Peter Coe Verbica
Candidate for U.S. Representative, Congressional District 19
Peter Coe Verbica is a Republican. He is running for California's 19th Congressional District. The general election is in November 2026. He lives in Santa Cruz County. He is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP®). He is also a Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor (CRPC®). He is Principal and Managing Director at Silicon Private Wealth. That firm is a registered investment advisory firm. He holds a Juris Doctor (JD) degree. He is the author of 'Hard-Won Cowboy Wisdom,' a book. Verbica grew up spending summers on a cattle ranch. He has not held elected office before. He did run for the California State Board of Equalization, District 2. In that race, he made the top two and reached the general election. He chairs an Investment Committee as well. It is the one at the San Jose Symphony Foundation. He supports several nonprofit groups. Verbica calls himself a 'common sense, fiscally conservative Republican' as well. He campaigns on affordability and taxes. He also campaigns on water and energy infrastructure. And he campaigns on immigration reform. District 19 spans parts of four counties. Those are Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Monterey, and San Luis Obispo. Home: Santa Cruz County, California. Occupation: Certified Financial Planner (CFP®). He is Principal and Managing Director at Silicon Private Wealth. Prior office: none. This is his first run for federal office. He ran before for the CA State Board of Equalization, District 2. He was a top-two finisher there but did not win.
On the issues
- Economy & Jobs
Verbica supports reducing labor and employment regulations on California businesses, including PAGA (Private Attorneys General Act) litigation and independent-contractor rules, and favors federal preemption of some state labor rules plus incentives for manufacturing to return to California.
Source → - Taxes & Cost of Living
Verbica campaigns on lowering taxes (including gas and income/sales taxes) and reducing government spending/regulatory costs to address California's affordability crisis.
Source → - Health & Health Care
Verbica opposes expanding government control of healthcare and instead favors market-based reforms: reducing premiums/deductibles, allowing interstate insurance competition, increasing price transparency, and holding drug companies accountable.
Source → - Immigration & Border
Verbica supports immigration reform tailored to labor needs in tech and agriculture (citing the historical Bracero guest-worker program as a model) while also emphasizing addressing root causes of migration such as cartel violence and corruption in migrants' home countries; his platform separately frames fentanyl trafficking as a national-security threat requiring stronger enforcement against traffickers alongside treatment-first policies for personal use.
Source → - Reproductive & Social Issues
Verbica has not stated a position on abortion, but has stated positions on related social issues: he supports restricting transgender participation in women's sports (aligned with H.R. 28) and supports age restrictions/oversight on gender-affirming medical care for minors, while opposing race-conscious ('affirmative action'-style) admissions and hiring policies in favor of colorblind, merit-based policy.
Source → - Education & Schools
Verbica has raised education as a voter concern and specifically argues that cutting school administrative bloat could allow for higher teacher pay; he also supports race-blind, merit-based college admissions policy (opposing race-conscious affirmative action), citing California's Prop 209.
Source → - Criminal Justice & Courts
On drug policy specifically, Verbica supports a dual approach: mandatory treatment rather than incarceration for personal drug possession, combined with aggressive enforcement against drug traffickers and cartel networks; he also emphasizes strengthened interagency law enforcement cooperation generally.
Source → - Environment, Energy & Climate
Verbica opposes current renewable-energy mandates and CEQA-driven permitting delays, favoring expanded water storage/desalination infrastructure, agricultural water access, grid-hardening and wildfire resilience funding, and scrutiny of battery-storage facility safety, rather than emissions-reduction mandates.
Source → - Foreign Policy & Defense
Verbica frames fentanyl trafficking as tied to Chinese geopolitical strategy and calls for treating drug supply chains as a national-security priority; he also argues U.S. foreign policy should address root causes of Central American/Latin American migration such as cartel violence and corruption. No specific defense spending or veterans-benefits proposal was found.
Source → - Government, Elections & Democracy
Verbica opposes California's Proposition 50 redistricting measure as gerrymandering and supports the federal SAVE Act's voter-ID and proof-of-citizenship requirements for elections; on campaign finance, he attributes business donations to Democrats to one-party political dominance and argues the remedy is restoring electoral competition rather than new campaign-finance regulation.
Source →
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