Fracking matters. Political courage matters. Thus, Climate Hawks Vote endorses Salud Carbajal in California’s 24th Congressional District, covering Santa Barbara and adjacent counties.
Carbajal has a record of standing up against fracking when his rivals have remained silent.
Santa Barbara has often been called the birthplace of the modern environmental movement. Most of the Democratic officials in the region, and even some of the Republicans, profess their green credentials. Lois Capps has been among the nation’s leaders on climate change, particularly in connecting dots between climate change and public health. Now she’s retiring.
Among the nine candidates to replace Capps, Salud Carbajal stands out as a climate hawk. He’s served on an Obama administration State, Local, and Tribal Leaders Task Force On Climate Preparedness and Resilience. He displays an impressive grasp of climate issues.
He and his Democratic rivals agree on the easy stuff – they oppose new offshore oil drilling and the crude oil by rail export terminal proposed in San Luis Obispo County. But what separates Salud from the competition is history – what they did on Measure P, a 2014 ballot measure to protect Santa Barbara County from fracking and other forms of extreme oil extraction. Salud supported Measure P. His main Democratic rival, Helene Schneider, remained silent.
Speaking out for Measure P and against fracking required political courage. Salud Carbajal has displayed that boldness we seek in our elected officials when endorsing on behalf of Climate Hawks Vote. Salud joins the other Californians we’ve endorsed in primaries – Nanette Barragán in California’s 44th Congressional district and Kamala Harris for US Senate.
Update: Salud prevailed in the primary and went on to win the general election with 53% of the vote.
