With nearly 13% of the vote tallied, candidate Ricardo Valencia took an early—but ever so slight—lead in the primary race for Fifth District Santa Barbara County Supervisor Tuesday night.
Valencia had captured nearly 36% of the vote, followed by Maribel Aguilera with more than 33% and Cory Bantilan with nearly 30% of 4,101 ballots cast. If none wins a majority, the top two finishers will advance to a November election runoff.
“We’re excited,” Valencia said, surrounded by supporters at The Garden, a Mediterranean restaurant on East Boone Street. Valencia said he’d be taking a cautious approach to celebrating any results in the tight, wide-open North County contest. “I’m not going to make any announcements until the last vote is counted.”
With his campaign backed by the county Democratic Party, the election of Valencia in particular to the historically more conservative Fifth District would represent a seismic shift in the makeup of the five-member Board of Supervisors.
“We know that people believe in us,” he said, before leading his backers in chants of “Si se puede” — a rally cry equivalent to “Yes, we can.”
Bantilan gathered to watch poll returns with supporters at The Swiss restaurant, an 85-year-old North Broadway institution.
“Obviously I’d like to be one or two spots higher, but the results are going to change,” he said. “I have a lot of confidence that it will shift… I’m looking forward to gaining votes.”
A top aide to outgoing Fifth District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino, Bantilan has cast himself as a pragmatic realist who’ll draw on his longtime county government experience to deliver continuity rather than dramatic change. Lavagnino departs after more than 15 years in office.
“We’ll see how it goes,” Bantilan said, adding he’ll continue campaigning the same way he has if he makes it to the runoff. “The election won’t be official for weeks.”
Aguilera, a member of the Santa Maria City Council, has described herself as a data-focused public servant who’ll prioritize negotiation. Her evening began inside a packed City Hall, where hundreds of residents as well as unionized city employees gathered to demonstrate against budget cuts that include the proposed closure of the Paul Nelson Aquatic Center between December and May.
The council signaled it would reconsider cutting funding for the pool, and later Aguilera reflected on the race during a break in the hall.
“It’s been a real life journey,” she said. “It’s really been an honor.”
After the council meeting, Aguilera headed to Applebee’s for dinner. “It is too close to call, but I think we only go up from here. This is positive. It’s so tight though.”
The shape of the race
Amid a massive reduction in state and federal funding, county officials are attempting to balance an estimated $1.64 billion spending plan for fiscal year 2026-27, likely reducing staff and social services and eliminating two county-run pharmacies.
With these challenges a backdrop, the candidate’s fiscal priorities figured heavily into the campaign as the candidates met twice last month at public forums in Santa Maria and Guadalupe. Late last month, Valencia was the target of a polarizing Republican Party attack ad.
The Fifth District has nearly 50,000 voters who live in the northern half of the city of Santa Maria, the nearby unincorporated Tanglewood, and the city of Guadalupe.
The outgoing Lavagnino endorsed Bantilan, who’s received significant support from Cannabis growers.
“He’s not a registered Republican or a registered Democrat,” Lavagnino said Tuesday of Bantilan, a former Republican. “I’m OK with that, because I would rather have him.
“That’s what I admire about him,” Lavagnino told the News-Press. “He’s willing to risk it and say, ‘This is what I know is the right thing to do, so I’m going to do it.’ He might lose. The safe way is to stay in a party, but parties are going nowhere, and I think this country is going to get over them pretty quickly here in the next decade.
“He listens to people, hears their problems, and has the empathy to understand a need and then work through that,” Lavagnino said. “I respect that, and that’s what it’s all about.”
Aguilera has drawn support from North County agricultural interests.
In addition to the Santa Barbara County Democratic Party, Valencia is supported by the California Working Families Party, Indivisible, Planned Parenthood, Sierra Club and numerous small donors.
Santa Barbara News-Press reporter Kaitlin Sweeney contributed to this report.
[UPDATE 10:46 p.m.] This story was updated to include additional quotes from all three candidates.
[UPDATE 11:05 p.m.] This story was updated to include quotes from outgoing Fifth District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino.
