U.S. Government: Elected Officials

Congressman Salud Carbajal proudly represents the 24th Congressional District of California. The District includes the entirety of Santa Barbara County and portions of San Luis Obispo and Ventura counties.
Prior to representing the Central Coast in Congress, Salud served as Santa Barbara County’s First District Supervisor for twelve years. As County Supervisor, Salud championed the development of the Blue Ribbon Budget Task Force to examine our county operations and budget process. He has also advocated for health and social service safety net programs for our most vulnerable residents, co-sponsoring an initiative to provide health insurance for all the County’s children and spearheading the creation of a job skills and mentorship program for at-risk youth throughout the County.

In Congress, Salud has demonstrated a strong commitment to protecting our natural environment and resources, enhancing public safety, creating economic opportunities, and working regionally to address our transportation, housing, and workforce challenges.

A long-time advocate for our environment, Salud’s first act in Congress was the California Clean Coast Act which bans future offshore oil and gas drilling on California’s coast. He also is a member of the bi-partisan Climate Solutions Caucus, which serves as a working group dedicated to advancing proposals that will mitigate and reduce climate change, while at the same time encouraging economic growth and job creation.

Salud sits on the House Committee on Armed Services, the House Committee on Agriculture, and the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, where he serves as the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation. The Congressman has used his role as the Vice Chair on the House Committee of Transportation and Infrastructure to create jobs by securing investments in the nation’s crumbling infrastructure and rebuilding areas damaged by natural disasters like the Montecito Debris Flow. As a member of the Armed Services Committee, Salud has offered amendments in the National Defense Authorization Act that would direct the Department of Defense to research the effects of climate change on military operations, develop educational partnerships between the Department of Defense and local colleges, and ensure female service members have adequate body armor suited to fit their needs.

Salud served eight years in the United States Marine Corps Reserve, including active duty service during the Gulf War in 1992 where he was mobilized to Jacksonville, North Carolina. As a veteran, Carbajal has worked to ensure the needs of our nations veterans are met.

Carbajal graduated from the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB) and also holds a Master’s Degree in Organizational Management from the Fielding University.

Carbajal is married to Gina and they are proud parents of Natasha and Michael.

United States Representative Jimmy Panetta proudly serves California’s 19th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. His diverse and beautiful district stretches from south San Jose in Santa Clara County, over the hills into Santa Cruz County, down the coastline of Monterey County, and into northern San Luis Obispo County. First elected in 2016, he is serving his fourth term in Congress. He currently serves on the House Committee on Ways and Means, the House Committee on Armed Services, and House Committee on the Budget. He also serves as a Chief Deputy Whip in the 118th Congress.

Having grown up on the central coast of California, Representative Panetta understands the importance of giving back to the community and country that gave his Italian immigrant grandparents, his family, and him so much opportunity. He was instilled with a sense of public service and its importance to our communities and democracy and his work is reflective of the values of the people who entrusted him to be their voice in our nation’s capital.

During his time in Congress, Representative Panetta has fought for affordable housing, immigration reform, the continued protection of our pristine coastline and environment, accessible health care, our agriculture industry and its farmers and farmworkers, the reduction of gun violence, a fairer tax code, major infrastructure investment, sustainable conservation practices, our military installations that are an integral part in our community and our country’s security, and the deserved and promised benefits to our veterans.

Through policy implementation in Congress and service to constituents, Representative Panetta remains committed to being that bridge for the people of California’s 19th Congressional District to the federal government and its resources. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he secured $1.4 billion in relief for communities and families in California’s 19th Congressional District and ensured relief was available for schools, local small businesses, as well as farmers and farmworkers. He has passed into law legislation to promote clean energy, protect California’s forests and pollinators, support frontline health care workers, tackle hunger among military families, and provide legal services to homeless veterans and veterans at risk for homelessness.

Prior to Congress, Representative Panetta served his community as a prosecutor in Monterey and Alameda Counties and served our country as an Intelligence Officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve. In 2007, Congressman Panetta volunteered for active duty and was deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and was awarded the Bronze Star for meritorious service. Upon returning home, he served as a board member of the Veterans Transition Center, helped open Monterey County’s first Veterans Treatment Court, and worked to establish the Central Coast Veterans Cemetery on the former Fort Ord.

Representative Panetta attended local public schools and Monterey Peninsula Community College. He graduated from the University of California, Davis with an undergraduate degree in International Relations and earned his law degree from Santa Clara University. His wife, Carrie Panetta, is a Superior Court judge in Monterey County, and they have two daughters who are being educated at the same local public schools attended by Representative Panetta.