Salud Carbajal was heading to another term to represent the 24th Congressional District race with 66.3% of the vote in election night results.
The updated numbers, as of midnight, showed Carbajal well ahead of Bob Smith, who had 33.7% of the vote.
The seat represents voters in Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura counties.
There are 457,138 registered voters in the 24th District.
Carbajal, the Democratic incumbent from Santa Barbara, was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2017.
After the early results were released, Carbajal thanked his supporters for electing him to another term.
“I’m deeply honored to have earned the trust and support of the Central Coast,” Carbajal said in a statement. “It will be an enormous privilege to continue my work in Congress on behalf of our community. I also want to extend my heartfelt gratitude to every person who phone banked, knocked on doors, and volunteered their time to help elect Democrats up and down the ticket.”
Carbajal is a former Santa Barbara County supervisor and U.S. Marine Corps Reserve veteran. He serves on the House Committee on Armed Services, the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the House Committee on Agriculture.
He also called Democrats’ strong performance across the nation a strong message and a reckoning for President Donald Trump and his administration.
“I think this sends a loud message to this president and this administration that they’ve been out of step with the American people. Their policies have been out of step with the American people,” Carbajal told Noozhawk.
Smith described himself as a disruptor.
The Carpinteria resident is a retired U.S. Navy commander and defense systems engineer who came in second in June’s primary election.
After returning from deployment in 2010, Smith got his master’s degree and worked with the Department of Defense, now called the Department of War, to develop new technology such as radar, ships and missiles.
He is listed on the ballot as a Republican but said he changed his political party affiliation to no party preference in September.
Heading into the 2026 race, Carbajal leaned on his track record, which he believed had earned him enough goodwill to win his sixth term.
Carbajal cited his work on the bipartisan infrastructure law that brought $1 billion and 13,000 jobs to various infrastructure projects.
If re-elected, Carbajal said Congress needs to focus on the cost of living.
He told Noozhawk in a previous interview that he wants to restore the Affordable Care Act premium tax credit so people can keep their healthcare coverage. He also said he wants to end the war in Iran to lower gas prices.
Carbajal has consistently criticized the Trump administration and its policies.
He has advocated for reforming U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and stopping families from being separated.
He has criticized the administration’s “corruption” in allowing the restart of the Sable Offshore Corp. oil pipeline in Santa Barbara County. Instead, he wants to focus on wind energy projects.
To address the high cost of living in the region, Smith said he would like to see small modular reactors on federal property to bring down energy costs. He also proposed regional collaboration to address housing costs and supported directing the Federal Reserve Board to lower interest rates for first-time buyers.
Smith said his priority, if elected, would be to bring home federal funds to support community projects such as swimming pools, STEM labs for Carpinteria High School, road and infrastructure repairs, fire prevention and mitigation efforts, and more housing in Lompoc.
Smith also supports a citizenship pathway for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients and people brought to the United States as children.
This is a developing story. Early election results will be updated as more ballots are processed and counted. Semi-official election results are expected late Tuesday night. Final, certified results will be available by Dec. 3.
