Editor’s note: This story is one in a series on the June 2 primary election. For more coverage, visit www.vcstar.com/news/elections.
Four candidates are running in the June 2 primary election to advance in the race to represent the 24th Congressional District.
Incumbent Salud Carbajal faces Sarah Bacon, an elected student officer at the UC Santa Barbara’s Graduate Student Association; Helena Pasquarella, educator and caregiver; and Bob Smith, a systems engineer. Carbajal and Bacon are Democrats. Pasquarella, who ran for the same office in 2024 and was defeated in the primary, is with the Peace and Freedom Party. Smith is a Republican.
The district includes about 750,000 people in all of Santa Barbara County, part of San Luis Obispo County and a portion of Ventura County that includes Ventura and Ojai. The top two vote-getters, regardless of party, will advance to the Nov. 3 general election.
Sarah Bacon
Occupation: Vice president of external affairs for UC Santa Barbara’s Graduate Student Association and graduate student at UCSB
Age: 45
Residence: Santa Barbara
Party affiliation: Democrat
Education: Bachelor’s degree in English and economics from UC Santa Barbara.
Elected office and years in office: None
Criminal convictions, bankruptcies or pleas: None
Campaign website: www.sarahbacon.com
What’s your top priority and how do you plan to accomplish it?
Concentrated power has corrupted our government. My top priority is a long-overdue anti-corruption agenda: fix how we elect Congress, how Congress governs itself and who Congress works for. Otherwise nothing will change to lower costs, raise wages, defend rights, end wars or restore the American Dream for all.
I will fight to get money out of politics: end Citizens United, ban congressional stock trading and create public financing for elections. I support ranked-choice voting and independent redistricting to end partisan gerrymandering.
Change doesn’t happen without effort and cooperation. I’ll build a coalition of reform-minded members to be ready to make change on day one, and I’ll push to accelerate reform efforts that stalled in Congress. And I’ll speak out immediately if collusion and shenanigans threaten this change.
I don’t take corporate money and can’t be bought, and that’s what makes it possible to win this fight.
With the cost of living rising, more residents face difficult decisions about how they spend their money. Explain how you would work to address costs for all.
We shouldn’t have to choose between refilling a prescription or buying groceries, taking a second job or spending time with our kids, or going without healthcare or settling for a roommate because rent is out of reach.
I’ll start with the biggest line items in our budgets. We need policies that crack down on grocery price-fixing, cut prescription drug costs, make childcare affordable for every family and guarantee paid time off so everyone actually gets a break.
These are not radical ideas or even partisan ideas. These are basic ideas that poll above 60% across party lines. What doesn’t work is a system that lets billionaires and corporations buy politicians while working people can’t afford to fill their gas tanks. That stops now.
Government should work for working people. Taking no corporate money means I can actually push these forward. This is where I will start on day one.
Salud Carbajal
Occupation: U.S. representative for California’s 24th Congressional District
Age: 61
Residence: Goleta
Party affiliation: Democratic
Education: Bachelor’s degree from UC Santa Barbara, master’s in organizational management from Fielding Graduate University
Elected office and years in office: U.S. House 2017 to present, Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors, 2004 to 2016
Criminal convictions, bankruptcies or pleas: No
Campaign website: www.saludcarbajal.com
What’s your top priority and how do you plan to accomplish it?
My top priority is to lower the cost of living for working families on the Central Coast. Today, too many families are struggling to put food on the table, afford housing or pay their medical bills.
The current administration’s policies have made matters worse through reckless policies such as the tariffs, gutting the Affordable Care Act, cutting SNAP benefits and launching a war in the Middle East — all the while giving billionaires enormous tax breaks.
If re-elected, I will work to reverse those policies that have made life unaffordable for many across the Central Coast. In addition, I will fight to pass my bills to boost financial aid for college students, help families buy their first home and reduce child care costs for parents. I believe if you work hard, you should be able to get ahead. I will continue to champion that belief every day in Congress.
With the cost of living rising, more residents face difficult decisions about how they spend their money. Explain how you would work to address costs for all.
In Congress, I fight to lower costs because I understand these challenges personally. My father worked the fields in Oxnard, and our family lived in public housing. I worked my way through UCSB and served in the Marine Corps Reserves. I worked hard to build a better life for my family, and I’m committed to making sure that same opportunity is attainable for all who are willing to put in the hard work.
That’s why as a vice chair for the New Democrat Coalition, I helped unveil a plan to make life more affordable for working families by lowering costs in five main areas: healthcare, housing, energy, family care and household essentials like groceries. Our plan will lower costs by rolling back harmful Trump policies, promoting competition and supporting small businesses to improve consumer choice and cutting red tape across the government to make it easier to get things done.
Helena Pasquarella
Occupation: Educator and caregiver
Age: 60
Residence: Ojai
Party affiliation: Peace and Freedom Party
Education: Bachelor’s degree from Occidental College, master’s from Johns Hopkins University
Criminal convictions, bankruptcies or pleas: No
Campaign website: www.pasquarellaforcongress.com
What’s your top priority and how do you plan to accomplish it?
My top priority is to get the 40% of voters not voting to participate in electoral politics. The Democrats and the Republicans are not representing us, the people, but instead the military industrial complex and corporate interests. We must give voters a choice, which is why my running as a Peace and Freedom candidate is so important. I am out there speaking to voters in the community, canvassing with other volunteers who know that we do make a difference. I may not “win” this time, but the seeds of transformation are being planted.
With the cost of living rising, more residents face difficult decisions about how they spend their money. Explain how you would work to address costs for all.
First and foremost, we must tax the wealthiest 1% of our country and cut the Pentagon budget of $1 trillion, transitioning from a war economy to a peace economy. If we do this, there will be more than enough funds and jobs to address the financial issues the majority of us are facing in our country.
Bob Smith
Occupation: Systems Engineer and retired U.S. Navy commander
Age: 46
Residence: Carpinteria
Party affiliation: Republican
Education: Bachelor’s degree in general engineering from Old Dominion University, master’s in systems engineering from Naval Postgraduate School
Elected office and years in office: None
Criminal convictions, bankruptcies or pleas: None
Campaign website: BobSmithForCongress.com
What’s your top priority and how do you plan to accomplish it?
My top priority is restoring affordable homeownership and lowering the cost of living for working families on the Central Coast. Too many young families and middle-class residents are being priced out of the communities where they grew up. I believe homeownership builds stronger neighborhoods, better schools, safer communities and greater civic pride.
I will fight to expand the housing supply in areas that make sense, including starter homes, townhomes and family housing rather than imposing one-size-fits-all mandates from Sacramento. I support reducing unnecessary regulations that inflate construction costs and helping first-time buyers build equity.
When families can own a home with stability and room to grow, communities thrive. My focus is on practical policies that strengthen families and rebuild the American dream.
With the cost of living rising, more residents face difficult decisions about how they spend their money. Explain how you would work to address costs for all.
California’s high cost of living is driven by two major factors: over-regulation and high energy costs. Layers of state and federal regulations raise prices, slow business growth and increase infrastructure costs. Californians also pay some of the highest electricity and fuel prices in the nation, driving up the cost of commuting, groceries, and everyday goods.
In Congress, I would fight to curb inflationary spending, expand responsible domestic energy production, modernize the grid and create federal incentives for communities that build workforce and starter housing. I also support tax relief and first-time homebuyer policies that help working families build equity. Government should reward production, ownership and opportunity, not make life more expensive.
Tom Kisken covers health care and other news for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at tom.kisken@vcstar.com.
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This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Meet the candidates for the 24th Congressional District
Reporting by Tom Kisken, Ventura County Star / Ventura County Star
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