Conejo Valley voters will choose their next member of Congress on Tuesday, Nov. 3, picking between Democrat Jacqui Irwin and Republican Sam Gallucci for the open 26th Congressional District seat.
The district covers Thousand Oaks, Newbury Park, Westlake Village, Moorpark, Camarillo, Oxnard and other communities across most of Ventura County, according to the Ventura County Star. The seat opened after Rep. Julia Brownley announced in January she would not seek re-election.
Irwin, 64, a state assemblywoman representing the 42nd District, won 41% of the vote in the June primary. Gallucci, 67, a pastor and former tech executive, finished second. Irwin has raised about $822,000 this cycle, compared with roughly $377,000 for Gallucci, according to Federal Election Commission records.
The district leans heavily Democratic. Registered Democrats make up 43% of voters compared with 28% Republican, according to the latest report from the California Secretary of State. Cook Political Report rates the seat "Solid D," the Star reported.
Irwin: cost of living, healthcare, checking executive power
Irwin was elected to the Thousand Oaks City Council in 2004 and to the State Assembly in 2014, where she will be termed out at the end of this year. She attended UC San Diego and worked as an aerospace engineer.
She told the Star that cost of living is the top concern she hears from voters. She said she wants to reverse cuts to Medicaid made under HR1 and push back on what she called excessive executive power.
"Congress right now, specifically the Republicans, are giving the president too much power," Irwin said, according to the Star.
Irwin counts endorsements from Brownley, Gov. Gavin Newsom and U.S. Sens. Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla. Her legislative record includes strengthening California's red-flag law, renewing the state's cap-and-trade program for carbon emissions and writing bills regulating artificial intelligence, the Star reported.
At a Sept. 25 forum in Moorpark hosted by the Ventura County League of Women Voters, Irwin called for comprehensive immigration reform, a pathway to citizenship for farmworkers and stronger congressional oversight of the war in Iran, the Thousand Oaks Acorn reported.
Gallucci: immigration reform, 'compassionate conservative'
Gallucci moved to Thousand Oaks in 1981 and rose to executive vice president at PeopleSoft before leaving the tech industry. He volunteered at Calvary Community Church in Westlake Village, enrolled in seminary and became a pastor.
He now leads Embrace church in Oxnard and founded nonprofits that run a homeless shelter for women and children and assist migrant farmworkers, the Star reported.
Immigration is what Gallucci calls his "No. 1 issue." He proposed at the Sept. 25 Moorpark forum that immigrants in the country more than five years without a criminal record should receive renewable guest-worker visas and a path to citizenship. "All the workers need to stay. All the criminals need to go," he said at the forum, according to the Acorn.
Gallucci told the Star he embraces the "compassionate conservative" label and said both major parties have become too polarized. He argued voters in the district want results, not partisan fights.
At the forum, the candidates also split over gun laws, transgender rights and Iran policy. Gallucci called gun violence a mental health issue and backed the military campaign against Iran. Irwin pushed for expanded background checks and questioned the war's objectives, the Acorn reported.
Ballots have been mailed to voters across the Conejo Valley. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3.
