Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove of Los Angeles says she has a lot to be proud of as she wraps her first term in office.

“I've accomplished a lot as a freshman. I started the Global Migration Caucus with a number of other colleagues. I co-chair the Brazil caucus, I got a bill passed into law, I got a constituent released from a Venezuelan prison,” Kamlager-Dove said in an interview with Spectrum News. 

“I brought $13 million home to the district. I brought $4 million back into the pockets of my constituents. I authored a letter on the Sudan that got 50 of my colleagues to sign on, to bring attention to that humanitarian crisis. We are working on a bill now that will hopefully be passed into law. I have a lot of accomplishments that I can tout, and I'm very excited about that.”

Sitting in the House Foreign Affairs Committee room, which she called “my home,” Kamlager-Dove said she believes her work on the committee involves issues of special importance to her district.  

“Los Angeles is going to be hosting the World Cup, the All-Star game, the Super Bowl and the Olympics all by 2028. It's a great opportunity for us to talk about the importance of cultural diplomacy and how it can work to build bridges rather than divides,” she said. 

Former representative and current Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, whom Kamlager-Dove succeeded, also served on the Foreign Affairs Committee. When she was running for office, Kamlager-Dove recalled constituents telling her they hoped she would be on the same committee, though they considered it a “quiet committee.”

“I can say two years later, we've had, you know, Ukraine and Israel, we've had the Sudan, we've had Haiti, you know, Germany, France, South Korea, Syria — so many things popping off around the globe. And all of those discussions happened in my committee,” said Kamlager-Dove, referring to countries rocked by wars or political turmoil since she entered office.

With Syria’s capital falling to rebels and former President Bashar al-Assad fleeing the country over the weekend, Kamlager-Dove said “we have to keep eyes on what is happening in Syria.” 

“The proof is going to be in the pudding. rebel leaders are talking a talk that suggests they're going to not be so wedded to this axis of resistance with Iran and China and Russia and Syria. But time will tell.” She said she believes the fall of Syria to rebel leaders is a sign Iran’s influence in the region is weakening, and that it hopefully will have a positive impact on the ceasefire discussions between Israel and Hamas.

“We know that Iran has been a player in a lot of these conflicts happening in the Middle East, it will hopefully embolden Israel to do the right thing. I think what we need to be talking about is postwar governance, postwar reconstruction in Gaza, we need to bring the hostages home, we need to end the war. We need to bring stability back to the Middle East.”   

Kamlager-Dove admits she has reservations about President-Elect Donald Trump’s foreign policy approach. She cited his “cozy” relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin and what impact it could have on the war between Russia and Ukraine.

“I'm glad that Biden has stepped up and said, let me help Ukraine as much as I can before my administration is over, because who knows what, the Trump administration will do,” said Kamlager-Dove.

“I am hoping that Trump understands how dicey the world is right now. and that he is interested in bringing peace to this country. and to be a stabilizing force. I'm not going to say that I believe he is a stabilizing force, but I do believe that there are opportunities for us to find consensus. And I'm going to work really hard, to push the administration to find those places,” she added.

Bringing Home Eyvin Hernandez

In her first term, Kamlager-Dove has had one piece of legislation signed into law and another one just days from passing in the National Defense Authorization Act, brought home $13 million in federal funding for community projects such as Butterfly Haven’s Youth Housing Project, permanent housing projects in Los Angeles, and a second SoLa Youth Arts Center, and launched the Global Migration Caucus.

But she cites another accomplishment as her most important. 

“Biggest accomplishment was getting Eyvin Hernandez released – constituent in a Venezuelan prison for two years and actually having the president make a call to get him out was a really, really big deal,” said Kamlager-Dove. She said she was making breakfast when the State Department called.

“They said of all the folks that we have helped, you were the only congressperson that we actually called, because we know that you were so instrumental in his release. And I put the phone down and I started to cry,” said Kamlager-Dove, getting emotional. She said Hernandez is going to stop by a district event before the end of the year, but that she has stayed in touch with his family and friends, often in impromptu settings. 

“Sometimes I go to the grocery store and I run into his friends and they say, oh, my God, you're so amazing. Thank you for what you've done!” she shared. “Talking about [Hernandez] makes me smile each and every time.”

Kamlager-Dove explained how she sees her role in plain terms.

“We're supposed to pick up the phone and we're supposed to help our constituents. So when we've had constituents call and say, you know, my child has been deported and needs health care and needs to come back, we have helped when we have had constituents call and say, I'm being evicted and I got a bad notice from HUD, we have stepped in and helped. When we have had constituents say the IRS has some of my money and I'm trying to get it back, we have helped. And when we have had constituents say, my son is in a prison, has been there for two years, can you help him come home? We have helped.”

“I am not interested in being another clown in the clown car”

Kamlager-Dove’s experience in the minority party in Congress is a far cry from her experience in the California legislature, where Democrats enjoy a supermajority. Although it was an adjustment, she said she has no problem reaching across the aisle. Her GRATEFUL Act, as well as her Summit of the Americas Act that is expected to become law this month, enjoyed  bipartisan support

“I am not interested in being another clown in the clown car. That is why I have work to find legislation that can be bipartisan. And we have to talk more about how important and how good bipartisanship is,” she said.

“Ultimately, it's about serving the constituents in my district and the American people, leading with authenticity, with honesty, sometimes with a little salty truth. but getting up every day and thinking about how I can serve a little bit better.”

A reckoning within the party

Kamlager-Dove was a stalwart supporter of President Joe Biden and later Vice President Kamala Harris in the race for the White House. Last year, Kamlager-Dove said the party needed “to recondition the American people to see that the job of President is not to be a reality TV star. The job of the president is to work in a calm and collected manner to help us domestically and then to protect us overseas.” Even though Americans voted to send Trump back to the White House, she told us that she“still stand[s] by what I said.” 

“I think it's even more true now. It is true that we lost, and we can be sore losers, but we lost,” she continued. “He won the presidency by less than 1%, so I do not support a narrative that says this is a historic mandate. We have been fighting for people that we were not connecting to. And so Democrats, all of us have to get back to listening. We have to get back to actually having real conversations that are authentic with constituents. We have to talk to people that we agree with and those that we disagree with – we have to find common ground.”

In California, Democrats flipped three House seats, while holding the seat held by Rep. Katie Porter, who could not seek re-election after running unsuccessfully in the Democratic primary for Senate. Kamlager-Dove, who campaigned for some of those Democrats, credited their successes to running “local races for a federal seat.”

“I think that is a winning combination. I'm gonna take a little credit for some of them because I actually supported George Whitesides. officially and unofficially and actually brought folks up to his district to walk for him,” she said with a smile. “Ultimately, these were candidates who were who had their finger on the pulse of what was going on in their communities and they responded to those issues. And that's what we have to continue to do.”

Kamlager-Dove added that she felt the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy helped her fellow Democrats. “I think he would have put more focus on those California seats that were lost by Republicans. But, you know, we have to hold them.”

The rising sophomore legislator will likely have a greater hand in the next two years trying to grow the Democratic caucus. Earlier this month, she was elected whip for the Congressional Black Caucus in the 119th Congress, which she called humbling. “I know my job. My job is to count votes, to make sure that we stay unified and to push the agenda of black America, which benefits all of America. You know, collectively we are 62 votes – 58, in the House alone.”

When asked if she sees this as a path to leadership in her party, Kamlager-Dove laughed. “Oh, boy. I don't want a target on my back,” she joked. “What it means is that people respect my voice. and they want to hear from me, and they care about what I say, and they trust me. So I'm just going to continue to do all of the things that I have been doing to build more and more of that trust.”