U.S. Rep. Lois Capps (D-Santa Barbara) announced her retirement plans in a gentle, short-and-sweet video address.
“I’m proud of the work that we’ve done together here on the Central Coast—to improve education, to expand health care, to support businesses and our veterans, to protect the environment and agriculture—and I’ve been so humbled and honored that you would trust me to be your representative to Congress,” Capps said in the video released on April 8. “But now, I believe it is time to return home, back to the community and family that I love so much, and so I’m announcing that this 114th Congress will be my last.”
The announcement sparked a wave of news coverage that highlighted her accomplishments and inevitably panned to focus on the list of contenders—both official campaign announcements and word-on-the-street rumors—who will seek the to-be-vacant seat in the 2016 election.
Capps, 77, has represented the 24th Congressional District since early 1998, when she won a special election for a seat left vacant by her husband, Walter, who died of a heart attack on Oct. 28, 1997. Walter served only nine months of his first term. Capps—a retired nurse and public health official—said in the recent video that she decided to fill her late husband’s seat in order to continue his Jeffersonian goal “to restore the bond of trust between the people and their government.”
For several years, Capps has been named “the nicest member of Congress” by the Washingtonian’s annual poll of Capitol Hill staffers. To represent her district, all of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties and part of Ventura County, Capps worked on a widespread collection of legislative issues that included veterans support; coastal preservation and continued efforts to block new offshore oil drilling; seismic safety studies associated with the relicensing of Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant; Farm Bill provisions that address organic farming and research and specialty crops; panga boat enforcement; clean energy; and gun violence protection. Capps was also a co-author and mainstay proponent of the Affordable Care Act.
In recent years, Republicans placed a target on her back, marking the district as a battleground in their quest to gain control of the House of Representatives.
Capps faced her closest election in 2014, when she narrowly edged out Chris Mitchum, a retired actor and self-described Reagan Republican, by 4 percent. The end of that campaign was marred by an attack ad placed by the Capps campaign and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which quoted Mitchum in a video, purporting him to say that he would not represent the district. In response, Mitchum filed a lawsuit against Capps and the committee, asserting on his website: “They are responsible for maliciously, knowingly, and improperly manipulating my digital image and audio message so as to distort and destroy the public’s accurate perception of my campaign and message and its positive support for my candidacy.”
The election occurred amid ongoing fallout from a fatal hit-and-run perpetrated by then-district-staffer Raymond Morua. In the early hours of Dec. 6, 2013, Morua, was on his way home from a holiday party hosted by the Santa Barbara Independent when he struck popular downtown bartender Mallory Rae Dies, 27, while she was crossing the street. Later that evening, Morua, who fled the scene, had a blood alcohol content level of .17, more than twice the legal limit. Five days after the accident, Dies succumbed to injuries sustained from the accident. The Santa Barbara County Superior Court found Morua guilty of several charges, including manslaughter and hit-and-run, awarding him a 20-years-to-life sentence.
The question of whether Morua represented Capps at the party was the subject of a Department of Justice inquiry and an eventual $2.5-million wrongful death settlement between the U.S. government and the Dies family.
Before Walter Capps was elected in 1996, Republicans held the district—formerly the 22nd Congressional District—for 47 years. The district has since been reshaped a few times, with the most recent gerrymandered incarnation giving a slight voter advantage to Democrats.
A handful of contenders are already vying for the seat that will be vacant in 2016. So far, the pack is made up of early announcements from Santa Barbara area candidates.
Santa Barbara Mayor Helene Schneider, a Democrat, wasted no time, announcing her candidacy just hours after Capps’ announcement. In a Facebook post, Schneider praised Capps for being a “tireless champion” who put the needs of the 24th District first.
That evening, Justin Fareed—the only Republican thus far—threw his hat in the ring. Fareed, a Santa Barbara native who is a businessman and rancher, ran in the 2014 primary—where he lost to Mitchum by only half a percent—at 25 years old. Fareed did not speak of Capps’ tenure, but did say on Facebook that “the Central Coast needs a new leader that will stand up for us in Washington, and I am excited for the challenge and opportunity.”
The next afternoon, on April 9, Salud Carbajal, also a Democrat and Santa Barbara County’s 1st District Supervisor, announced he’ll also seek the seat. Carbajal said Capps did well for the district, bringing in funds for infrastructure improvements and being a strong advocate for higher education and health issues.
As this article went to press, rumors were swirling about whether a few would-be heavyweight contenders will enter the race, including State Assemblymember Katcho Achadjian, who will term out in 2016 after serving his third term as the state’s 35th Assembly District representative (SLO County and Northern Santa Barbara County), and Laura Capps, the congresswoman’s daughter, who served as a speechwriter for President Bill Clinton.
On April 17, Achadjian officially announced his candidacy during a press conference at the Santa Barbara County Courthouse.
While the spotlight may begin shining on the question of “who’s next?” Capps, who made the announcement early in her final term to give candidates plenty of time to prepare, said she isn’t finished fulfilling her service yet.
“I am very much looking forward to our final 22 months together in public office,” Capps said in the video address. “There is a lot of work to do, and I promise you that I will serve with as much energy and enthusiasm and passion on my last day of office as I had on my first.”
Contact Staff Writer Jono Kinkade at jkinkade@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Apr 16-23, 2015.