Incumbent Gregg Hart was holding a commanding lead late Tuesday night over challenger Sari Domingues in the race for the 37th District state Assembly seat.

Hart had 59.8% of the vote to 40.2% for Domingues in semi-official results.

Hart, a Democrat, and Domingues, a Republican, will face off again in the November general election after appearing on Tuesday’s primary election ballot. 

“I am very pleased at the the early returns and honored to have such strong support from my constituents, and I am ready to go back to work in Sacramento tomorrow morning,” Hart said on Tuesday night.

“I am pleased with that; it shows I am coming in strong,” Domingues said. “This is just the start so we will see how it turns out in the end.”

Domingues said most of her focus is on the general election in November.

The Assembly District 37 includes communities in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. 

The two previously faced each other for the same seat in 2024.

Hart, 66, has held the seat since 2022, and is a Santa Barbara native and longtime local politician. 

He is running his campaign platform prioritizing affordability, housing and environmental issues. 

Before securing the assembly seat, he served multiple terms on Santa Barbara City Council, one on the County Board of Supervisors. He also worked as a legislative assistant for California Assemblyman Jack O’Connell, and as deputy executive director of the Santa Barbara County Association of Government’s Traffic Solutions program.  

Hart is running again to continue building on his work at the state level, he told Noozhawk. 

Domingues, 69, has worked as a longtime business analyst and is a Santa Maria native. 

Since last running against Hart, she has been studying Hart’s voting record, and does not agree with the decisions he is making, she told Noozhawk.

Domingues founded a Santa Barbara County Moms For Liberty chapter in 2023, which focuses on “fighting for the survival of America by unifying, educating and empowering parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government.”

She is running on a platform that prioritizes education, family, safety and economics. 

Since they are the only two candidates on the ballot for this race, they both are automatically moving on to the general election ballot in November. 

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.