Just seven months into office, U.S. Rep. Sam Liccardo is focusing on what he can get done in Washington, D.C., with a Republican-controlled Congress and identifying legislative actions that can be used as an effective tool for Democrats still reeling from the November election.
“Part of our legislative mission has to be around messaging,” Liccardo said in an interview this week with the Mercury News. “We can put out bills that will communicate across the aisle in meaningful ways to an awful lot of voters who are not watching CNN or reading The New York Times, but getting their news from social media or Fox about what exactly this administration is really doing and the impacts.”
Liccardo, the former San Jose mayor who replaced Anna Eshoo in the House of Representatives following her retirement, points to the MEME Act — legislation he introduced in February that would bar the president, members of Congress and other executive branch officials or their spouses and children from sponsoring a digital asset.
President Donald Trump launched his own cryptocurrency, a meme coin known by the moniker $Trump, just days before his January inauguration. The venture caused widespread backlash as it enriched the Trump family while small traders lost out.
Liccardo said his goal was to bring attention to the more than 800,000 investors who lost at least $2 billion in the “pump and dump scheme.”
“We know it’s not going to get out of committee,” he said. “The point was what we saw online was dozens and dozens cryptocurrency magazines and newsletters that were communicating exactly our message, which is a lot of Americans have been hoodwinked by the kleptocracy.”
Liccardo’s latest bill — the Safeguarding the Use of the National Guard Act — follows a similar strategy where the bill’s chances of passing are low, but the overall message it sends is its power. Amid Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles and Washington D.C. to crack down on protestors and crime, the congressmember wants to require the president to submit reports that would detail the legal basis for the deployment and the cost to taxpayers.
In a press release announcing the bill this week, Liccardo said that “Americans remain in the dark about the many ways in which we pay a price for this unprecedented deployment of our military for urban policing, and about this administration’s intentions.”
David McCuan, a political science professor at Sonoma State University, said bills like the MEME Act — as well as Gov. Gavin Newsom’s new social media strategy that mimics Trump online — are traditionally called symbolic politics. In recent years, he said, it’s become an increasingly powerful tool.
“Even in the best case scenario for Sam Liccardo, this isn’t going to happen,” McCuan said of the MEME Act. “It does give Democrats, and it does give Liccardo in particular a visibility-raising exercise that can be helpful, especially as we march closer to 2026 when Democrats feel they have a chance to retake the House.”
Liccardo is highly focused on regaining the majority. This week, Newsom signed off on legislation to seek voter approval to redraw districts that could flip as many as five House seats from red to blue in next year’s midterms. The partisan redistricting effort, known as the Election Rigging Response Act, was triggered by an initiative in Texas to redraw the maps to favor Republicans.
Liccardo called it an “undesirable but necessary solution to an authoritarian effort,” though he said he doesn’t see himself “being deeply engaged in the campaign.” Instead, he wants to focus his efforts on candidates in battleground districts.
Liccardo is a prolific fundraiser with connections to Silicon Valley elite with deep pockets. The Liccardo Victory Fund PAC raised a whopping $1.8 million this year through June 30 and his allies who opened up their wallets for him in the past include billionaire philanthropist Michael Bloomberg and Chris Larsen, the former CEO of Ripple Labs.
“Silicon Valley has becomes something of the ATM for the Democratic Party,” Liccardo said. “Lots of folks have asked me to help convene folks in some ways to support them, and so we’ve been spending a lot of time with the DCCC (Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee) and others trying to figure out how we can help those candidates in battleground districts.”
Liccardo’s role in Democrat’s quest to take back the House could help his own political ambitions, according to McCuan.
“He’s always played a role as more of a power breaker, an influence maker,” McCuan said. “He’s an inside influencer and that inside influence game is the ticket for Liccardo to move past seniority questions into places where he can be a rainmaker and feed the network. That’s really powerful.”
Outside of the D.C. bubble, Liccardo is intently involved in several key issues in his 16th congressional district, which stretches from Los Gatos in the south to Pacifica in the north.
“In a world where we know federal dollars are more and more limited, what we’re trying to do is convene local partners around two key areas where we think the federal government can actually play a helpful role in supporting the local community,” he said.
The first is coastal resiliency as the San Mateo County coastline is grappling with infrastructure challenges, including power, roads and in Pescadero, a lack of access to clean drinking water. Some of those issues are expected to be further exacerbated by climate change, and earlier this year, Trump made cuts to grants that would have funded infrastructure projects combating the problem in Pacifica.
Liccardo said he wants to work with local partners to see how they can accelerate permitting and environmental studies for key projects on the coast.
The other issue he’s rallying around locally is wildfires. Parts of the Santa Cruz Mountains where the CZU Lightning Complex Fire ripped through five years ago fall within his district. On Wednesday, he held a press conference with other local leaders to discuss AI smoke sensors and other home hardening techniques.
Liccardo said he’s hoping to help get projects that reduce the risk of wildfires ready for when federal funding becomes available.
“We know it’s not there now,” he said. “BRIC (Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities) funding and other sources have been pulled back, [so we’re] seeing how we can ensure that we’re at the front of the line when the opportunity is there, and utilize obviously the innovation of the Valley.”