Just more than a week after Representative Lois Capps announced that her current term would be her last, Assemblymember Katcho Achadjian became the latest candidate to announce that he is running to represent the 24th Congressional district. Quoting from a current congressmember, Achadjian proclaimed at a press conference Friday on the steps of the Santa Barbara County Courthouse, “Let’s make Washington smaller, so we can make people bigger!”
An immigrant from Lebanon who became the owner of a small chain of gas stations in San Luis Obispo, Achadjian is the epitome of the American Dream. Such was repeated on Friday by a number of area Republicans, including former congressional candidate and actor Chris Mitchum, who narrowly lost the election to Capps last fall.
Other notables in the crowd, some hoisting signs that read “Katcho” in bold capital letters, were Supervisor Steve Lavagnino, Santa Barbara City Councilmembers Dale Francisco (who recently became chair of the Santa Barbara County Republican Party) and Frank Hotchkiss, former county party chair Gregory Gandrud, and retired politician Brooks Firestone.
