One of the first things informed voters will notice about Japjeet Singh Uppal is his age.
He’s 23 years old, and considered one of California’s youngest elected officials.
In 2024, Uppal won one of the four seats that were open on the Livingston City Council. He is college educated, well-spoken, ambitious, and admired in the community as someone who will go far in life.
And he’s not hesitating.
Uppal, a Democrat, has entered this year’s race for the open seat to represent State Assembly District 27 in Sacramento. The district covers a large portion of the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, spanning parts of Fresno, Madera and Merced counties, including the city of Merced, Los Banos and Madera.
Uppal faces two other candidates: fellow Democrat Brian Pacheco, a Fresno County supervisor; and Mike Murphy, a Republican and former mayor of Merced. All three candidates will be on the June 2 Primary ballot, and the top two from that vote will go on to the General Election in November.
“I think my mind’s always been a little bit geared more toward state and federal policy,” Uppal says. “I’m a big system reform type of guy. I want to work on healthcare system reform, election system reform, broad level reform in infrastructure — and I think those things can be done more at the state level than they can at the municipal level. At the State of California level, we can make legitimate changes in the way that we deliver services or to the type of regulations that we have in place that govern all of these broader systems. And so for me, it’s more the desire to do work at that level, especially given everything going on in the world, and going on in the state.”
The candidate admits he’s the clear “outsider” in the race, but says he’s also the candidate who is standing on principles that help uplift everyday people.
“There’s three candidates, and two have been endorsed by either of the two major parties. And I’m not one of them. My biggest issue was actually getting money out of our election system. So when we talk about corporate PACs, when we talk about campaign budgets, I think that our elections, and most of our politicians, have been completely purchased by private corporations and other special interests. And I think that is the fundamental driver of the poor decisions that are made at not just the state level, or federal level, but sometimes at the local level. This is what allows for people to get hooked up. Or for elected officials who prioritize the interests of corporations that are making money off of crises rather than addressing the needs of regular people on the ground.
“So I understand the difficulty of going up against that machine. I mean, if I give you one of my flyers, it literally says ‘Break the political machine.’ That’s what we refer to as this huge apparatus of elected officials connected with organized money. I think we have to break that from our elections if we ever want true representation. And that’s a big part of this fight.”
Although he’s a Democrat, Uppal says he has campaign signs that read: “Let’s break the two-party system.”
“I am no fan of the Democratic Party’s leadership,” the candidate states matter-of-factly. “I think that when you look at our governor, the leader of the Assembly, the leader of the Senate — who are all Democrats — I think they have completely sold out to private corporations and special interests. I don’t think they have the interests of working people in mind, and I think that regardless of what your party registration is, you should be able to evaluate these people with a fair standard. I feel like a lot of our electeds, regardless of what party they are in, tend to play team sports, where they are willing to call out all the faults on the other team, but they have to play it cool with their own team if they want to stay in the club. I don’t play that way. I think we have to evaluate everything with a universal standard.”
As part of his election reform platform, Uppal wants to ban corporations from donating to campaigns, limit individual donations, and publicly finance elections so that all candidates in a race at least start out on equal footing.
“I’ve raised just under 20,000, and my opponents collectively spent over a million dollars. … I will never take money from any corporate PACs. … I am open to taking money from other political action committees, depending on who is putting money into those committees, and what those committees stand for; however, I haven’t done that to this point.”
Another issue important to Uppal is the development of a single-payer, universal healthcare system.
“Our country is the only developed country in the world that does not have some version of a universal healthcare system,” he points out. “We allow for people to not have access to care when they need it — where people can go bankrupt to try to address their health needs, or they need to drive hours sometimes on end just to get the care that they need.
“I don’t think that that is an acceptable system, given the amount of resources that we have to improve our system. And when you look at the way that these other countries are running their systems, the theory is always ‘OK, if you’re going to open up care to everybody, you’re going to end up spending too much. Well, it turns out that we actually spend 23 times more per capita than any of these other countries that are universally funded.
“And that’s because they don’t have the unnecessary middlemen who are extracting profit in our healthcare system. And by that, I mean our for-profit health insurance companies, pharmacy benefit managers, even our lot of pharmaceutical companies that get in the way when they don’t need to be there. If we can remove those corporate middlemen, and get people access or a path straight to a doctor or another provider, we will open up the opportunity for more care. We will save a ton of money, and we will make sure that people actually get the care that they need.”
In addition to election and healthcare reforms, Uppal wants housing reform as well.
“You have companies on Wall Street like BlackRock, like State Street, private equity firms, even foreign investors who are purchasing entire neighborhoods all across the country. They are buying up apartment complexes. They’re seeing it as an investment.
“I think we have to draw a line at some point. What do we allow to be an investment for some bankers on Wall Street, and what do our people need to live a decent life?”
With regard to water infrastructure, another issue on Uppal’s campaign platform, the candidate says he will seek to find the right balance between protecting the environment and gearing up much-needed infrastructure.
“Right now, we are not doing anything at an infrastructure level. And we’re getting into the dry years, where farmers are paying ludicrous amounts for water because we’re not storing enough, we’re not recharging enough. I think we have to build up reservoirs, build up storage, and focus on recharging to the ground.”
Uppal says he is going to take these issues, and his stated solutions, directly to the people of Merced County in the coming days leading to the June 2 primary.
“From what I hear on the ground, especially when I go door-to-door, there is a complete loss of faith in elected officials and in government. No one trusts these institutions. Nobody thinks that the government can ever do anything proper, and that it is just a cesspool of corruption. I really want people to consider what type of representation that they would like at the state level, and how a candidate can show that they will not only provide that level of representation, but have the integrity to follow through on that commitment.
“I think the fact that I am rejecting money from the corporations that are profiting off of all of the crises that we see at a local level … means that I can prioritize your interest over their interests. Because if I make something more affordable for you, I’m cutting from that profit, and I’m willing to do that. I’m the only candidate in this race that is rejecting that money, and I’m the only candidate that’s not beholden to the two-party structure.
“I mean I am the outsider here. Those folks want nothing to do with me. That’s the reality of the situation … I’m here to fight for the needs of the people on the ground. And if folks are looking for someone that’s willing to challenge those institutions, to challenge corruption, to reject financial conflicts of interest, and really go all in on reforming these systems at a broad level, I think I represent them. I would love the opportunity to earn their support.”
About The Candidate
Japjeet Uppal was born in Turlock, the son of immigrants from Punjab, India, who arrived in 1996. His mother spent most of her life working at Foster Farms, and his father was a trucker.
“That’s a very common one-two punch in the local Punjab community. … They worked their asses off to give us a chance in this country, and to succeed in doing whatever we wanted. And thankfully, we have the ability to do that now.”
Uppal went to local schools, Yamato Colony Elementary, Livingston Middle School and then Livingston High School, graduating in the covid year of 2020.
The candidate attended UC Merced and graduated in 2023 with a BA degree in Public Health. He went on to get a graduate degree in Public Policy and Administration from the University of Redlands. It was there where Uppal became interested in running as a candidate for state or federal office in order to make a difference at a high level.
However, he was 21 at the time and still contemplating his future when he decided to return to Livingston to figure things out. When he heard about the city being on the brink of losing its fire station, Uppal started to take interest in local politics and the City Council.
“I just looked at it and said: ‘How are we in a position where we are cutting fire stations? Like that is the most essential, bare bones government service, even before the PD, I would say.”
Uppal got involved, started speaking out, and eventually pulled papers to run for the Council.
“My family was supportive.The community was supportive, so I’m like, ‘Well, let’s take a shot.'”