Bennett, Cole compete for California’s 37th State Assembly
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. - California’s 37th State assembly district seat is up for grabs. Santa Barbara Democrat Monique Limón previously represented the district. Now, two candidates are running to replace her.
Many residents want to know what makes them the most qualified for this position.
“I am not a career politician like my opponent,” said Charles Cole. “I understand what it is to make payroll.”
Charles Cole is a 22-year-old Republican from Santa Barbara. He’s a former Santa Barbara City College student who says he’s not running for the money.
“I do not plan on ever being a career politician,” said Cole. “I just want to save California and I look at the way it's going and I do not agree with a lot of the things that are happening and I hope to initiate some sort of a change.”
Democrat Steve Bennett has served on the Ventura County board of supervisors for two decades.
“I think the contrast with my opponent is pretty dramatic,” said Bennett. “I have 20 years of experience on the Ventura County Board of Supervisors dealing with many of the similar issues that you would deal with on a State level. “
The 37th District covers parts of Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties, a diverse area with people of all backgrounds and interests. So what would the candidates' top priorities be if elected?
“The whole issue of climate change,” said Bennett. “We have to find storage capacity for the green renewable energy. But we do not have much time left, the window is closing rapidly. The other thing is this growing income inequality that we have in the country is just devastating for the people trapped on the bottom. They need affordable housing and they need access to affordable healthcare and they need quality educational opportunities for themselves and their children.”
“I would like to return California to constitutionalism,” said Cole. “I think California needs to take care of the financial responsibilities better. And third we need to protect the police in our country, but especially in California and in this district, by fully funding them. Don’t allow any of this defund the police nonsense.”
The candidates also spoke about how they would help with the COVID-19 recovery.
“Well first of all you need to open up the country,” said Cole. “If you keep it closed the business are going out of business regardless. From the public health perspective if you are in danger and have a comorbidity then you should protect yourself and don’t make any mistakes.”
“We have worked really hard here in Ventura County,” said Bennett. “Just a few programs that I will point out is that we actually took some federal funding that we received and then we supplement it with some of our own funding in the county and we have provided grants to the businesses.”
Both candidates say they're in the race to represent the people.
“I plan to listen to what the people have to say and make my decisions based off of that. I am not going there to be a bully bull pit,” said Cole. “I am going there to represent the people.”
"I want to change policy so that systemic racism that affects black people, and brown people and minorities in this country are dealt with,” said Bennett. “Let them have the opportunity to demonstrate that we should measure everyone by the content of their character and their skills, and their abilities, and not by their skin color or immigration status.”
You can read more about each individual candidate in our 2020 Voter Guide.
