With election day less than a month away, the time has come for Republican candidate Justin Fareed and Democratic candidate Salud Carbajal, the two candidates running for California’s 24th Congressional District, to square off in the first mano-a-mano televised debate.
The debate is set to air live on Oct. 16 at 6 p.m. on KEYT and KCOY, and can be viewed on cable channels 3 and 12, respectively.
Both candidates are vying to replace Lois Capps (D-Santa Barbara), who announced in April 2015 that she wouldn’t run for another term. Capps has represented the Central Coast for the last 18 years.
Carbajal, 51, is the current 1st District Supervisor for Santa Barbara County. Originally born in Mexico, Carbajal emigrated to Arizona with his father, who found work through the U.S. guest worker program.
Fareed, 28, is a “third generation cattle rancher” and vice president of the family business, ProBand Sports Industries Inc., a company that sells wraps and splints intended to protect against joint stress injuries.
Both Santa Barbara residents are racing for a seat that represents all of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties, and a sliver of Ventura County.
It’s Fareed’s second campaign for the district. His first was in 2014, when he lost in the primary to Republican candidate Chris Mitchum.
Both candidates are facing fallout from gaffes made earlier in the race—Carbajal for a reported comment where he called Lompoc the “armpit” of the county, and Fareed for legal threats against him for allegedly using a piece of a KEYT broadcast in a campaign commercial.
Despite their contrasting backgrounds, both intend to speak on similar issues at the debate.
Fareed told the Sun that he plans to make the case for improving water infrastructure and bringing jobs to the Central Coast, while Carbajal’s campaign told the Sun that he’ll focus on broader environmental issues and extending opportunities, such as making education more affordable to working-class families.
Fareed has accused Carbajal of skipping or ignoring debates and forums in the previous months.
“I think it’s important that we have an accountable representative who’ll discuss the issues that are important for the residents of the Central Coast,” Fareed told the Sun, adding that Carbajal instead has been spending vigorously on campaign ads that are “prototypical of a machine politician” and deflect from the real issues.
Carbajal Press Secretary Tess Whittlesey said her candidate has been challenged with balancing a full-time job as a supervisor with running an active campaign and that Fareed backed out of a Santa Barbara Independent debate scheduled for Sept. 8.
“We’re not shying away from any forum or debate,” Whittlesey told the Sun, adding that Carbajal will also be participating with Fareed in the upcoming National Women Business Owner’s Forum and the Area Agency on Aging Forum. “Sometimes it doesn’t work out based on his campaign/work schedule and we welcome that debate.”
Mail-in ballots were sent out on Oct. 11, and residents can vote absentee any time between now and Election Day.
The upcoming debate can still have an impact on voters, according to UC Santa Barbara political scientist Leah Stokes, particularly in races where citizens may have less information about the candidates and where the candidates are close in the polls—which could be the case for this election.
According to polling results released on Sept. 20 by Virginia-based Tarrance Group—which was retained by Fareed’s campaign and the National Republican Congressional Committee—Fareed polled 46 percent compared to Carbajal’s 43 percent.
However, political pundits, including Charlie Cook with the Cook Political Report, have Carbajal as the likely winner come Nov. 8.
“Given it is a relatively tight race between Carbajal and Fareed,” Stokes wrote to the Sun in an email, “it’s conceivable the debate could matter, even if it starts after absentee voting.”
Stokes added that the voter turnout could also be affected by the presidential election.
“The bigger issue is that Republican turnout overall could be suppressed because of Trump’s unpopularity,” Stokes said. “This is likely to mean that Carbajal has an advantage in this race, given higher relative Democratic turnout in California, if Republicans choose to stay home.”
The last day to register to vote is Oct. 24.
This article appears in Oct 13-20, 2016.
