Justin Fareed, a small-business man and rancher who grew up in Santa Barbara and played football at UCLA and worked as a congressional aide, ended the latest reporting period with the most cash on hand, nearly $727,800.
Three races with Ventura County footprint add to June 7 primary choice
By Gretchen Wenner
Posted on May 18
Ventura County Star
Three interesting battles are brewing for the June 7 primary that will be decided in part by voters in Simi Valley, portions of Ventura and the coastal communities from Solimar Beach to La Conchita.
Of the three contests, Ventura County will play the largest role in state Assembly District 38, which includes Simi Valley. Just over a quarter of the district’s more than 256,000 voters are west of the Los Angeles County line.
The race lacks an incumbent and got off to a late start. Current office holder Scott Wilk, a Republican from Santa Clarita, is running for a state Senate seat being vacated by Sharon Runner. Runner announced in March she would not seek re-election because of health issues posed by a 2012 double lung transplant.
That means the four candidates vying to fill Wilk’s seat haven’t had much time to organize campaigns or raise funds.
The district, which in Los Angeles County includes Porter Ranch, Santa Clarita, Castaic and communities along Highway 14, leans Republican. Three of the primary candidates are Republican.
California’s “jungle” primary means the top-two vote getters, regardless of party, will go on to compete in November.
The sole Democrat, Christy Smith, is likely to be June’s top vote-getter since the Republican vote will be splintered, said Herb Gooch, political science professor at California Lutheran University. Smith, who sits on the board of the Newhall School District, has been endorsed by the California Democratic Party.
The three Republicans are Simi Valley resident Jarrod DeGonia, field deputy for Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich; Dante Acosta, who sits on the Santa Clarita City Council; and Tyler Izen, a former Los Angeles Police Department detective from Granada Hills.
The state party has not made a primary endorsement. The most recent campaign finance reports, which covered fundraising through April 23, showed Acosta with the most cash on hand at $49,020, followed by Izen with $35,311 and DeGonia with just under $4,000.
DeGonia’s endorsement list includes Ventura County Supervisor Peter Foy and former Rep. Buck McKeon. Izen is supported by various Los Angeles area public safety organizations. Acosta has been endorsed by Wilk and Rep. Steve Knight.
Gooch, the political scientist, said a critical split between the Santa Clarita and Simi Valley population centers could benefit DeGonia, with strong Simi ties, in the primary.
Simi, too
The 25th Congressional District, which also includes Simi Valley, has an incumbent in Rep. Steve Knight, a Republican from Palmdale.
Knight will almost certainly make it past the primary, Gooch said. That leaves a battle for second place between two Democrats, Lou Vince and Bryan Caforio, and Republican Jeffrey Moffatt, an attorney in Lancaster who reported no campaign contributions in the most recent report.
Caforio, a consumer rights attorney, had more than $205,000 cash on hand for the reporting period that ended in March. That’s far more than his Democratic rival, Vince, who ended with just over $10,500.
But the better-funded Caforio has been called a carpetbagger from Los Angeles who only recently moved to the district.
Vince, a lieutenant with the Los Angeles Police Department from Agua Dulce, has been endorsed by the California Democratic Party and others. The contest between the two highlights a rift between local-level activists and the national party, according to media accounts.
Republican and Democratic registration in the 25th is almost even, according to the California Secretary of State’s most recent report. Ventura County voters make up slightly more than 17 percent of the district’s 356,240 voters.
The 24th and 25th Congressional Districts
Replacing Capps
With Rep. Lois Capps retiring, the fierce 24th Congressional District primary features nine candidates hoping to replace the Santa Barbara Democrat.
In Ventura, the district includes parts of midtown, downtown and the Pierpont neighborhood. Unincorporated beach communities from Solimar to La Conchita are also within the 24th.
Some than 5,010 Ventura County voters are part of the 24th, though they make up less than 1.5 percent of the districts’s 349,175 registered voters. The boundaries include Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.
The primary has attracted much attention and money. Four Democrats, three Republicans and two with no party preference are on the ballot.
Democrat Salud Carbajal, a Santa Barbara County supervisor, has both the state party’s endorsement and has raised the most money, with more than $1 million cash on hand as of March 31, federal reports show. The No. 2 Democrat, in terms of cash on hand, is Santa Barbara Mayor Helene Schneider with $241,575.
On the Republican side, the state party has not endorsed. Justin Fareed, a small-business man and rancher who grew up in Santa Barbara and played football at UCLA and worked as a congressional aide, ended the latest reporting period with the most cash on hand, nearly $727,800.
Assemblyman Katcho Achadjian, a Republican from San Luis Obispo County, reported about $400,500 cash on hand as of March 31.
Also running are Republican Matt Kokkonen, a financial planner; Democrat Bill Ostrander, a farmer; and two candidates with no party preference: Steve Isakson, electronics engineer, and John Uebersax, social scientist. All four live in San Luis Obispo County.
