Santa Barbara City Council District 4 incumbent Kristen Sneddon appeared to hold onto her seat in early election results released Tuesday night, soaring ahead of challenger Barrett Reed.
Sneddon received 60.8% of the vote, while Reed received 39.0% as of 8:14 p.m., according to the Santa Barbara County Elections Office.
The Elections Office has not yet released the number of unprocessed ballots that still need to be counted, but the Tuesday night total includes 5,409 ballots received up until Election Day, which is 45.2% turnout for the district. Final results will be released later this week.
Sneddon was elected four years ago to represent District 4, which covers outer State Street, San Roque, and parts of the Riviera, beating two challengers with nearly 50% of 6,600-plus votes cast, according to the County Elections Office.
Sneddon teaches environmental geology at Santa Barbara City College and during her campaign, she pledged to fight for public safety and against over-development within District 4 if re-elected.
“I’m feeling really good about community support and how people are engaged when they need to be and really feel like they get to be part of the process of democracy, and it doesn’t take a lot of money to have that be so; it takes meeting with people and talking with people and I feel really good that my message got across and people feel confident for another term,” she told staff writer Joshua Molina Tuesday night.
She said she did some “soul searching” after criticism that came out during the campaign, but doesn’t believe that everything the city has been doing is a failure.
“I’m really proud of the work we’re doing and we still have a long way to go and a lot of work to do, and I’m ready,” she said.
Reed sits on the city’s Planning Commission and is a local real estate investor, co-founding the Miramar Group.
Reed has raised the most money for a district seat in this election, with $264,000 recorded so far.
Reed said besides his marriage and the birth of his son, the past four months of campaigning have been some of the most rewarding experiences of his life.
“Walking door to door in my hometown and my neighborhood has given me a much deeper appreciation and love for Santa Barbara,” Reed told Noozhawk. “I am so proud of the incredible effort that’s been made by everyone who has been involved nad contributed to this campaign.”
Reed said he looks forward to continuing to serve the city in every capacity and doing his part in making “this a better place for all of us.”
Other seats on Tuesday’s ballot include Santa Barbara mayor, District 5 City Council member and District 6 City Council member.
In early results, Randy Rowse was leading the mayoral race with 40.4% of the votes, followed by James Joyce III at 26.0%, and incumbent Cathy Murillo at 24.4%.
District 6 incumbent Meagan Harmon was leading in the early election results with 52.9% of the votes, followed by Nina Johnson at 34.0%, and Jason Carlton at 9.7%.
District 5 incumbent Eric Friedman is running unopposed.
The Santa Barbara City Clerk’s Office released information late Tuesday night saying there are another 4,600 ballots that need to be processed and counted citywide, including ballots cast at Voter Services Centers and ballot drop-boxes.
Noozhawk staff writer Joshua Molina contributed reporting to this story.
— Noozhawk staff writer Jade Martinez-Pogue can be reached at jmartinez-pogue@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
