The candidates running for the 37th District Assembly seat in the November General Election both have deep roots on the Central Coast and say they're focused on cost of living, but they have different approaches when it comes to solutions.
Retired business analyst Sari Domingues says her top issues in the race for Assembly District 37 are safety, the economy, health, and education.
"There was a bill, AB 1955, where a teacher can't tell the parents if the child is using pronouns or is deciding to change their sex or something like that, and I am a full believer of being a parent that the parent has to be notified for everything on their child. Everything. That's a whole relationship between a parent, him, and their child, so I want to change some of these bills that have been going down," Domingues said.
The Republican candidate says she supports law enforcement and first responders and will tackle crime if elected. She also has a plan for health care.
"I'm really for private insurance because if they get competitive enough, they will create low cost. And there are ways that we can help get them competitive to create the low cost and our pharmaceuticals and all that have just gone sky high," Domingues said.
For incumbent Gregg Hart, the economy is his top concern.
"When I'm talking with voters, the first thing that they talk about is the cost of living in California — rising housing prices, grocery prices, gas prices, prices for pharmaceuticals. And these are serious issues that I'm working hard in Sacramento to try and address," Hart said.
The Democrat says that while in office, he has reduced the price of pharmaceuticals, is working on affordable housing, and recently had a bill signed into law to address spiking gas prices that he says will protect consumers.
"A bill that will require the oil companies to have a minimum supply of gasoline in the system so that we can avoid the price spikes that have happened the last two years. California consumers spent about two billion extra dollars when gasoline prices spiked because supplies became constrained," Hart said.
The 37th Assembly District covers all of Santa Barbara County and a small portion of southern San Luis Obispo County.
