Santa Barbara Votes: 2020 General Election Results

Reporting Time: Saturday, November 7, 9:30 a.m.

President – National Results

(270 electoral votes to win)
Joseph R. Biden: 290 electoral votes; 74,488,579 (50.5%)
Donald J. Trump: 214 electoral votes; 70,337,214 (47.7%)

President – Santa Barbara County Results

Reporting: 100% (226 of 226) precincts reporting
Reporting Time: November 25, 2020, 1:56 p.m.

Joseph R. Biden: 129,963 ( 64.9%)
Donald J. Trump: 65,736 ( 32.8%)
Roque “Rocky” De La Fuente Guerra: 714 ( 0.4%)
Howie Hawkins: 939 ( 0.5%)
Jo Jorgensen: 2,416 ( 1.2%)
Gloria La Riva: 520 ( 0.3%)

President – Statewide Results

Reporting: 100% (20,497 of 20,497) precincts reporting
Reporting Time: November 27, 2020, 4:07 p.m.

Joseph R. Biden: 11,082,293 ( 63.5%)
Donald J. Trump: 5,982,194 ( 34.3%)
Roque “Rocky” De La Fuente Guerra: 59,845 ( 0.3%)
Howie Hawkins: 80,729 ( 0.5%)
Jo Jorgensen: 187,154 ( 1.1%)
Gloria La Riva: 50,823 ( 0.3%)

U.S. House of Representatives District 24 – Districtwide Results

Reporting: 100% (363 of 363) precincts reporting
Reporting Time: November 27, 2020, 4:07 p.m.

Salud Carbajal: 212,563 ( 58.7%)
Andy Caldwell: 149,780 ( 41.3%)

State Senate District 19 – Districtwide Results

Reporting: 100% (711 of 711) precincts reporting
Reporting Time: November 27, 2020, 4:07 p.m.

S. Monique Limón: 272,399 ( 64.5%)
Gary J. Michaels: 150,057 ( 35.5%)

State Assembly District 37 – Districtwide Results

Reporting: 100% (471 of 471) precincts reporting
Reporting Time: November 27, 2020, 4:07 p.m.

Steve Bennett: 165,991 ( 67.6%)
Charles W. Cole: 79,643 ( 32.4%)

Santa Barbara Unified School District

(Top three)
Laura Capps 48,499 (27.07%)
Wendy Sims-Moten 37,512 (20.94%)
Virginia Alvarez 33,263 (18.57%)
Jacqueline Reid 24,741 (13.81%)
Brian Campbell 12,868 (7.18%)
Elrawd MacLearn 11,342 (6.33%)
Monie de Witt 7,738 (4.32%)
Sebastian Antonio Fernandez-Falcon 2,534 (1.41%)

Santa Barbara City College Board of Trustees

District 2
Robert Miller 7,830 (65.54%)
Ronald Liechti 4,054 (33.93%)

District 3
Veronica Gallardo 3,619 (50.57%)
Erin Julia Guereña 3,489 (48.75%)

District 4
Anna Everett 7,577 (67.56%)
Celeste Barber 3,557 (31.71%)

Santa Barbara County Board of Education

Trustee Area #2
Peter MacDougall 12,725 (64.10%)
Cage Englander 6,954 (35.03%)

Trustee Area #3
Bruce Porter 10,785 (56.38%)
Richard “Dick” Fulton 8,234 (43.05%)

Trustee Area #4
Michelle de Werd 8,372 (46.52%)
Roberta “Bert” Heter 6,031 (33.51%)
Jim Richardson 3,475 (19.31%)

Trustee Area #6
Weldon “Joe” Howell 15,074 (67.32%)
Lou Segal 7,196 (32.14%)

Goleta Mayor

Paula Perotte 8,349 (64.16%)
Roger Aceves 4,602 (35.37%)

Goleta City Council

(Top two)
Kyle Richards 7,586 (33.38%)
Stuart Kasdin 7,034 (30.95%)
Justin Shores 3,386 (14.90%)
Blanche M. “Grace” Wallace 3,335 (14.68%)
Bruce Wallach 1,310 (5.76%)

Goleta Union School District

(Top two)
Sholeh Jahangir 12,961 (27.17%)
Vicki Ben-Yaacov 10,747 (22.53%)
Patricia “Max” Rorty 8,153 (17.09%)
Caroline Abate 7,813 (16.38%)
Greg. S. Hammel 4,830 (10.12%)
Devany Bechler 3,074 (6.44%)

Goleta Water District Board of Directors

(Top three)
Lauren Hanson 16,843 (22.31%)
Bill Rosen 15,300 (20.26%)
Farfalla Borah 15, 038 (19.92%)
Sheldon Bosio 12,847 (17.01%)
Phebe Mansur 9,000 (11.92%)
Loren Mason 6,224 (8.24%)

Montecito Sanitary District

(Top three)
Gary Fuller 1,945 (26.57%)
Don Eversoll 1,905 (26.02%)
Dorinne Lee Johnson 1,770 (24.18%)
Ed Martin 1,630 (22.27%)

Carpinteria City Council

(Top 2)
Wade Nomura 3,861 (45.81%)
Natalia Alarcon 3,484 (41.34%)
Mark McIntire 1,046 (12.41%)

Santa Ynez Union High School Board of Education

(Top 2)
José Juan Ibarra 4,419 (29.05%)
Stephen Luke 3,254 (21.39%)
Janine Robitaille-Filippin 2,583 (16.98%)
Lucy Padilla 2,515 (16.53%)
Peter Wright 2,422 (15.92%)

Solvang City Councilmember Recall 

Jim Thomas 1,851 (70.41%)
Jamie Baker 753 (28.64%)

Ballot Measures – Statewide Results

Reporting: 100.0% (20,497 of 20,497) precincts reporting
Reporting Time: November 27, 2020, 4:07 p.m.

Prop. 14: Bonds to Continue Stem Cell Research

Yes: 8,563,503 ( 51.1%)
No: 8,197,160 ( 48.9%)

Prop. 15: Property Tax to Fund Schools, Government Services

Yes: 8,189,361 ( 48.0%)
No: 8,858,280 ( 52.0%)

Prop. 16: Affirmative Action in Government Decisions

Yes: 7,199,354 ( 42.8%)
No: 9,623,177 ( 57.2%)

Prop. 17: Restores Right to Vote After Prison Term

Yes: 9,958,027 ( 58.6%)
No: 7,045,830 ( 41.4%)

Prop. 18: 17-year-old Primary Voting Rights

Yes: 7,494,834 ( 44.0%)
No: 9,546,214 ( 56.0%)

Prop. 19: Changes Certain Property Tax Rules

Yes: 8,519,815 ( 51.1%)
No: 8,152,364 ( 48.9%)

Prop. 20: Parole Restrictions for Certain Offenses

Yes: 6,365,149 ( 38.3%)
No: 10,265,086 ( 61.7%)

Prop. 21: Expands Governments’ Authority to Rent Control

Yes: 6,752,747 ( 40.2%)
No: 10,063,728 ( 59.8%)

Prop. 22: App-Based Drivers and Employee Benefits

Yes: 9,929,176 ( 58.6%)
No: 7,006,698 ( 41.4%)

Prop. 23: State Requirements for Kidney Dialysis Clinics

Yes: 6,141,692 ( 36.6%)
No: 10,653,918 ( 63.4%)

Prop. 24: Amends Consumer Privacy Laws

Yes: 9,356,086 ( 56.2%)
No: 7,284,492 ( 43.8%)

Prop. 25: Eliminates Money Bail System

Yes: 7,211,692 ( 43.6%)
No: 9,327,207 ( 56.4%)

Local Measures

Measure L: Cold Spring School Improvements
Yes: 683 (52.18%)
No: 626 (47.82%)

Measure M: Goleta School Improvements
Yes: 20,589 (71.45%)
No: 8,228 (28.55%)

Measure O: Four-Year Term for Goleta Mayor
Yes: 7,166 (53.65%)
No: 6,192 (46.35%)

Measure P: Solvang City Councilmember Recall
Yes 2,372 (86.95%)
No 356 (13.05%)

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[Update, 9:40 p.m.]

A quick interview with Congressional candidate Charles Cole at Patxi’s Pizza ― 

You’re trailing pretty far behind right now. How are you feeling? I’m thinking that we just have to see what the in-person vote does. I have a large amount of faith in that.

Is there anything you’d like to say to voters tonight? I would like to thank all of my supporters and also all of the people who don’t support me because they are just as important to this area as the people that do. We’re all together in a group at this point.
If you were elected, what would people expect to see first from you? I would vote no on tax and spend policies, vote no on overregulating businesses, and vote no on marxist indoctrination in schools.

[Update, 9:52 p.m.]

With nine of 14 precincts tallied and the early ballots counted, too, Goleta’s political make up seemed to remain intact Tuesday night, with Mayor Paula Perotte ahead with 65 percent of the vote and Councilmembers Kyle Richards and Stuart Kasdin comfortably in the lead, each having more than 30 percent of the vote over their three challengers.

On the phone that night around 9 p.m., Kasdin said he wasn’t ready to pop any champagne corks as he watched the national results. The results were uncomfortably reminiscent of 2016, he said, with Donald Trump sweeping early results for the presidency. “Coronavirus is the most immediate challenge,” he foresaw for the country and Goleta, because cases are spiking and the economic aftermath is continuing. For the council race, “I’m grateful for the confidence people had in me,” Kasdin said of his standing in the race. “It reflects the interests and desires of the people of Goleta, and I want them to know my email box is open, I want them to contact me and be involved.”

Paula Perotte was cheerfully content that the returns “look good” but she cautioned that it was important to make sure every vote is counted. “And the four-year measure [for mayor] looks good, too,” she added. “It looks like Goleta is stuck with me for four more years,” she said, laughing.

She was pleased that Kyle Richards and Stuart Kasdin were being re-elected as well. “That means people realize we are moving in the right direction,” she said, “making some good changes in Goleta. That means so much to me.”

The incumbents maintained their leads between the first tally at 8 p.m. and the one an hour later, with slightly more votes coming in this presidential year as in the previous elections for the two sets of offices.

[Update, 10:10 p.m.]

State Assembly candidate Steve Bennett, who currently leads by a healthy margain: “It feels so great. I really appreciate the support of voters in Santa Barbara County and I am genuinely looking forward to Sacramento and all of the issues. I am excited and stimulated to try to come up with ways to do good government. I want to create ways to store clean energy as my first move when I get to Sacramento. Also, growing income inequality is really destructive for our society and so that’s a combination of housing, healthcare, and education that are part and parcel.”

[Update, 10:15 p.m.]

Laura Capps: “I’m really heartened. It’s a big district and this was a lot of support. I just take so seriously the job of listening and being the voice of our community. As a mom and as an alumni, I have been at the helm when challengers couldn’t have been any harder. It is a privilege. … It means so much to me to be doing this job when we are trying to get kids back into schools.”

[Update, 10:25 p.m.]

Virginia Alvarez: “I feel very good. I’m so proud of our campaign. I’m so proud of the work that we did. We ran a really positive campaign and focused on the students. I’m so grateful for the people that supported me and believed in me. … I can’t hardly wait to get to work.”

Vicki Ben-Yacov: “I’m feeling encouraged. It’s hard for me to be totally sure with all the votes not in yet. I want to thank everybody who is supporting me and those who have helped me raise money. ”

“The first thing I want to focus on if elected is the pandemic. I think everyone wants a solution to opening. How do we do this safely? I am actually working on a few things on the side to create a Covid relief fund…. I want to check with the public health department on how to increase testing and keep it in the budget.”

Sholeh Jahangir: “I am super honored for the strong, early showing. I think it is indicative of the confidence they have in my leadership. I will continue to advocate strongly for education. I am really looking forward to the final results and democracy and people truly believe in public education.”

[Update, 10:40 p.m.]

The Independent caught up with Kyle Richards after the Democratic Party’s online rally to cheer on the local results, chiefly the win so far for Salud Carbajal, Monique Limon, Steve Bennett, and school board members for their respective seats, he said.

Of the Goleta race, Richards called himself “hopeful” that it was going his way Tuesday night. He’s the top vote getter for council with about 7,400 of the 22,000 votes cast so far. Richards was both buoyant with the apparent win and also serious with concern over the financial crisis the pandemic was causing for the city.

As Perotte had indicated, Richards felt the cooperation among the councilmembers would help them get through the challenges presented by COVID. In addition, he intended to keep as a priority “all the things our residents like and depend on,” like library services and the community center. The conversation turned lighter with talk about campaigning this season and the size of yard signs. Richards had decided against them and it didn’t deter voters: “I guess this signals something,” he said with an audible smile in his voice.

[Update, 10:55 p.m.]

Wendy Sims-Moten: “I’m excited and proud that so many in our community have clearly placed equity, fiscal responsibility, and early learning opportunities as essential needs for our public schools. Four years ago I took the oath of office to work hard for our students and am committed and resolved to building on our successes to work on behalf of our community, students, and future leaders. I look forward to continuing the much-needed work in public education to ensure that all of our children get the education they need and deserve to be the absolute best they can be. My immediate priorities are to safely reopen our schools for in-person instruction, work to address the equity gap, and improve opportunities for all of our students.”

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For complete election results from the Santa Barbara County Elections Office, click here.