Election results Tuesday night showed incumbent Paula Perotte winning re-election over Richard Foster in the race for Goleta mayor. 

Perotte received 63.8% of the votes, while political newcomer and long-term resident Foster tallied 34.9% in updated results from the Santa Barbara County Elections Office as of midnight.

“I’m thinking it’s pretty strong and clear that I’m going to be re-elected for mayor, but you know, (the ballots) all have to come in,” Perotte said early in the evening.

She thanked volunteers, her campaign staff and her family for supporting her re-election bid.

“My husband never thought he’d be married to a mayor,” she said, and added that she hopes to be a good example for her two daughters.

The overwhelming support for Measure G in early results shows that voters recognize that agricultural land is important, she said.

Perotte has been on the Goleta City Council since 2010 and has lived in the city for more than 35 years.

If she wins, it would be her third term as elected mayor. Voters chose her as the first-ever directly-elected mayor for the city in 2018 and re-elected her in 2020.

Perotte has been open about her frustrations with the state-mandated housing elements that failed to deliver affordable housing in the area. She has said she wants to see more workforce housing in the city. 

Foster has been regularly attending City Council meetings for the past 10 to 15 years. He has said that not enough money is going to road improvements, and that the city should return grant funding for projects that it can’t afford to build. 

“I think, given you the way people feel about the roads and about what’s happened in Old Town, we probably have as good a shot this year as any year,” Foster said. “But it’s really tough to overcome the power of incumbents. And the Democratic machine, which is a well-funded machine. It’s good to have the dialogue back and forth.” 

City Council Seats

In the District 3 City Council race, city Planning Commissioner Jennifer Smith was far ahead with 64.3% of the votes, while local resident and volunteer umpire Ethan Woodill received 34.9%.

District 3 contains the city’s western area from parts of Hollister Avenue toward Ellwood Ridge and from Storke Road to Farren Road.

Smith has been on the Planning Commission since 2017, and has been the executive director of the Legal Aid Foundation of Santa Barbara County since 2018. 

She wants to focus on improving and maintaining infrastructure and ensuring that Dos Pueblos High School students have a safe way to get to school.

“I’m honored to see the results so far and I want to thank all the voters for their vote of confidence in me, and look forward to getting the final (results),” Smith said.

“I’ve lived in the city of Goleta for 12 years and will work my hardest to represent everyone in the district, whether or not they voted for me,” she said.

“What’s most important is we come together and work to find solutions for some of our pressing challenges” like fixing the library and Cathedral Oaks crib wall, she said.

Woodill is a born-and-raised Goleta resident focused on infrastructure, public safety and parking. 

Woodill has worked in the hospitality industry for 26 years, and previously coached wrestling at Dos Pueblos High School. He is a volunteer umpire for the Goleta Valley South Little League. 

“I believe the message that I wanted to send came through,” he said on election night. “Running my campaign, on the on the lack of money that I did, and running the campaign honestly, like I chose to, that’s something I’m proud of at the end of the day. I think that right now, we’re just gonna have to find out who shows up at the polls.”

District 4 incumbent Stuart Kasdin was headed to re-election over local business owner Eric Gordon. He had 63.9% of the vote, while Gordon received 35.6%.

District 4 contains the lower western edge of Goleta from Storke Road past Hollister Avenue to the Ellwood Pier.

Kasdin was first elected to the council in 2016, and has said he wants to focus on eliminating homeless encampments and getting Fire Station 10 built. 

Kasdin said he was happy to hear he was ahead.

This election brought up concerns about the housing element and Old Town projects and the city is “committed to making all of those things work as best as we can,” Kasdin said.

Measure G’s high support is a statement that city residents care about preserving agricultural land, and care what the city looks like, he said.

“It doesn’t mean that we don’t care about housing, that we don’t care about high rents, but it does mean there’s a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it, and paving over the farmland and the open space is the wrong way to do it.”

Gordon is a South Coast resident of 30 years, and owner of The Product Photography Studio in Santa Barbara and Santa Barbara Giclée, an art reproduction business. 

Gordon is focused on road repairs and bringing back more community events such as the Fourth of July fireworks show at Girsh Park.

“I feel great. I gave it a good go, and it looks like we got at least the city council and the mayor, who’s in there now, to at least know that there’s a challenge,” Gordon said on election night.

“I’m bummed I didn’t win, but it was an uphill battle.”

Measure G

Goleta voters also had a decision to make regarding extending Measure G, which requires that any decision to rezone any agricultural land more than 10 acres within city limits go to the voters. 

Measure G was passing easily with 73.2% in favor and 26.8% opposed. 

Measure G was first approved by 71% of voters in 2012. If voters approve extending the measure, it will continue for another 20 years once it expires in 2032. 

The Santa Barbara Elections Office will be updating election night results for several hours before releasing semi-official results. Those results will be updated as more ballots are counted in the upcoming days and weeks.

The county will certify election results on Dec. 3.

Check back with Noozhawk for updates to this story.