Santa Barbara elects three progressives to City Council amid massive rebuke of Trump nationwide

The blue wave has washed over Santa Barbara.

The 2026 midterm elections were nothing short of a victory for Democrats across the country, including in Santa Barbara.

Santa Barbara on Tuesday night elected a slate of under-40-year-old progressives to the City Council. The candidates seized on growing frustrations over a high cost of living and lack of affordable housing options in the city.

“We are going to have the most progressive City Council that we may have ever seen,” then-leading District 6 candidate Gabe Escobedo said on election night.

Political consultants and people close to these City Hall campaigns spoke with the News-Press and said it wasn’t surprising that Democrats were elected in Santa Barbara.

But the messages they were picking up on the campaign trail were undoubtedly informed by a general angst over the state of the country that ultimately poured into local elections.

Those uneasy feelings upped the ante for some campaigns.

“The people are hungry for leaders who are going to take bold action in the face of the most corrupt and extreme administration of the modern era,” said Christian Alonso, chair of the Santa Barbara County Democratic Party.  

But Election Night wasn’t a celebration for all Democratic Party-endorsed candidates — at least not yet.

Despite a resounding victory for Dem-endorsed City Council candidates, vote tallies as of Wednesday evening show the party’s candidate Kristen Sneddon, trailing 1.8 points behind Eric Friedman in the race for Santa Barbara mayor.

City of Santa Barbara

Returns as of Nov 4, 1:58 am PST

Mayor

Precincts reported: 47 of 47 (100%)

1. Eric Friedman Nonpartisan46.5%9,475 votes
2. Kristen W. Sneddon Nonpartisan44.7%9,101 votes
3. Wendy Sims-Moten Nonpartisan5.8%1,185 votes
4. Matt Kilrain Nonpartisan2.6%520 votes
5. Write-in votes0.4%83 votes

20,364 total votes

Live results →

Sneddon’s supporters are still holding out hope.

“I’m optimistic for the mayor’s race. [There’s] still a lot of votes to be counted, so I’m very excited,” then-leading District 6 candidate Ian Baucke said on election night.

Current vote tallies, Alonso said, may not include ballots from working-class people and renters, who he said tend to vote late.

“If you’re in a position to call this race for Eric Friedman, you’re doing this a bit too prematurely,” Alonso said. “We’re feeling very hopeful and very optimistic that champions of the working class will prevail in the elections.” 

Although the Democratic Party endorsed Sneddon, Friedman too is a Democrat, and has been endorsed by the Democratic Party in the past. 

Alonso said Escobedo, Wardlow and Baucke prevailed as Tuesday’s winners because they all defined their campaigns by measures, including rent stabilization, to help the working class in Santa Barbara.

District 4 City Council candidate Devon Wardlow won with 51.1 percent of the vote, Baucke with 62.2 percent and Escobedo with 68.3 percent, as of Nov. 4. 

Escobedo led a campaign centered around keeping people in Santa Barbara.

“Cost of living, affordable housing, keeping people in their homes, providing opportunities  for folks – all of those things really mattered in this race, and it showed in the results,” Escobedo said.  

City of Santa Barbara

Returns as of Nov 4, 1:58 am PST

City Council, District 6

Precincts reported: 8 of 8 (100%)

1. Gabe Escobedo Nonpartisan✓ Winner68.3%1,842 votes
2. Jason Carlton Nonpartisan12.3%332 votes
3. Alexander Stoeber Nonpartisan11.7%316 votes
4. Anabella Lehne Nonpartisan7.2%194 votes
5. Write-in votes0.5%13 votes

2,697 total votes

Live results →

Baucke similarly campaigned on a platform of tenant protections and rent stabilization that Alonso said spoke to young people’s frustrations over a high cost of living. 

The 27-year-old Strong Towns advocate, who won the votes of San Roque and Upper State neighborhoods, said that Tuesday night’s results prove that over 60% of District 5 “believe in our vision for safer streets.”

City of Santa Barbara

Returns as of Nov 4, 1:58 am PST

City Council, District 5

Precincts reported: 11 of 11 (100%)

1. Ian J. Baucke Nonpartisan✓ Winner62.2%2,523 votes
2. Cevin Cathell Nonpartisan26.8%1,088 votes
3. James Zurlinden Nonpartisan10.3%419 votes
4. Write-in votes0.6%24 votes

4,054 total votes

Live results →

Wardlow won easily in District 4, fending off campaign criticism about her professional background from supporters of her opponent, Genevieve Taft-Vazquez. 

Taft-Vazquez herself in an October News-Press story, said of Wardlow: “Voters deserve to know all of the candidates and what their background is. I don’t like this idea of shifting careers right before an election because that wasn’t a good look. I am referring to another candidate who switched jobs, I think in April, from cannabis into an AI camera.”

Wardlow ended up nearly quadrupling Taft-Vazquez’s vote total, and doubling second-place finisher Monte Wilson.

Throughout the campaign, Taft-Vazquez was expected to put up a tough fight, but she is currently trailing Wardlow by 36.7 points.

Some political analysts said the vitriol towards Wardlow might have inadvertently helped her, in addition to the aggressive campaign she ran.

Alonso said the backlash against Wardlow was “the result of and isolated to a small group of people who didn’t have a very broad coalition” who ran a “relatively negative and rudderless attack against her.”

The Democratic Chair added that Wardlow won because of the broad coalition she built with groups including The Sierra Club and the Santa Barbara City Fire Department.

Wardlow also took a bold stance on Immigration and Customs Enforcement, rent control and in standing up to the approval of downtown hotels as a planning commissioner, Alonso said.

City of Santa Barbara

Returns as of Nov 4, 1:58 am PST

City Council, District 4

Precincts reported: 12 of 12 (100%)

1. Devon Wardlow Nonpartisan✓ Winner51.1%2,617 votes
2. Monte Wilson Nonpartisan25.4%1,300 votes
3. Genevieve Taft-Vazquez Nonpartisan14.4%737 votes
4. Jason Paul Dominguez Nonpartisan8.9%458 votes
5. Write-in votes0.1%7 votes

5,119 total votes

Live results →

A blue wave might’ve been inevitable in Santa Barbara.

Nationwide, the midterm election has proved to be a rebuke of a president who, despite not being on the ballot, is responsible for policies which motivated droves of voters to the polls.

Alonso said these issues ranged from Trump’s war on Iran driving up gas prices, to masked federal immigration agents striking fear into communities up and down Santa Barbara County.

“Because of the level of corruption and extremism of the federal government, the excessive abuses of power are not just theoretical things that are happening in other cities,” Alonso said. “The blue tsunami that we experienced last night is the most massive rebuke of a president in my lifetime.”

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