Local gun store owner announces bid to run against Rep. Raul Ruiz

Storm Jenkins is the owner of firearms store Guns of Distinction in Palm Desert. He will challenge local Congressman Dr. Raul Ruiz in California’s primary election in June 2022. 

Jenkins announced his bid at a luncheon hosted by Coachella Valley Conservatives at the Classic Club. 

“The first greatest priority, if elected is to stop Nancy Pelosi, and what has become essentially Marxists trying to reform the United States in their image in a matter of a year or two," said Jenkins. "And Dr. Ruiz votes the way Nancy Pelosi wants him to vote. I won't and I think that's the major difference. I have nothing unkind to say about him. I have met him. I like him.”

Jenkins said he moved to the valley in 2018 after living in San Francisco. He has run for different political positions before but has never officially held a seat in office. He ran for a state assembly seat in 1992 and a congressional seat in 1996. 

"The single most important thing, I think, is for members of Congress to recognize that they are representatives, not rulers," said Jenkins. "We're being told what to do by the government."

Jenkins said doesn’t support vaccine mandates or federal government regulation. He said he did choose to get the coronavirus vaccine. 

"It was my choice to make but if somebody from the federal government comes at me with a needle, yeah, I'm going to resist it," said Jenkins. "I'm not gonna like it. That's not the country that I grew up admiring."

Jenkins says his official candidate website will be up later this week.
Adding his campaign efforts are already underway.

"Provided I got elected, the first thing to do when getting to DC is to calm down and stop. They're doing too much," said Jenkins. "The federal government is supposed to be the smallest version of government to go back to the way the constitution was formed."

News Channel 3 reached out to Ruiz's campaign office and received this statement:

"The campaign does not comment on people claiming to be candidates until they have officially qualified for the ballot."