With 98% of ballots tallied countywide, Kristen Sneddon was 579 votes ahead of Eric Friedman Thursday — and on a path to become Santa Barbara’s next mayor.

Sneddon had won 46.23% and Friedman 44.58%, according the latest count from the Santa Barbara County Elections Office.

Full results

The results come two days after Sneddon pushed ahead of Friedman, who had led since Election Night.

“I am ready to get to work with a great team of incoming councilmembers and am looking foward to engagement on issues that matter to residents,” Sneddon told the News-Press.

Sneddon received the news while in a meeting at City Hall.

North County update

In the closely-watched Fifth District race for Santa Barbara County Supervisor, the apparent winner Ricardo Valencia widened his lead over Maribel Aguilera to 1,134 votes. He’d won 53.72% of 14,121 ballots counted. Aguilera had 45.69%, according to Thursday’s update.

A Santa Maria high school teacher, Valencia repeatedly said this week he’ll wait for the election to be certified before publicly declaring victory. The News-Press called the race in his favor on Tuesday.

Full results

– News-Press Reporter Tom Schultz contributed to this report.

Julianna Lozada is a Santa Barbara-based reporter. She previously wrote for Southern California News Group as well as the Beverly Hills Courier and Santa Clarita Valley Proclaimer. She holds dual degrees from Sciences Po Paris and Columbia University.