California Congressional District 24
Job Description
For the 116th time in history, the entire U.S. House of Representatives is hiring for all 435 positions.
Politically ambitious Californians have applied for one of 53 positions in the state’s congressional delegation. Duties include:
- Attend floor sessions and vote on bills
- Occasionally write bills
- Help investigate Russia’s interference in the 2016 election
- Help investigate the FBI’s investigation of Russia’s interference in the 2016 election
- Channel the concerns of the 700,000 or so people who live in their district and convince 434 other colleagues to care about them too
- Spend a lot of time asking donors for money
Applicants
Salud Carbajal
Member of Congress
Justin Fareed
Small Businessman/Rancher
HR Note
Incumbent Party: Democratic
Democratic vs Republican Voter Registration: 8.6% D
Trump vs Clinton Margin, 2016: 20.2% Clinton
Congressional Margin of Victory in Last Election: 6.8%
Top Two Primary Applicants, June 2018: Salud Carbajal (53.6%), Justin Fareed (36.4%)
Democratic vs Republican Vote Share, June 2018: 7.2% D
This is still a competitive seat on paper, but the GOP’s prospects are diminishing with every year. In 2015, Democrats outnumbered Republicans as a share of registered voters in the district by 3 percentage points. The gap is now almost three times as a big. And Congressman Salud Carbajal, who won the seat for his first time in 2016, will now be running as an incumbent.
Even so, the National Republican Congressional Committee has painted a target on the district and is backing Justin Fareed, a 30-year-old Santa Barbara native who narrowly lost to Carbajal last time around. Fareed has focused his campaign on local issues, like expanding Highway 101 (a smart move in a district that President Trump lost by 20 points).
