Who Are Santa Barbara’s Mayoral Candidates and What Do They Think?

An Inside Look into the Lives and Thoughts of the Six Men and Women Running for the Job

By Nick Welsh | October 7, 2021

As Americans grow more disconnected from our state and federal governments, we increasingly look to our mayors to take care of business. The word “mayor” comes from the Latin maior, meaning the biggest and the best, but technically most mayors are really just one among equals. They run the meetings, help set the agendas, and herd cats.

Since Santa Barbara voted for district elections, the mayor remains the only council position elected citywide. It’s a tough post. The city charter does not give the mayor much actual power. An effective mayor requires imagination, audacity, stamina, patience, and a sense of the moment — all the ephemera for what’s usually described as “leadership.”

In its 171 years as a city, Santa Barbara has had 50 mayors. In the early days, there were four De la Guerras and three Carillos, founding families subsequently memorialized by downtown street names. During the Great Depression, we had Edmund O. Hanson, a proto-Trumpian megalomaniacal populist whack job who was criminally prosecuted and bribed to leave town.