Santa Barbara Mayor Cathy Murillo will battle five challengers in her bid to hold on to the office in the Nov. 2 election, which also features two hotly contested City Council district election campaigns.
Murillo is seeking a second term as mayor, in what is expected to be a competitive battle.
Mayoral Candidates
» A former journalist, Murillo also was elected twice to the City Council. She is backed heavily by labor organizations and the Democratic Party of Santa Barbara County.
» James Joyce is the founder of Coffee with a Black Guy and a former legislative aide to then-state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara. He has raised about $31,000 so far.
» Randy Rowse is a former nine-year city councilman who also owned the old Paradise Café. Coming out of retirement to run for the seat, Rowse is popular among business owners and has raised $131,000, the most of any candidate this year.
» Deborah Schwartz owns a private land consulting firm and is chairwoman of the Santa Barbara Planning Commission. She ran unsuccessfully for the City Council in 2011. She’s raised about $105,000.
» Mark Whitehurst, publisher of Voice, a weekly real estate magazine, jumped into the race a week ago, and has not reported any fundraising.
» David Matt Kilrain, a Harbor resident, has also qualified for the ballot.
City Council Candidates
District elections for the Santa Barbara City Council were implemented in 2015 and, since then, they’ve enabled some candidates to win terms unchallenged. This year there are competitive contests in Districts 4 and 6, but not in District 3. Districts 1 and 5 are not up for election this year.
In District 4, incumbent Kristen Sneddon is facing a challenge from Barrett Reed. Sneddon has served one term on the council. Reed is a real estate investor and serves on the Planning Commission. His company, Miramar Group, is responsible for projects such as The Waterline, an adaptive reuse project in the Funk Zone.
Reed showed an impressive financial display according to the first round of financial reports filed, raising $161,000. Sneddon reported raising $45,538.
There’s also an intriguing race in District 6, where incumbent Meagan Harmon is looking to get re-elected to a seat she won without opposition last time.
Harmon was appointed to the seat in 2019 after Gregg Hart was elected to the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors. Earlier this year, she was appointed to the California Coastal Commission. Harmon has reported raising about $28,000.
Challenging Harmon is Nina Johnson, senior assistant to the city administrator. Johnson began her career at City Hall as an intern and has worked there for nearly 25 years. She is likely to get support from downtown businesses, some of whom she worked with over the past few years on various city initiatives. She has not reported raising any funding yet.
Also on the ballot is Jason Carlton, a business owner, and Zachary Pike. Both filed papers near the end of the deadline and have reported no fundraising.
In District 5, incumbent Eric Friedman is running unopposed.
— Noozhawk staff writer Joshua Molina can be reached at jmolina@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
