With just over 100 days on the job, Long Beach Rep. Robert Garcia has proven he is the antithesis of his Republican colleagues, and relishes being the proverbial thorn in their side.

“If we were out here, all right now just kind of holding hands and trying to be bipartisan, then the House Republicans would essentially steamroll us and in 10 years, we'd lose our democracy. I mean, that's the kind of moment we're in right now,” Garcia told Spectrum News in a sit down interview in his Capitol Hill office. “I think we have to be just very serious about being tough, being aggressive, and most importantly, protecting people and uplifting.” 

Garcia, the former mayor of Long Beach, Calif., arrived on Capitol Hill just days after winning the California 42nd seat for his freshman orientation, and immediately became a well-known face and name among his colleagues. He was elected as freshman class president of his Democrat peers, and quickly decided he was not going to be a lawmaker who showed up to work and remained quiet.

“I intend to be a person that continues to call out people's BS, and there are clearly folks here that are intent on destroying our country, by demonizing people,” explained Garcia about determining his approach to the job. “Part of why I'm here is to push back on them, and I'm not going to sit around and allow them to say lies and try to attack our country.”

One case of Garcia pulling no punches came just weeks into his tenure: when he co-sponsored a resolution to expel fellow freshman lawmaker George Santos, R-New York, after Santos admitted to lying about major aspects of his biography, including his education and work history.

"He has lied about the most horrific shooting in the LGBTQ modern history, the Pulse nightclub shooting. He's lied about 9/11, he's lied about the Holocaust, he's lied about his education, he's lied about his career. And as we all know, just recently, he's been given classified access to important information and classified information that he should not have," said Garcia at the time.

The measure still hasn’t gotten a floor vote, though the resolution has picked up 40 co-sponsors in total according to Garcia. With Santos recently announcing his bid for re-election in 2024, Garcia said “we shouldn’t be surprised” by Santos’ announcement despite the New York Republican saying earlier this year he wouldn’t run again.

“If the House Ethics [committee] is not going to take up the resolution, we should have a floor vote and force a floor vote on the resolution, and put Republicans including [House Speaker] Kevin McCarthy, on the record, to see if they actually think that George Santos should remain in Congress. And so that's something that we'll be evaluating in the weeks ahead,” said Garcia of the resolution’s future. 

Garcia has also made waves in recent weeks by calling for Speaker McCarthy to remove Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from her committees after she defended accused classified document leaker Jack Teixeira. 

Teixeira, a 21-year-old Air National Guardsman stationed in Massachusetts, is accused of sharing secret intelligence on the Russian war effort in Ukraine. Greene has defended Teixeira, saying “he told the truth about troops being on the ground in Ukraine and a lot more.” Greene sits on the House Homeland Security committee, and Garcia argues her defense of Teixeira proves she “should not be responsible for the national security of the United States.” 

“[She is] absolving him of any sort of responsibility, and saying that he shouldn't be prosecuted, which is insane. He's literally leaking classified information and causing great harm to our national security. And so someone like that, that continues to do that, continues to say racist things, continues to attack LGBTQ people on Twitter and in the media, shouldn't be on committees, especially on a committee like Homeland Security, where we're actually tasked with our nation's security,” said Garcia, growing agitated. 

“Traitorous actions shouldn't be on any committees.”

And while talk may be cheap, Garcia isn’t afraid to put his money where his mouth is when it comes to defending his Democratic colleagues as 2024 approaches. Garcia serves as a recruitment chair for Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and has donated $35,000 to the DCCC, in addition to $2,000 to each of the front line freshmen, his office confirms. He’s hosted dinners and get-togethers with a who’s who list of Biden administration officials over the last several months, including Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and former Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, as Politico first reported and Spectrum News confirmed. 

Apart for being a self-proclaimed whistleblower of his GOP colleagues’s “BS” and supporting his fellow Hill newcomers, Garcia has also used his first 100 days to introduce his first bill, the International Human Rights Defense Act, which focuses on LGBTQ+ rights and protecting them globally. Garcia, who was born in Peru, immigrated to America with his mother when he was just five without knowing a word of English. He was the first openly gay mayor to serve in Long Beach’s city hall, and is the first gay immigrant to serve in Congress, making this issue “especially important” to Garcia.

“While our rights are being attacked here at home and trying really to rollback many of our rights, that same effect is happening across the world, the same efforts are happening in parts of Africa and parts of South America, Eastern Europe, there's just an effort going on right now to to roll back rights for gay people, for trans people, for LGBTQ+ people,” explained Garcia of the reason he wanted to make this his first bill. 

“We have to ensure that the State Department is aggressive, is proactive, and this codifies an Ambassador-level rank position to ensure that somebody is focused on these issues, it codifies language reports, and holds the state department responsible and accountable to promoting human rights globally. And that's something that impacts folks where I'm from, you know, where I grew up, where I was born.”

Garcia has been outspoken about Republicans’ agenda to limit transgender rights in recent weeks, including the recently passed Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, which passed the House 219-203. The bill would block schools and colleges from receiving federal money if they allowed transgender athletes who were assigned male at birth to compete on girls or women's sports teams or athletic events. 

While the bill is dead on arrival in the Senate, where Democrats hold the majority, Garcia gave a full throated dissent on the House floor earlier this month.

“I know how painful life can be as an openly gay person, but that pales in comparison to what transgender people in America face every day,” Garcia said in his speech, accusing his GOP colleagues of “bullying” trans youth. “These people don't give a damn about women or girls. If they did, we'd be talking about the very real problems of pay equity, and ensuring sports are safe from sexual harassment and abuse. But instead, they're peddling open bigotry, and it's disgusting BS culture war right here from the House floor. Why are Republicans so obsessed with attacking trans youth and children? We need answers.”

“To the trans and nonbinary youth … I am so sorry that your government is failing you today. We will never stop fighting to defend your dignity and your humanity. We love you,” he concluded.

But LGBTQ issues aren’t the only issues Garcia is taking the charge on. On Earth Day last week, Garcia joined Senator Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York at a press conference, announcing he will be a co-sponsor on the reintroduction of the Green New Deal bill this year. 

“The climate emergency is here today, and as we know, our black and brown communities especially need us to act on the Green New Deal,” said Garcia, who plans to continue pushing for the BUILD Green Infrastructure and Jobs Act, which was introduced by his predecessor, former-Rep. Alan Lowenthal. The bill will focus on the electrification of public transit to make it more eco-friendly.

As for what to expect from Garcia for his next 100 days, he assured Spectrum News that his work is far from over.

“I definitely want to continue fighting for people that need our help. Government is here to help people, I've always believed that. And that includes LGBTQ+ people, that includes supporting women,” said Garcia. “We have … an emergency in our country now with trying to roll back the rights of women, reproductive health and abortion access. That is a huge moment right now that we've got to be engaged in.”

“I plan and continue to be engaged in that fight, I want to make sure that we're supporting our public institutions, supporting public universities, colleges, students, as an educator myself, I want to focus on infrastructure, making sure that money comes back to California, for our ports for our, for our roads, for our bridges,” he added.

As for 2024, Garcia says he’s all in. 

“I'm definitely running,” he said with a smirk. “I'm definitely going to run for reelection.”

“And we’ll win again.”