Sutter deputy D.A. joins congressional race

A Sutter County deputy district attorney is the latest to make a bid for Congress next year, saying his views on immigration are what sets him apart from other Republican candidates.

Tony Carlos, a Yuba-Sutter native, said he wants Republicans to embrace a philosophy on immigration likely to attract Latino voters rather than push them away.

"The whole country was going red last year, and it stopped in California," said Carlos, 35. He explained, he believes Republican policies seen as anti-Latino have made it harder for the party to win here. "The way it's received sometimes, the tone is disparaging."

If the GOP embraced a process to give citizenship to adults who came to the United States illegally as children, he said, it could make inroads with a population who might be disposed toward the party on other issues.

Carlos said he is also a believer in free markets, individual liberty and restoring the United States as a leader on the global stage.

He said his expertise in law allows him to find where health care reform, particularly the mandate for residents to have health insurance, won't pass muster.

"The individual mandate is, by my reading, patently unconstitutional," Carlos said. "Health care is a system we can choose not to be part of."

Already, four other Republicans have announced plans to run in the GOP primary next year, including Colusa County supervisor Kim Vann, small business employee and Sutter County resident Timothy Core, Yolo County farmer Charles Schaupp and Solano County's Rick Tubbs.

The winner of the primary would likely face incumbent U.S. Rep. John Garamendi, D-Walnut Grove, who is running for re-election in the redrawn 3rd Congressional District, which includes Yuba-Sutter.

Carlos said he sees Vann as a formidable primary opponent, and Garamendi is very well known. Based on demographics, though, Carlos said a Republican can win in the district, particularly if he or she appeals to Latino and independent voters.

A Yuba City resident with a wife and three children, Carlos graduated from Faith Christian School in Yuba City and received a degree in history from California State University, Sacramento. He received his law degree at McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento before joining Sutter County.

CONTACT reporter Ben van der Meer at 749-4786.