of time you have to spend, a lot of different arms on this and every day is a new day full of action and somewhat challenging. But, at the end of every day, I think, ‘Okay, we got something, we achieved something and we are in the right direction.

Q: Can you talk about what you’ve learned? Is it just things on the political side or is it more life lessons?

A: Lately, in the last three, four months, I’ve been talking to a lot of seniors, and everybody’s so worried about social security and everybody’s worried about Medicare. And honestly, before I was running, I didn’t think somebody could touch it. These are the things I’m learning and I am thinking, ‘Okay, this is something said and done’ but it’s not going to be.These are the rights people have had for many, many decades, and we think this is a part of life. This is a norm of life, but some people are coming to take them away. If Roe v. Wade can be nullified, they can take social security, they can take Medicare and they can take LGBTQ+ rights. I’ve learned that everything is at risk, and they will come with every possible way to eliminate it.

Q: Aside from your focus on healthcare and Roe v. Wade, are there other topics you want to address?

A: I want to make sure that our immigration system is overhauled with bipartisan views. The one big issue even before that is our communities are not feeling safe, our schools aren’t feeling safe, our worship places and our parks aren’t feeling safe. We want to make sure we have some sensible logical gun safety measures that we need to have now, and that is really an issue which is bothering us a lot. We are losing a child without any crime. They’re just sitting and going to school or going to a mosque or temple or synagogue, and somebody comes and starts shooting them. That is just not what Americans want, so that will be another top priority: make sure our communities are safe.

Q: You’ve received a lot of endorsements. You’ve recently been endorsed by The LA Times and you’ve also gotten endorsement from a lot of senators and assembly members. How are you feeling about all of these endorsements?

A: I feel really great, and I’m really so thankful and so humbled that all these people have put their trust in me. They all know that I don’t do anything for a selfish reason. I’ve been on the forefront for 23 years, and every year, I do more work than the year before. And there is not one single time where I did a personal favor to any of them, ever.