The race for Santa Barbara County’s Second District supervisor seat has two candidates looking to bring different approaches to the challenges and issues facing the region.

Incumbent Laura Capps was first elected to the Board of Supervisors in 2022. Candidate Elijah Mack is a political newcomer who has been trying to get his foot in the door.

Santa Barbara County’s Second District includes unincorporated areas of the county, such as the eastern Goleta Valley, Isla Vista and UC Santa Barbara. It also covers portions of Goleta and Santa Barbara.

The Board of Supervisors has five members, each representing an area of the county. Two of the seats are on the June 2 ballot: the Second District and the Fifth District.

Supervisors are each paid $171,309 per year, with each year’s board chair receiving an additional allowance of $3,426.28 per year.

Laura Capps

Capps, 53, was elected Second District supervisor in June 2022. She ran unopposed for the position, which was previously held by Gregg Hart, who went on to the California State Assembly.

As she nears the end of her current term, Capps said one of the most surprising things she has learned has been how effective a county supervisor can be. She previously worked in Washington, D.C., politics, including at the White House and U.S. Senate.

“I worked on a presidential campaign. I’ve worked on other campaigns. I’ve worked (with) the national nonprofits,” Capps said. “Areas where there’s high impact, but it’s really on the local level, and particularly in the county, where you can move the dial rather quickly.”

One example Capps gave of how fast supervisors can respond was her eight-point plan for the Isla Vista bluffs, which was introduced after a student fell from the cliffs and died in 2022.

The board unanimously passed the plan, which called for higher fences or rails, better lighting, signage and other safety measures.

Capps said other issues she is proud to have championed during her time include the use of county land for workforce housing. After Capps brought forward a proposal, the county began examining which of its properties are underutilized and could be used for housing.

She acknowledged it will not fully solve the county’s housing issue, but said the county should be leading by example.

“Government should have its own skin in the game by turning its own underutilized land into housing,” Capps said. “… the land is the most expensive piece of the puzzle of the housing challenge.”

If elected to a second term, Capps said she hopes to help continue the work of encouraging new housing.

She added that many of the proposed projects are in her district, and she wants to ensure they are affordable for the community.

Capps also expressed her support for maintaining public spaces and balancing that with the need to build more housing.

One example she gave was an agreement between the Land Trust of Santa Barbara and the county to permanently preserve 36 acres of the More Mesa from development.

She added that she intends to see through the county’s proposed phaseout of onshore oil and gas wells.

Capps also said she intends to address sustainability throughout the county. She described herself as a strong supporter of renewable energy, going back to her time on the Santa Barbara School District Board of Education, and plans to push for the same technology in county buildings.

One of the major challenges that Capps believes the county faces is its budget and looming deficits.

The county proposed millions of dollars in cuts during its budget workshops last week, which included eliminating staff positions in several departments.

Capps said one of the driving forces of the cuts is H.R. 1 — also known as the Trump administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act — which includes major cuts to healthcare and food assistance across the country.

“The county is really where the rubber meets the road, and people need to understand that’s why, largely why, the county is facing such budget shortfalls,” Capps said.

Despite the cuts, Capps said the county is working to minimize the impacts by making smart decisions for the future.

“It’s going to have some pain associated with it, but we have to minimize as much as possible the impacts to families and … the services that we provide,” Capps said. “And that’s what we did last week.”

Capps unsuccessfully ran for the First District Board of Supervisors seat in 2020 against Das Williams. She moved and later ran unopposed for the Second District seat.

She has a family history in local politics.

Capps’ father, Walter Capps, was elected to Congress in 1996 and served until his death of a heart attack in 1997. Lois Capps, his wife, won his seat in a special election and represented the Santa Barbara area in Congress until she retired in 2017.

Elijah Mack

Mack, 21, is running his second political campaign after unsuccessfully running for the 21st District State Senate seat against Monique Limón in 2024.

Despite the loss, Mack said he feels he was successful in his first campaign and hopes to bring the lessons he learned to a local race. He said he ran his first campaign on $7,000.

Mack said he teaches religious classes for young people at his parents’ church in Montecito and at another church in Goleta.

His goal in the county supervisor race is to run a nonpartisan campaign and focus on local issues, not national ones.

“I’m running as a localist,” Mack said. “So, my main concern is preserving our local character … easing the strain on our local businesses, entrepreneurs, young people and young families who are increasingly priced out of the area.”

One of the issues Mack said he hopes to address is fees and regulations that he believes slow down construction or remodeling for businesses, storefronts or housing.

Mack said the amount of red tape disincentivizes building new housing or starting new businesses.

“With all these hurdles that developers and property owners face, it really becomes a situation in which either subsidized housing or luxury developments (are) the most solid choice in light of the expenses and risks for these developers,” Mack said.

If elected, he hopes to work with the rest of the board to incentivize investors to build housing aimed at the middle and working class.

Mack said the position would also allow him to work with city and state officials to discuss how to align their policies and goals.

Regarding the county’s budget, Mack said the Board of Supervisors can look for methods to reduce costs. Some of his ideas include working with local organizations and volunteer groups to help with outdoor projects, such as cleaning or renovating walking paths.

Mack said that by thinking outside the box, the county can help reduce its expenses.

“I believe that once we put all of these together and drop the costs for all of them, it’s going to make a significant dent,” Mack said.  

He said he is not supportive of the county’s plan to phase out oil and gas operations. He is concerned that an eventual ban could drive operators to other counties or states, and that the county could be subjected to an expensive lawsuit.

He also raised concerns about the county’s rental inspection program in Isla Vista, which he said could negatively impact students. Mack expressed concerns about a lack of privacy, and that landlords could pass on costs to renters from damage found during inspections.

Rather than an active inspection program, Mack favors a system that allows students to alert the county to issues on a case-by-case basis.

Mack acknowledged that some voters may be concerned about his age, but he believes his experience makes up for it. Mack said he has donated his time to political organizations such as the Libertarian Party and the centrist Forward Party.

Mack was recently appointed as regional vice-chair for Braver Angels, a cross-partisan organization looking to increase dialogue, he noted.

He added that he has been working since he was 15 and paid for community college out of his own pocket.

“I’m not just walking out of my mom’s basement and into our county Board of Supervisors,” Mack said.

The League of Women Voters of Santa Barbara is hosting a Second District supervisor candidate forum on May 7. It is set to start at 6 p.m. at the Goleta Union School District board room at 401 N. Fairview Ave., and will be livestreamed, the organizers said.