The 26th Congressional District\u00a0<\/p>\n
The 26th Congressional District race is a\u00a0brand new\u00a0election for the Santa Clarita Valley and one of two new districts that picked up a slice of the SCV\u00a0as a result of\u00a0Proposition 50.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The seat is currently held by Julia Brownley, a Ventura County Democrat who announced earlier this year that\u00a0she\u2019s\u00a0not seeking re-election.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The new, wide-open seat \u2014 which is\u00a0largely based\u00a0in Ventura County, with a few slivers of northern SCV territory \u2014 drew plenty of interest.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There are plenty of candidates to choose from, including seasoned politicians and newbies, a pastor, a policy adviser, a physician, a system engineer, business\u00a0owners\u00a0and an Assembly member to name a few.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ahead of California\u2019s\u00a0top-two\u00a0Primary Election on June 2, The Signal asked all four candidates the following questions about these hotly debated issues.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
1. Where do you stand on the administration\u2019s priorities with respect to operations that target illegal immigration?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
2. What has been President Donald Trump\u2019s best accomplishment in the first\u00a018 months\u00a0of his second term and where has he failed?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
3. Should Congress have more oversight on the situation in Iran? Explain your answer.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The certified list of candidates includes the following: Chris Espinosa, a federal policy adviser\u00a0(D); Liam Andres O\u2019Neill Hernandez, a businessman\u00a0(D); Assemblywoman Jacqui Irwin, D-Thousand Oaks; Dr. Sonia Kacker, a physician\u00a0(D); Sasan Samadzadeh, a construction inspector\/caretaker\u00a0(D); Sam Gallucci, a business executive\/pastor\u00a0(R); Michael Koslow, a businessman\u00a0(R); Daniel Miller, a businessman\/actor\u00a0(R); and\u00a0William\u00a0\u201cBill\u201d Scott, a systems engineer\u00a0(R).\u00a0<\/p>\n
The candidates were also invited to\u00a0submit\u00a0a biography of up to 150 words. The answers for the candidates who responded, as well as the brief bios self-submitted, are presented below in alphabetical order by last name:\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sam Galluci\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
My name is Sam Gallucci, and I am\u00a0running for\u00a0Congress to bring faith, family,\u00a0freedom\u00a0and common-sense leadership back to Washington. I am a pastor, nonprofit leader, former business executive, husband, father, and longtime Ventura County resident. For decades, I have served families across our community\u00a0\u2014\u00a0leading churches, building nonprofit programs, helping vulnerable women and children, supporting agricultural workers, and working directly with people who need real solutions, not political talking points. I am running because Washington is broken. Families are struggling with rising costs, unsafe communities, open borders, and leaders who seem more interested in power than service. Ventura County deserves a representative who has built organizations, solved problems, and served people face-to-face. I will fight to secure the border, restore public safety, protect parental rights, defend religious liberty, support small businesses, and put American families first.\u00a0<\/p>\n
1. I support strong, lawful enforcement operations targeting individuals here illegally who have committed crimes, threatened public safety, or endangered\u00a0our communities. At the same time, we need a practical, orderly process for those who have lived here peacefully, worked hard, paid taxes, and contributed to our economy and community. We must secure the border, enforce the law, protect citizens, and create a system that is fair, accountable, and rooted in common sense.\u00a0<\/p>\n
2. President Trump\u2019s best accomplishment has been refocusing Washington on border security, American strength, energy independence, and putting working families ahead of the political class. Where he has fallen short is in needing clearer, more disciplined\u00a0communication\u00a0and stronger follow-through on uniting Americans around solutions\u00a0\u2014\u00a0not just exposing the failures of the\u00a0left, but\u00a0building durable consensus to fix them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
3. Yes. Congress should have more oversight on Iran because the Constitution gives Congress\u00a0a central role\u00a0in matters of war,\u00a0funding\u00a0and national security. The president must be able to act quickly to protect Americans, but any sustained military action, escalation, or long-term commitment should include congressional authorization, transparency, and accountability to the American people.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Liam Andres O\u2019Neill Hernandez\u00a0<\/p>\n
My name is Liam Andres O\u2019Neill Hernandez, and I am a candidate for California\u2019s 26th Congressional District.\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0running because working families across Ventura and Los Angeles counties deserve bold leadership that directly addresses healthcare costs, housing affordability, transportation,\u00a0child\u00a0care, and economic inequality.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As someone who helps run my family\u2019s business, Bedder Mattress,\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0seen firsthand how rising costs are hurting families and small businesses. My campaign supports Medicare for All, paid\u00a0family\u00a0and medical leave, universal\u00a0child\u00a0care\u00a0and major transportation expansion throughout the district. I support building a light rail connection from Woodland Hills through Ventura\u00a0County\u00a0ending in Castaic, while also expanding Santa Clarita public bus service to Ventura Beach to better connect workers,\u00a0students\u00a0and families.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I also support abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement\u00a0and replacing it with a more transparent and accountable immigration enforcement system that respects civil rights, due process and human dignity while\u00a0maintaining\u00a0border security.\u00a0<\/p>\n
1. I strongly oppose large-scale immigration enforcement operations that create fear in working-class communities and separate families without addressing the root causes of immigration challenges. I support secure borders and modernized immigration enforcement, but I believe ICE, in its current form, has become overly militarized and lacks sufficient accountability and transparency. I support abolishing ICE and replacing it with a more focused system centered on border security, human trafficking prevention, due process, and coordination with local communities while creating expanded legal pathways for workers and families.\u00a0<\/p>\n
2. President Trump\u2019s greatest accomplishment has been waking up the Democratic Party, independent voters, and many minority communities to what I believe is the danger of extreme political leadership and division. In my view, his rhetoric and governing style have energized an entire generation of politically active Americans who now feel a stronger responsibility to defend democratic institutions, civil\u00a0rights\u00a0and economic fairness.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As for where he has failed, I believe the first\u00a018 months\u00a0of his second term have\u00a0largely been\u00a0unsuccessful.\u00a0I believe the country\u00a0is facing deeper division, economic instability, and growing public frustration, while many working families continue struggling with health\u00a0care costs, housing\u00a0affordability\u00a0and financial insecurity.\u00a0<\/p>\n
3. Yes. Congress must exercise stronger oversight\u00a0regarding\u00a0any potential military escalation involving Iran. Decisions involving military force carry enormous consequences for American service members, taxpayers, energy markets, and global stability. I believe Congress should reclaim its constitutional role in authorizing military action and ensuring transparency from the executive branch. The United States should prioritize diplomacy, regional stability, and congressional accountability instead of drifting into another prolonged conflict in the Middle East without clear public debate or oversight.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Daniel Miller\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hello, my name is Daniel\u00a0Miller\u00a0and I am running for\u00a0U.S Congress because I am concerned about the directions that California and the country are\u00a0going. Tax control is important. California is the highest-taxed state in the\u00a0union, just behind Washington,\u00a0D.C.,\u00a0and New Jersey. I am also concerned about property rights, parental\u00a0rights\u00a0and water rights, as well as other\u00a0important issues. Please join me in my\u00a0campaign to make California great again. And look up Daniel Miller for\u00a0Congress.Com<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n 1. Well, I support legal immigration, not illegal immigration.\u00a0<\/p>\n 2. No answer\u00a0submitted.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n 3.\u00a0Of course\u00a0Congress needs to be involved and briefed on the\u00a0situations. But the president is the\u00a0commander in\u00a0chief. When I get to\u00a0Congress\u00a0I look forward to being briefed in the situations and discussing it. Hopefully, this\u00a0won\u2019t\u00a0turn into an all-summer event.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 26th Congressional District\u00a0 The 26th Congressional District race is a\u00a0brand new\u00a0election for the Santa Clarita Valley and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":338563,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8],"class_list":["post-338562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/338563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}