In March, I attended a town hall meeting organized by Inglewood Councilwoman Gloria Gray, featuring 17-term, 33-years-in-office, soon-to-be 86-year-old Congresswoman Maxine Waters as the keynote speaker. The meeting was primarily attended by Inglewood residents, along with the usual suspects: Inglewood's Mayor and City Council Members, representatives from the offices of Assemblywoman Tina McKinnor and State Senator Steven Bradford, and local officials from various cities within California’s 43^rd Congressional District.

Initially, Rep. Waters focused on housing, an issue she has championed for decades without producing any results. She advocated for her proposed spending bills totaling $260 billion in additional taxpayer money to combat homelessness and address the affordable housing crisis.  Yet another fruitless endeavor by our government to funnel more taxpayer dollars into the housing swamp of corruption and incompetence. Interestingly, just as Rep. Waters seemed to be wrapping up her speech, she abruptly shifted her focus.

“I don’t care where you are, your democracy is at stake, and I don’t know if you get it,” Rep. Waters said. “Right now, on the floor of Congress, elected to office, you have the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers, the QAnon, the KKK, and all of those who are working with Trump to take this country back,” she exclaimed, offering no shred of evidence to support this outrageous and baseless claim.

Most of the attendees were puzzled by her tirade, highlighting the disconnect between Rep. Waters and her constituents' most pressing concerns.  This was evident later during the Q&A portion of the meeting when a local resident directly complained to Rep. Waters about the poor service and cleanliness at Inglewood post offices. Instead of accepting responsibility, Rep. Waters shifted blame to Trump’s appointment of Louis DeJoy as Postmaster General, a stance those in attendance found unconvincing given that postal service problems predate DeJoy and Trump.

Further underscoring her disconnect is the notorious incident where she told a group of homeless people, “I want everybody to go home.” A member of the crowd immediately responded, “We don’t got no home, that’s why we here!” And when the Los Angeles Times sought to cover this event, Rep. Waters reportedly tried to prevent the story from being published, telling the reporter, “You’ll hurt yourself and the community trying to put this together.”

Such incidents vividly demonstrate how out of touch Rep. Waters truly is. Despite being lauded as "a fighter" by her allies, she operates from a position detached from the people. She fights to help millionaires become billionaires like Sean "Diddy" Combs and Sam Bankman-Fried, the convicted founder of FTX, infamous for running a fraudulent cryptocurrency exchange and hedge fund.  Her tenure in office will be remembered for its trail of empty promises, divisive rhetoric, and a notable disengagement from the real-life concerns of the people she represents.

Moreover, in a recent MSNBC interview, Rep. Waters continued her politics of fear, division, and disconnect. “I want to know about all of those right-wing organizations that he [Trump] is connected with who are training up in the hills somewhere and targeting, you know, what communities they are going to attack,” she asserted, a claim devoid of substantiated evidence and casting her in the light of a conspiracy theorist.

Near the end of the town hall meeting, Inglewood resident Yolanda Davidson succinctly captured the community’s disillusionment. She remarked to Rep. Waters, “We are losing our Democracy from our own people. It’s not Donald Trump that’s messing over Inglewood. It’s the people that’s here, that’s messing over Inglewood.”

This sentiment underscores the increasing frustration among the residents of Rep. Waters’ district. While she enjoys a well-recognized national profile, the mounting criticisms from the community emphasize the vital importance for elected officials to stay connected to the immediate and practical concerns of their constituents.  As the needs of the people evolve, so too must the responsiveness and accountability of its leaders, an area where Rep. Waters has consistently and spectacularly failed.

And that’s why I am running for Congress – to deliver joy, unity, and engagement to California’s 43^rd Congressional District instead of fear, division, and disconnect.

Los Angeles native Steve Williams is a commercial real estate broker and community advocate, and the Republican nominee for Congress in California's 43rd Congressional District.