Luis Esparza further solidified his lead over incumbent Judge Thomas Adams in the race for the Superior Court seat, according to the latest election results released Monday by the Santa Barbara County Elections Office.
Of the 110,155 ballots counted so far, Esparza gained 51.45% of the vote compared to Adams’ 48.25% of the vote. Esparza was slightly behind in election night results but currently leads by 2,891 votes.
The elections office has counted an additional 33,118 ballots since Thursday’s update. The total number of ballots processed so far is 110,155, with 1,295 ballots waiting to be counted.
The remaining ballots are largely provisional ballots and those damaged during delivery. The office also needs to “cure” several hundred other ballots that lack a recognizable signature or are unsigned.
In other county races, Kyle Slattery remains ahead of incumbent Betsy Schaffer in the race for auditor-controller. Slattery gained a small lead on election night and in the first post-election results, but that lead decreased by a small amount in Monday’s results.
Slattery now has 51.8% of the votes cast compared to Schaffer’s 47.9%. The two candidates were separated by 3,630 votes.
Melinda Greene appears to have unseated incumbent Joe Holland in the race for clerk-recorder-assessor. Greene had 60.2% of the vote as of Monday, compared to Holland’s 39.5%.
The race for the Fifth District Board of Supervisors seat is headed to a November runoff between Ricardo Valencia and Maribel Aguilera-Hernandez. Valencia expanded his lead to 41.7% of the vote, and Aguilera received 31.2% of the vote.
Cory Bantilan trailed with 26.6% of the vote. The top two candidates face off in November since no one received more than 50% of the vote in the June election.
Second District Supervisor Laura Capps will head to a second term with 78.3% of the vote. Her opponent, Elijah Mack, secured 21.4% of the vote.
For the Congressional race primary election, incumbent Salud Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara, is in first place with 54.2% of the vote. He and second-place Bob Smith, a Carpinteria resident running as a Republican, are headed to the November ballot.
Smith had 36.6% of the vote as of Monday, Sarah Bacon had 7.1% of the vote, and Helena Pasquarella had 2.1% of the vote.
The Assembly District 37 seat will also be on the November ballot with candidates Gregg Hart and Sari Domingues. Hart led the primary results with 63.2% of the vote and Domingues had 36.8%.
Support for Lompoc Measure B 2026 grew slightly to 46.87% in favor but remains well below the 66% of votes needed to pass. The measure would have increased the sales tax rate to pay for street repairs and maintenance.
Santa Barbara’s charter amendment regarding city property leases passed easily.
The next update to election results will be posted Thursday, according to the Elections Office.
