On June 3, Democrats in the 24th Congressional District will choose the winner of a primary race that has had some surprises.

The contest, for the right to run in November for the seat held by Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Simi Valley, was looking like a face-off between Jill Martinez of Oxnard and Mary Pallant of Oak Park.

But two weeks before election day, former candidate Marta Jorgensen of Solvang jumped back into the race. Jorgensen had suspended her campaign in April and thrown her support behind Martinez.

Martinez was the sole candidate in the 2006 primary and lost to Gallegly in the general election that year. Pallant briefly entered the 2006 primary but withdrew.

Jorgensen said her decision to re-enter the race was spurred by requests from residents in inland Santa Barbara County who felt that the two other candidates had not campaigned enough in their area.

"I want to bring the campaign out of the backyard tea parties and back onto the public stage comprised of the entire district," Jorgensen said in a written statement.

Martinez and Pallant both disputed Jorgensen's assertions.

The 24th District covers most of inland Santa Barbara County and Ventura County, except for the coastal portions of Ventura, Oxnard and Port Hueneme.

"We have three candidates on the ballot with three very distinct styles," Ventura County Democratic Central Committee Vice Chairwoman Laura Winchester said.

The Central Committee did not endorse any of the women because a primary candidate needs to get at least 60 percent of the committee's votes, said Bill Gallaher, its president. That didn't happen.

The winner of the primary will advance to the November election against the Republican nominee — either Gallegly or his primary challenger, Michael Tenenbaum of Thousand Oaks.

Gallaher predicts Democrats will have a tough fight in the November contest but also pointed to the shifting numbers of registered Republicans and Democrats in the district, which the GOP has dominated.

From April 2006 to April 2008, the percentage of voters registered as Democrats inched up from 34.1 percent to 35.2 percent. Over the same period, Republicans saw a slight decline from 44.8 percent in 2006 to 43.0 percent this April.

Martinez, a Presbyterian minister and affordable-housing developer, said the gap between the two parties is closing.

"A lot of Democrats switched to Republican" during Ronald Reagan's presidency, Martinez said. "A lot are coming back. We need a different set of values to lead us."

Martinez said her background of policy advocacy and organizational development lends itself to working across the aisle in Congress.

She supports an end to the war in Iraq, starting with drawing down the number of troops in the country. She said rebuilding should be the work of a diverse coalition including non-governmental organizations, and money spent on the war should be redirected to domestic needs. Medical support for returning troops needs to be ensured, she said.

Affordable healthcare, with mandated and ensured care for children, is another plank in Martinez's platform. Universal healthcare needs to have broad-based political support, she said.

Addressing illegal immigration needs to be done as a national security issue to win funding for solutions, Martinez said. Containers coming into the nation's ports need to be X-rayed before they arrive, and borders need to be secured, she said. Martinez does not support the fence at the U.S. southern border, but she believes technology can be employed. Illegal immigrants already in the country, Martinez said, should be fined, screened for a criminal record, pay any back taxes and learn English if they want to stay.

"We need everybody to come out of the shadows and get in line, get on a list if they want to become legal," Martinez said. "We need to enforce the laws on the books."

Pallant said the immigration issue revolves around businesses that illegally hire undocumented workers and pay depressed wages. Workers, in turn, do not have a voice, which creates conditions for abuse, she said.

Pallant advocated going after those businesses and also revisiting trade agreements that she said have led to massive outsourcing, which has hurt the country, she said.

The Oak Park woman said she is a progressive Democrat, which she defined as "ensuring democracy, ensuring opportunity for all. That is what our Founding Fathers envisioned."

In forums and debates, Pallant has called for an immediate end to the "Iraq occupation." The end of the war would put billions of dollars back into the country and the 24th District, she said.

In terms of rebuilding Iraq, she said surrounding countries should be engaged and the U.S. should pursue diplomatic and policy solutions rather than a military solution.

Pallant pointed to Gallegly's support of making Bush's tax cuts permanent, which, she said, would benefit only 9 percent of the people in the district.

"I want to work and help the 91 percent he is not looking after," Pallant said. "We need to stop that occupation and bring that money home and invest in jobs, schools and infrastructure."

Investment should be made in "green-collar jobs," renewable energy, infrastructure and to help breathe life into manufacturing, Pallant said. She supports single-payer healthcare, which would be publicly funded and privately run, and would reduce the burden of insurance premiums, she said.

Jorgensen, who worked as a nurse for 27 years, also said she supports single-payer healthcare.

On the issue of the Iraq war, Jorgensen said she'd like to see the country get out of Iraq as quickly as possible. The cost of the war has drained U.S. resources, she said, adding that the nation is morally obligated to help Iraq rebuild.

"Everybody wants an immediate withdrawal, but that isn't really possible because we are so ingrained in it now," she said.

Jorgensen said efforts to tackle illegal immigration should focus on businesses that hire undocumented workers. "The guest program works," she said.

Jorgensen said she supports strengthening laws protecting the environment and cultivating increased economic development in the district.