The race for Santa Barbara mayor is picking up as City Councilman Eric Friedman has thrown his hat into the ring. 

After eight years representing the city’s District 5, Friedman announced this week that he’s running for mayor, going against Mayor Randy Rowse, City Councilwoman Kristen Sneddon and former Santa Barbara school board member Wendy Sims-Moten.

Friedman announced Tuesday that as a lifelong Democrat, he submitted a questionnaire to seek the Democratic Party endorsement. 

“It would be an honor to serve as the next mayor of Santa Barbara so I can continue to work on my priorities that include balancing the budget, increasing affordable housing opportunities, enhancing public safety and emergency preparedness, and economic revitalization of downtown,” Friedman said in his announcement.

While he’s already on the City Council, Friedman said that as mayor he can bring the council together on divisive issues. 

“The mayor has a unique ability to bring the council together and try to find those common points of interest on some of the issues that have been dividing us, whether it’s State Street, housing issues, economic development,” Friedman told Noozhawk.

The announcement comes eight months after Friedman suffered a near-fatal heart attack in April while paddling offshore near the Santa Barbara Yacht Club with the Santa Barbara Outrigger Canoe Club. 

He told Noozhawk that his heart attack was a big reason why he decided to run. 

“It just fundamentally changed me in terms of how I look at each day and each opportunity that I have,” Friedman said. “At this point, I think there were good opportunities, and I’m not going to sit life out and not seize the moment when it’s there.”

He said that during his campaign, he wants to focus on stabilizing the city’s budget, opportunities to develop affordable housing, emergency preparedness resiliency, and economic revitalization of downtown. 

Friedman was first elected to the City Council in 2017 and was re-elected in 2021. His current term ends in December. He also works at a Trader Joe’s in Santa Barbara, where he plans to continue to work. 

He will be going up against Sneddon, councilwoman for the city’s District 4 who announced her campaign in November, as well as Mayor Rowse, who announced his bid for re-election in June.

“He (Friedman) came to me first and chatted about that, and I go, ‘That’s all good,’” Rowse said. “We’re all gonna see what our priorities are and move forward.”

Rowse said he’s not thinking about how Friedman and Sneddon will affect his re-election bid as he’s focusing on the work ahead for the council. 

“Trying to get Santa Barbara in a state where we can not have budget issues, where we can have an active and full and thriving downtown,” Rowse said. “We’ve got this amazing jewel of a city, and our job is to try to take care of it.”

The deadline to file for candidacy is in August. The city’s District 4, 5 and 6 seats are also up for grabs. 

Some candidates have already filed campaign finance reports, including Sneddon, whose current term ends in December; Nick Sebastian, who filed finance reports for the District 6 seat; and Monte Wilson, who did not indicate a specific district.