The competitive race for Santa Barbara mayor will have at least six candidates, and many more local city council races will appear on the Nov. 3 ballot.
Friday was the preliminary candidate filing deadline for the Santa Barbara County Elections Office. Many races have extended deadlines into this week because the current officeholders — known as incumbents — haven’t yet filed to run again.
Some city council, school board and special district contests won’t appear on the November ballot at all because only one candidate, or no one at all, filed to run for the available seat.
The preliminary list is available on the Elections Office website. The finalized list will be available later this week.
Santa Barbara
It’s an open race for the Santa Barbara mayor’s seat and three council contests, with several candidates already filing for each spot.
For mayor, the candidates include two current council members — Eric Friedman and Kristen Sneddon — vying for the spot currently held by Randy Rowse.
Other candidates include Wendy Sims-Moten, the executive director of First 5 Santa Barbara County and a former Santa Barbara Unified school board member; Mark G. Redmond; David Matthew Kilrain; and Michael Stilwell.
Four candidates have filed to run for the District 4 City Council seat currently held by Sneddon, including Devon Wardlow, Monte Lee Wilson, Genevieve Taft-Vasquez and Jason Dominguez.
Three candidates have filed to run for the District 5 seat currently held by Friedman, including James Gregory Zurlinden, Ian J. Baucke and Margaret Cevin Cathell.
Another three candidates filed to run for the District 6 seat currently held by Meagan Harmon, including Alexander Logan Stoeber, Gabriel “Gabe” Escobedo and Anabella Guadalupe Lehne.
Santa Maria
Santa Maria has three City Council seats up for election this year: District 1, District 3 and District 4.
Two candidates have filed to finish a short term for District 1, a seat that opened when Carlos Escobedo abruptly resigned in March.
Ricardo “Richard” Batalla and Celest Sienna Mendoza filed to run for that spot, according to the County Elections Office. Batalla has represented the district since April, when the council appointed him to fill the vacancy.
In District 3, candidates include incumbent Gloria Soledad Soto, who is running for another term, and Corby Poulia.
In District 4, currently represented by Maribel Aguilera-Hernandez, only one candidate has filed to run so far: Vincent Martinez, a local attorney who currently serves on the County Planning Commission.
Aguilera-Hernandez is running for the Fifth District County supervisor seat and will face Ricardo Valencia in a runoff election on the Nov. 3 ballot.
Buellton
The Buellton mayor’s race will again be a contest between David Silva, the current mayor, and Dave King, the former mayor.
Only one candidate had filed to run for each available council seat as of Friday: Billy Silvola for the District 1 seat (currently represented by Hudson Hornick) and Carla Mead (incumbent) for the District 4 seat.
Carpinteria
The city of Carpinteria has three of five City Council seats up for election this year. Incumbent Mónica Solórzano and Aja Forner have filed to run for the District 1 seat, and incumbent Julia Mayer filed to run for the District 3 seat.
In District 5, longtime representative Al Clark has decided not to run again. As of Friday, one candidate, Alexandra “Xy” VanAntwerp, has filed to run for the seat.
District 5 is one of the contests with an extended filing deadline.
Goleta
Goleta has two of five City Council seats up for election this year. Both will be contested races.
District 1 candidates include Luz Reyes-Martín (incumbent) and Rollin Michael Gartzke. District 2 candidates include James Kyriaco (incumbent) and Phebe Mansur.
Guadalupe
Guadalupe’s mayor and two council seats are up for election this year. Longtime mayor Ariston Julian is running for the seat again, as is candidate Christina Stephani Hernandez, according to County Elections Office filings.
Two candidates have filed to run for the two council seats so far: Robert Diaz and Randy Lorne Altergott.
Lompoc
The contested Lompoc mayor’s race will include James “Jim” Mosby, the current mayor, and Jeremy James Ball, a councilmember.
District 2 candidates include Victor Vega (incumbent) and Sharlameigne Segovia. District 3 candidates so far include Sarah Anne Read. That seat currently is held by Dirk Starbuck.
Solvang
Solvang has the mayor’s term and two City Council seats up for election this year. David Brown is running for re-election as mayor and will face Denise El Amin, according to preliminary filing information.
District 3 representative Louise Smith and District 4 incumbent Elizabeth Orona both filed to run again for their seats. No other candidates were listed as of Friday.
More Local Races on November Ballot
North County voters will choose the next representative for the Fifth District County Supervisor seat between candidates Ricardo Valencia and Maribel Aguilera-Hernandez, who placed top two in the June primary election.
Aguilera-Hernandez is a Santa Maria City Council member and attorney; Valencia is a Santa Maria-Bonita School District board member and Santa Maria High School teacher.
Local voters will also elect their next congressperson and state assemblymember in November, after choosing their top two candidates in the June election.
Salud Carbajal and Bob Smith are moving to the November general election for the 24th Congressional District seat.
Carbajal, a Democrat, has served in Congress since 2016. Smith, a Republican, is a retired U.S. Navy officer running for the first time.
Gregg Hart and Sari Domingues will campaign for the 37th District State Assembly seat currently held by Hart.