Ricardo Valencia was leading late Tuesday night — followed closely by Maribel Aguilera-Hernandez — in the three-way battle for the seat on the Board of Supervisors representing the northern section of Santa Barbara County.

In semi-official election night results, Valencia had 36.7% of the vote, with fewer than 100 votes separating him from Aguilera-Hernandez, who had 33.4%, according to County Elections Office results.

Cory Bantilan was in third place with 29.4% of the vote , and only 183 votes behind Aguilera-Hernandez.

If one candidate doesn’t receive more than 50% of the votes in the Tuesday election, which seems likely, the race will head to a November runoff election involving the top two candidates.

Whether a winner is declared in this week’s primary or November’s election, the new supervisor’s four-year term will begin in January. 

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; and Bantilan is current Supervisor Steve Lavagnino’s longtime chief of staff.

Valencia had a measured reaction after early results, explaining he wouldn’t celebrate until all the ballots are counted to honor each voter.

“I feel so proud that this campaign has run a campaign with integrity because we have not accepted any money from large corporations that want to buy their influence into the elections,” Valencia said.

“We have not accepted political action committees or special interest. Our campaign has been funded by special interests.”

He said he ran on a campaign of improving wages for workers, making housing more affordable and challenging federal immigration enforcement in the community.

Before the polls closed, Aguilera-Hernandez spent part of the night at the City Council meeting, but welcomed what she viewed as positive results.

She said a close three-way race was to be expected due to the lack of an incumbent.

“I’m super proud of the campaign and super proud of all the work we did,” she said. “We did not go negative. We didn’t attack anybody and I’m super excited to see what the results are.”

Bantilan, who also has served as a political consultant for other candidates in the past, said the close results in the first round “was not unexpected.”

“I’d like to be in a different place but we knew this was going to be a close race,” Bantilan said. “I was telling someone it’s going to be a good night, a bad night or a long night and it’s gong to be a long night.”

Additional tallies are expected to be released Tuesday night and in the coming weeks with official results to be certified by July 2.

Lavagnino decided against seeking a fifth term as county supervisor, announcing in 2023 his intent to retire. His choice not to run again set the stage for the first contested election for the seat since 2010.

Following the redistricting effort after the 2020 Census, the Fifth District now covers northern Santa Maria neighborhoods, the city of Guadalupe and the unincorporated community of Tanglewood. 

The district has 31,650 registered voters with 14,235 Democrats, 7,132 Republicans and 7,842 No Party Preference and approximately 2,200 people registered with other parties and categories.

While the Board of Supervisors is a nonpartisan role, Valencia has seen support from Democratic groups while Aguilera-Hernandez received support from Republicans.

For instance, the Santa Barbara County Republican Party stopped short of openly supporting Aguilera-Hernandez, but the organization’s voting guide declared, “Do NOT vote for Ricardo Valencia or Cory Bantilan.”

The race to grab the Fifth District seat also has seen a significant amount of funds flow into both campaigns, with Valencia still having more than $102,000 remaining as of mid-May. 

Aguilera-Hernandez had $88,796 in her campaign coffers, while Bantilan ended with  $51,444, and donations continue to pour in for all three candidates.

Check back with Noozhawk for updates to this story and other election results. 

The Santa Barbara County Elections Office released semi-official election night results late Tuesday and will have updates in the coming days as additional ballots are processed and counted. The county needs to certify the June 2 election results by July 2.