He's made some rookie mistakes, but Rep. Salud Carbajal is happy with his first term

The morale of U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal and his Democratic colleagues may be high right now given their fighting chance of taking back the U.S. House of Representatives. But the first-termer says he's less preoccupied on what happens on the national level and more focused on establishing his office and "just doing my job."

He's hoping that prospect will continue beyond 2018 as he campaigns against two Republican challengers — Santa Barbara businessman Justin Fareed, who lost to Carbajal by less than 7 percentage points in 2016, and Morro Bay engineer Michael Erin Woody — leading up to Tuesday's primary election. The top two candidates face off again in November.

Carbajal, 53, has been spending his free time campaigning in his district and stopped by The Tribune on Wednesday to talk about the election and his first year and a half in Congress.

The incumbent and only Democrat on the ballot, Carbajal has reason to be optimistic about making it to the general election, but given historically low mid-term turnout, he said he's "not taking anything for granted."

The 24th Congressional District encompasses San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties, as well as a piece of northern Ventura County. According to an April 6 count by the California Secretary of State, of the district's 372,829 registered voters, about 39 percent are Democrats, 32 percent are Republicans, and decline-to-state and no-party-preference voters make up roughly 26 percent.

Carbajal believes he has given voters plenty of reason to send him back to Washington D.C. for a second term.

He's most proud of his and his staff's level of constituent service and his office's responsiveness to district residents. He's authored and co-sponsored legislation that's still making its way through Congress, and — as a member of the bipartisan Problem Solvers caucus — he's worked with legislators on both sides of the aisle.

The Water Infrastructure Resiliency and Sustainability Act of 2018, one bill to come out of that group, would authorize the Environmental Protection Agency to establish a $50 million per year grant program for the next five years for local community water infrastructure projects to weather ongoing drought conditions. Similar legislation has been introduced in past Congresses, but the bill Carbajal co-sponsored with New York Republican Rep. Tom Reed is the first to secure bipartisan sponsorship. That bill is currently in committee.

Carbajal also introduced the Gun Violence Restraining Order Act, following the mass shooting in Parkland, Fla. earlier this year, which would enable family members or law enforcement officials to petition a court to temporarily stop someone suspected of posing a serious threat to themselves or others from buying or possessing a firearm.

Several states, such as California, have so-called "red flag" laws, which have attracted bipartisan support. Carbajal's bill has 112 co-sponsors, including eight Republicans. The bill is currently before the House Committee on the Judiciary.

"Since the youth started getting more involved, we saw there was a slight bipartisan momentum that crept up," Carbajal said. "(The Parkland kids) created a national movement and I think that's made a real difference."

Carbajal also said he's proud to have been one of six Democratic lawmakers who voted for a stopgap measure to prevent a government shutdown earlier this year, a vote in opposition of most of his party at a time when the southern part of his district was dealing with the effects of the Thomas Fire and subsequent flooding.

"When your district is hurting, you're not in a position to play politics," he said.

As summer has arrived, Carbajal also noted his support of a measure that fixed a major flaw in federal funding that had taken money away from crucial wildfire prevention programs. In recent years, the U.S. Forest Service would every year deplete its firefighting budget — more than half of its total budget — and routinely borrowed from its own accounts, including those for clearing brush and other fuel.

Carbajal was among a group of California lawmakers to push to end so-called "fire borrowing," succeeding in including an additional roughly $2.5 billion a year for battling wildfires into an omnibus spending bill.

"That allows (the U.S. Forest Service) to change culture, and instead of saving money for what they know will always be given to the fire suppression budget, now they can use it on preventative and mitigation efforts to do the kind of fuel management and controlled burns," he said. "That's a big deal."

Carbajal has not met President Donald Trump, but the federal response to the Thomas Fire did afford him a chance to meet Vice President Mike Pence, who sat down with a bipartisan group of California lawmakers in December.

"After the disaster happened, I was glad to see, with very few exceptions, the response was devoid of politics, and I really appreciated that," Carbajal said.

As a freshman in Congress, Carbajal said he's made a couple of rookie mistakes, such as getting lost in the Capitol. He recalled once trying to find a National Security briefing, and asking security for directions. The guard, he said, pointed to a group of about eight people at the end of the hall and told him to follow.

He followed the group a bit too long, however, and ended up in the wrong meeting room.

"I turn around, and there's Mike Pence. I'm literally right next to him," Carbajal said. "And there's the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and (Secretary of Defense James) Mattis, and I'm like, 'You know, something tells me I'm not supposed to be in here with you guys.'"

"It reminded me of the access you have in Congress," he added. "It was surreal."

Asked about his lowest point thus far, Carbajal said it was coming to the realization that there's a natural separation in duties between Congressional leadership and rank-and-file legislators — especially those from smaller districts.

"You come to terms immediately that the No. 1 thing for leadership on both sides is power and gamesmanship, either to obtain or keep power," Carbajal said. "It's all about how they count two majorities; that's primary. Secondary is getting things done for the American people.

"That's been, for me, the biggest disillusionment about Congress."

This story was originally published June 2, 2018 at 11:59 AM with the headline "He's made some rookie mistakes, but Rep. Salud Carbajal is happy with his first term."