U.S. Rep. Jimmy Panetta
District Office: 142 W. Alisal St., Salinas, (831) 424-2229, panetta.house.gov
He’s not the flashiest politician, and not prone to making performative speeches on the House floor or doing cable news spots, but Jimmy Panetta remains perennially popular in Monterey County because voters trust him – they feel like they know what they’re getting – and because Panetta charts a steady course, not so much making waves as making progress. Since he was first elected in 2016, a year marked by its chaotic politics, Panetta has been an even hand in Washington, working, as much as possible, on a bipartisan basis on essential services like food stamps, fire and flood mitigation, climate change legislation and farm policies that help agricultural growers and workers across the county. “I’m not a show horse, I’m a workhorse,” Panetta told the Weekly in 2018. And there is certainly plenty of work to be done. “I’m honored by this distinction afforded to me, again, by your well-informed readers,” Panetta says.