It remains a good day in the Goodland for Luz Reyes-Martín and James Kyriaco.
Reyes-Martín and Kyriaco will continue to serve on the Goleta City Council after the incumbents defeated their challengers on election night.
District 1 City Councilmember Reyes-Martín won 68.5% of the vote, with challenger Rollin Gartzke bottoming out at 31%. District 2’s James Kyriaco won with 57.8% of the vote over his opponent Phebe Mansur’s 42.1%.
Reyes-Martín will enter her second term serving District 2 on the Goleta City Council. She is a mom of two Goleta raised children, and has previously served on the Goleta Union School District Board.
“Im really excited to keep working with the council and on behalf of the residents in my district,” Reyes-Martín said. “I’m so grateful for the continued support of the voters in my district.”
From securing a healthy amount of emergency financial reserves to building progress toward public projects, Reyes-Martín said her first term on the City Council was highly productive. One of her top priorities is to build on the progress the council has made with improving infrastructure.
One of these projects includes the Goleta Public Library, which has been closed for maintenance since April 2025. She said the project will be completed in 2027.
Reyes-Martín will work alongside Kyriaco, who was elected to his third term on the council.
“There was so much work that we were on the cusp of completing that I wanted to be able to see through,” Kyriaco said. “I’m grateful that the people in Goleta gave me the opportunity to represent the community I grew up in.”
Kyriaco was first elected to Goleta city council in November of 2018. He was raised in Goleta, and comes from a lineage of Goleta small business owners. This time around, his campaign benefitted from endorsements like the Santa Barbara County Democratic Party and Representative Salud Carbajal.
His campaign priorities are to make housing and childcare affordable and strengthen city services like parks, roads and even murals.
“You know, places where people can make memories,” Kyriaco said.
Kyriaco said he and his wife Angie began their night celebrating at Validation Ale with the local Democratic party. But then, it was “back to the Goodland.”
