United States California Members of the United States House of Representatives Congressperson Salud O. Carbajal

When she opted to endorse Salud Carbajal in 2015, former Rep. Lois Capps, who served nine terms, wrote that Carbajal had “spent his career bringing people together to solve tough problems.”

Carbajal, a Democrat, has seemingly sought to continue this in Congress. In his fourth term as of this writing, Carbajal serves on the Problem Solvers Caucus. There are also signs he could be more progressive, though, than he might project, with the website FiveThirtyEight noting that Carbajal has voted with President Joe Biden 100% of the time.

Background

The child of farmworkers, Carbajal was born in Mexico in 1964 and filed to become a United States citizen in 1985 when he was living in Ventura.

Carbajal has led an active life, serving eight years in the U.S. Marine Corps and being active duty stateside during the Persian Gulf War in 1991. That same year, he also earned his first known mention in a newspaper, with the Santa Maria Times writing that he would be speaking at Guadalupe City Hall at a youth conference: “Salud Carbajal, county drug and alcohol master plan coordinator, will offer parents insights into educating themselves to better prevent their children from getting involved with alcohol and drugs.”

Aside from this, Carbajal has been a Head State family services advocate, a group homes counselor and was an executive staff member for Santa Barbara County Supervisor Naomi Schwartz before successfully running to succeed her in 2004.

Carbajal holds a bachelor’s degree from University of California, Santa Barbara and a master’s in organizational management from Fielding Graduate University, which is also based in Santa Barbara. He is married with two children.

Select Legislation

In a Republican-controlled Congress, Rep. Carbajal hasn’t had much luck with sponsored legislation. Of the 117 bills he’s sponsored, none have become law, with just one passing one chamber of Congress. This bill was:

• H.R. 2499, the Federal Firefighters Act of 2022 which would make “it easier for federally employed firefighters who contract certain illnesses to qualify for federal workers' compensation,” according to a congressional website. The bill passed the House 288-131, but was referred to committee in the Senate.