Salud Ortiz Carbajal (; born November 18, 1964) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for

California's 24th congressional district California's 24th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of California. The district is currently represented by Salud Carbajal. It contains all of Santa Barbara County, most of San Luis Obispo County, and part ...

since 2017. He is a member of the Democratic Party, and his district covers Santa Maria,

San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo (; Spanish for " St. Louis the Bishop", ; Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, in the U.S. state of California. Located on the Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly hal ...

and Santa Barbara.

Early life and education

Carbajal was born in Moroleón, Mexico, in 1964 and immigrated to the United States, initially to

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, later settling in

Oxnard, California Oxnard () is a city in Ventura County, California, United States. On California's South Coast, it is the most populous city in Ventura County and the 22nd-most-populous city in California. Incorporated in 1903, Oxnard lies approximately west ...

, with his family, where his father was a farmworker. Carbajal attended the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the U ...

, where he earned a

bachelor of arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

degree in 1990, and

Fielding Graduate University Fielding Graduate University (previously Fielding Graduate Institute and The Fielding Institute) is a private graduate-level university in Santa Barbara, California. It offers postgraduate and doctoral studies mainly in psychology, education, an ...

, where he earned a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in organizational management.

Early political career

Carbajal served in the

United States Marine Corps Reserve The Marine Forces Reserve (MARFORRES or MFR), also known as the United States Marine Corps Reserve (USMCR) and the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Reserve, is the reserve force of the United States Marine Corps. It is the largest command, by assigned p ...

for eight years, including during the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

, although he did not leave the contiguous United States.

Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors

Carbajal was first elected to the

Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors Santa Barbara County, California, officially the County of Santa Barbara, is located in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 448,229. The county seat is Santa Barbara, and the largest city is Santa Maria. Santa Barba ...

in 2004, representing the first district as a Democrat. He was reelected in 2008 and 2012.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

2016

In 2015, Carbajal announced his intention to run for the 24th district after incumbent Lois Capps announced her retirement. Carbajal was seen as one of the two Democratic front-runners in the open primary, alongside Santa Barbara Mayor

Helene Schneider Helene Schneider (born November 18, 1970) is an American politician from the Democratic Party. She was the mayor of Santa Barbara, California from 2010 to 2018, and a 2016 candidate for California's 24th congressional district. She was first electe ...

, and was rivaled by Republican front-runners Assemblyman

Katcho Achadjian Khatchik Hratchia Achadjian (June 2, 1951 – March 5, 2020) was an Armenian- American businessman, and politician who formerly served in the California State Assembly. He was a Republican who represented the 35th district, encompassing San Lui ...

and small businessman and former Congressional aide

Justin Fareed The 2016 United States House of Representatives elections in California were held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016, with a primary election on June 7, 2016. Voters elected the 53 U.S. representatives from the state of California, one from each of ...

. The primary field consisted of four Democrats, three Republicans, and two independent candidates. In the June 7 primary, Carbajal came in first, with 66,402 votes (31.9%). The runner-up was Fareed, who received 42,521 (20.5%). In the November 8 general election, Carbajal received 53.4% of the vote to Fareed's 46.6%, a popular vote margin of about 21,000.

2018

Carbajal was reelected over Republican challenger Fareed with 58.6% of the vote.

2020

Carbajal was reelected to a third term over Republican challenger Andy Caldwell, a nonprofit executive, with 58.7% of the vote.

Tenure

As of October 2021, Carbajal had voted in line with Joe Biden's stated position 100% of the time.

Committee assignments

* Committee on Armed Services ** Subcommittee on Readiness ** Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces * Committee on Agriculture *

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure The U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. History The Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure was formerly known as the Committee on Public Works a ...

Caucus memberships

New Democrat Coalition The New Democrat Coalition is a caucus in the House of Representatives of the United States Congress made up of Democrats, primarily centrists, who take a pro-business stance and a moderate-to-conservative approach to fiscal matters. As of ...

* House Baltic Caucus * Congressional Hispanic Caucus *

Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) is a caucus consisting of members of the United States Congress who are Asian American and Pacific Islander ( AAPI), and who have a strong interest in advocating and promoting issues and c ...

Climate Solutions Caucus The Climate Solutions Caucus is a bipartisan caucus of U.S. legislators supported by the Citizens' Climate Lobby whose members work to achieve action addressing the risks from climate change. The House of Representatives and Senate each have a c ...

Problem Solvers Caucus The Problem Solvers Caucus is a bipartisan group in the United States House of Representatives that includes members equally divided between Democrats and Republicans, who seek to foster bipartisan cooperation on key policy issues. The group was c ...

Congressional Solar Caucus The Congressional Solar Caucus is a bipartisan United States House of Representatives caucus whose members "work on a bipartisan basis to find common ground to tackle issues facing solar business and communities" The caucus was started in Februar ...

Political positions

Abortion

Carbajal opposed the overturning of ''Roe v. Wade'', calling it a "betrayal to our Constitution and...millions of women who count on its protections to retain control of their own body and choices."

Personal life

Carbajal lives in

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning " Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West ...

and is married to Gina, with whom he has two children. On October 6, 2020, Carbajal announced that he had tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quick ...

References

External links

Congressman Salud Carbajal
official U.S. House website
Salud Carbajal for Congress
campaign website * * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Carbajal, Salud 1964 births 21st-century American politicians United States Marine Corps personnel of the Gulf War American politicians of Mexican descent County supervisors in California Hispanic and Latino American members of the United States Congress Living people Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from California Mexican emigrants to the United States Military personnel from California People from Moroleón People from Oxnard, California People from Santa Barbara, California People with acquired American citizenship United States Marine Corps reservists Politicians from Guanajuato University of California, Santa Barbara alumni