Scott Baugh knew the call would come one day. But still, he wasn’t prepared when it happened, when the phone finally rang with the news that would change his family forever.
Growing up with four brothers, Baugh was closest in age to the youngest, Randy. Only 11 months separated them, and their bond was inevitable. They grew up on the farm together, taking care of chickens and rabbits, cows and pigs.
The call came in 2020. Randy had been found unresponsive by his adult children in Chico.
On May 18, 2020, Randall Collin Baugh died from opioid-induced cardiac arrest. He was 56 years old.
Scott Baugh, a candidate for California’s 47th congressional district seat, is opening up about his brother and the havoc the fentanyl epidemic has wreaked on not only his family but millions of others across the country. In a new campaign ad, Baugh stands behind photos of all of his brothers and vows to make combating the epidemic his first priority if elected to Congress.
“Addiction doesn’t care if you’re Republican or Democrat. It’s a disease affecting millions, and it’s personal for me,” Baugh said in the 30-second spot.
“Randy was my brother. I’ll try being yours as well.”
It’s the first time Baugh has chosen to discuss publicly his brother’s death and opioid addiction, sparked after the first of several back surgeries. A former Republican Assemblymember, Baugh unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2018 and 2022. (He advanced out of the primary in 2022 but lost to Rep. Katie Porter, D-Irvine, in the general; he did not make it past the primary election in 2018.)
This go-round, Baugh’s campaign team came to him with a proposal: share his own experience with the opioid epidemic to let voters know how he could help.
“It was tough to consider, tough to do,” Baugh said in an emotional interview. When he was first presented with the ad’s script, he couldn’t fully read through it, he said, because of the memories it brought up.
Randy Baugh was born on June 3, 1963, and, like his four older brothers, grew up working in the family’s linen business, according to his obituary.
He had a passion for serving other people and animals. A father of five, he ran a food truck for a time after relocating to Huntington Beach. He was known for, his obituary stated, “his big bear hugs, strong handshakes and laughing at his own jokes before reaching the punchline.”
And he was an avid cook. Even in a rehabilitation center, he worked as a cook, his brother recalled.
“My brother was the most generous person I have ever known,” Scott Baugh said. “He literally would give you the shirt off his back, even if he needed it more than you did.”
“He was such a loving and giving person that the world is lesser without him, and it could use more of him.”
In 2020, the year Randy Baugh passed away, 5,502 Californians died because of an opioid overdose, according to the attorney general’s office; 3,946 people died because of a fentanyl overdose.
Fentanyl, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is a synthetic opioid that is 100 times stronger than morphine. Most fentanyl-related deaths are caused by illegally made fentanyl, per the CDC.
Scott Baugh learned — through support he found — not to lose hope, even when a loved one has a relapse. And that’s what he wishes to instill to other families like his. “I tell them that this is a long road,” he said. “It’s not easily conquered, but we never give up.”
But what about his plan to combat the nationwide crisis if he’s elected to Congress?
“No. 1, we have to stop the flow of illegal drugs coming across our southern border — and when I say illegal drugs, I’m talking about poison,” said Baugh. “So if you think about that, they give morphine to people who are in hospice and dying, and yet we are allowing this drug to come across our border that is 100 times more potent than morphine and is killing hundreds of thousands of Americans. That has to stop.”
More than 27,000 pounds of illicit fentanyl was intercepted at the country’s borders between October 2022 and September 2023, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protections. The federal agency estimated that was enough to represent more than 6 billion lethal doses.
“We need to embrace immigration, but at the same time, we need to know every single person who is coming into this country, whether they have a criminal background or whether they’re smuggling drugs or engaged in sex trafficking or terrorism,” Baugh said. “We have every right to know the answer to those questions.”
But Baugh also wants to see more education and awareness about naloxone, a medicine that can reverse an opioid overdose.
“Everybody who is on an opioid should also be issued naloxone because of the devastating effects of this drug,” said Baugh.
The open race for California’s 47th congressional district is a close one. It’s a seat that both parties are eyeing as it could help determine just which political party controls Congress next year.
Porter, a more progressive member of the Democratic Party, joined Congress in 2019. Instead of running for re-election this cycle, Porter instead campaigned for California’s open U.S. Senate seat but didn’t make it past the primary. She is set to return to teaching at UC Irvine School of Law when she leaves Washington, D.C., at the end of the year.
That leaves Baugh and Democratic state Sen. Dave Min battling it out for the seat this year. The district, just in Orange County, includes Huntington Beach, Irvine, Laguna Beach, Newport Beach and Costa Mesa.
For now, it’s rated “lean Democrat” by the Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan election analysis site. Out of the 450,772 registered voters in CA-47, 157,734 are Democrats, 157,440 are Republicans and 107,094 are no party preference, as of the Orange County Registrar of Voters’ data from Monday, Sept. 23.
It’s smart, said Stephen Stambough, who teaches political science at Cal State Fullerton, for Baugh to run an ad that is both personal and vastly different from the others voters are seeing on their televisions. Many other congressional candidates in Southern California, including Republicans, have focused their ads on abortion and reproductive health care.
“He can either try to play defense on a losing issue for him, or he can try to play offense on an issue he believes will work for him,” said Stambough. “He chose to go on the offense while avoiding the losing issue.”
Amid the chores of campaigning — holding meet and greets, calling donors — Baugh will step outside his house for a reminder of his brother.
There, Baugh has two plumeria plants, a gift from his late brother. They bloom in late spring, albeit, rarely. The two brothers often spent time in the yard talking about how incredible it was to catch the blooms.
“It’s always just a renewal and a pleasant memory of my brother when I see those flowers,” said Baugh.
More information about fentanyl and overdose prevention can be found at the California Department of Public Health’s website.
Scott Baugh previously ran for Congress in 2018 and 2022.
