Salud Carbajal, Jimmy Panetta advance in races for SLO County Congress seats
Two incumbent members of Congress representing San Luis Obispo County advanced to the General Election, early vote tallies showed.
Shortly after 9 p.m., the Associated Press reported Reps. Salud Carbajal and Jimmy Panetta had garnered enough votes to move on to November.
As of 10:06 p.m., the second release of results from the Secretary of State’s Office showed Democrat Rep. Jimmy Panetta ahead in the race for the 19th Congressional District seat with 59.5% of the vote, trailed by Republicans Peter Coe Verbica with 23% and Democrat Sean Dougherty with 8.2%.
They were followed by Republican Tuka Gafari with 6.3%, Ana Luz Acevedo-Cabrera (no party preference) with 1.4%, Libertarian Lars Mapstead with 1.1% and Tomas Coxe (no party preference) with 0.5%.
The crowded race contains six candidates who are vying to replace Panetta and represent the L-shaped district that runs from southern San Jose to northern SLO County.
In San Luis Obispo County specifically, voters favored the incumbent as well, with Panetta bringing in 42.3% of the 10,333 local votes counted as of 10:01 p.m., followed by Verbica (35.1%), Gafari (15%), Dougherty (4.2%), Acevedo-Cabrera (1.4%), Lars Mapstead (1.1%) and Coxe (1%).
In the race for the 24th Congressional District, incumbent Democrat Salud Carbajal surged ahead with 54.1% of the vote as of 10:06 p.m., after the second release of results from the Secretary of State’s Office. Republican Bob Smith, Democrat Sarah Bacon and Peace and Freedom candidate Helena Pasquarella were trailing, with 38.5%, 5.7% and 1.5% of the vote, respectively.
Candidates Bacon, Pasquarella and Smith are trying to unseat Carbajal — who’s held the seat for the past decade — and lead the house district spanning from Cayucos south through Santa Barbara County and part of Ventura County.
San Luis Obispo County voters favored the incumbent as well in the initial results, with Carbajal bringing in 49.9% of the 20,591 local votes counted as of 10:01 p.m., followed by Smith (44.2%), Bacon (4.4%) and Pasquarella (1.6%).
On Tuesday night, Carbajal said in a statement he was “deeply honored to have earned the trust and support of Central Coast voters, and I want to extend my heartfelt gratitude to everyone who cast a ballot, volunteered or shared their hopes for our community during this primary.”
“Now, we move forward to November together,” he said. “From SLO to Santa Barbara to Ventura, working families across the Central Coast are feeling the crushing pressure of rising costs. Donald Trump and the Republican Party have pushed disastrous policies, tariffs, and wars that made housing, groceries, gas, and healthcare far too expensive. I am determined to reverse those terrible policies and deliver commonsense solutions that actually help families. The work ahead is serious, but so is our resolve. I am ready to keep fighting for a future where everyone who works hard has a fair shot to get ahead.”
The top-two vote-getters in each district will advance to the general election in November.
Following the first vote results, updated San Luis Obispo vote totals will continue to drop about every two hours until all poll ballots have been counted, according to Erin Clausen, the public information officer for the Clerk-Recorder’s Office. Statewide results drops will vary.
The deadline for county elections officials to certify election results is July 2.
This story was originally published June 2, 2026 at 9:05 PM.
