Election season is at hand, and this year, some Santa Barbara County residents will be voting in two different elections.
On Sept. 14, all voters can cast their ballots in the statewide recall election of Gov. Gavin Newsom. Just a few weeks later, Santa Barbara voters will weight in in another hotly contested election with the mayor’s job and three City Council seats up for grabs.
The Santa Barbara Municipal Election will take place on Nov. 2, and this marks the last year that the City of Santa Barbara will be holding off-year elections.
Starting in 2024, all city elections will switch to even years in an attempt to get more people out to the polls.
In addition to mayor, the council seats up for grabs in November represent District 4, District 5 and District 6. The other three council seats — from Districts 1, 2 and 3 — will be on the ballot in 2024.
The mayor is elected by a citywide vote of constituents across all six of the council districts, whereas the candidates seeking a district seat can only be elected by residents of the district in which they are running.
There are six candidates vying for the mayoral position, including James Joyce III, a small business owner, former legislative staffer and founder of Coffee with a Black Guy; incumbent Cathy Murillo; former councilman and Paradise Café owner Randy Rowse; and Deborah Schwartz, chairwoman of the Santa Barbara Planning Commission.
Other candidates on the ballot include Matt Kilrain, a Funk Zone investor who self-identifies as “Boat Rat Matt,” and Mark Whitehurst, publisher of Voice, a weekly real estate magazine.
In District 4, incumbent Councilwoman Kristen Sneddon is on the ballot along with planning commissioner and real estate investor Barrett Reed.
In District 5, Councilman Eric Friedman is running for re-election unopposed.
Four candidates are in the race for the District 6 seat, including incumbent Councilwoman Meagan Harmon, longtime city insider and senior assistant to the city administrator Nina Johnson, business owner Jason Carlton, and DJ and soil technician Zachary Pike.
As candidates buckle down on the campaign trail, Noozhawk wants to know what city issues you would like them to address in their campaigns and, if elected, in their policy and funding decisions.
Get in touch by emailing news@noozhawk.com, or fill out the Google Form below.
— Noozhawk staff writer Jade Martinez-Pogue can be reached at jmartinez-pogue@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
