Eastside Santa Barbara City Council Candidate Drops Out, Setting Up Head-to-Head Race

Out of the three Santa Barbara City Council seats up for election this November 5, the District 1 Eastside race is gearing up to be the most competitive and interesting. This week, the race just became a little tighter as one of the three candidates, Jett Black-Maertz, announced her decision to drop out and instead go for a position on Santa Barbara City College’s Board of Trustees. 

Born and raised in Santa Barbara and a longtime Eastside resident, Maertz has built a reputation as an advocate for homelessness and housing. She said it was a difficult decision to end her campaign, which she described as a “thoughtful, middle-of-the-road option” to the other two candidates — incumbent councilmember Alejandra Gutierrez and up-and-coming challenger and union organizer Wendy Santamaria.

Maertz, who works for the county as a housing program specialist, announced her intention to run earlier than either other candidates, officially filing her paperwork back in May 2024. Through her grassroots campaign, she said that she was able to earn the support of her friends and neighbors who were not considered part of the “political elite” in Santa Barbara.

“I value their support deeply, and I’m sorry to disappoint them,” Maertz said, “but it was clear I would have difficulty raising funds and mounting an effective campaign without support from the establishment as well.”

She considered it especially difficult to get prominent players in the city to publicly endorse her campaign, despite receiving support behind closed doors.

“Private support and encouragement without public statements can only carry a candidate so far,” she said. “While many high-profile people privately expressed support for me, they were reluctant to go on the record. To make change, we need leaders who will lead, not just check which way the wind is blowing.”

But there was an aspect of political pressure to her decision as well. In District 1, which is more than 43 percent Latino residents, the incumbent Gutierrez, who won the 2019 election by a slim margin of eight votes, has a large built-in contingent of supporters, despite criticism over her voting against rent control in 2021. 

After Santamaria —a newcomer and passionate advocate for tenants’ rights who built her own deep connection to Santa Barbara’s Spanish-speaking and Latino residents through community organizing — announced her bid for the seat, there began to be a push for at least one candidate to drop out to set up a head-to-head race. And since the city changed over to district elections with the intention of allowing the heavily Latino Eastside and Westside districts to have a chance to elect their own representatives to the council, Maertz felt there was “inarguable political pressure to step aside for someone who better fits the prescribed candidate profile.”

“It was a difficult decision to make, but I had begun to realize that the common factor preventing organizations or elected officials from publicly endorsing me was an aspect of myself that I simply could not change,” Maertz told the Independent. “The change to district elections was an amazing step forward for representation, but the unintended consequence is a myopic focus on electing a candidate who fits a specific demographic rather than someone who is able to call on their years of knowledge, connections, and skills to adequately represent this multifaceted and diverse community.”

While Maertz’s decision to bow out of the race makes for a more competitive race and gives the challenger Santamaria a bigger pool of undecided voters to win over, Maertz is worried that only having two polarizing options may be worse for the city in the long run.

“This leaves the voters in District 1 with a difficult choice for City Council: support the incumbent, who has been largely absent and disinterested in her role while being heavily supported by rental property owners to oppose reasonable tenants’ rights proposals,” Maertz said, “or a single-issue, out-of-towner, aspiring politician who is calling for untenable rent control.”

When asked if she would be supporting one of the two remaining candidates after stepping down, Maertz said that she could not, in good conscience, endorse either at the moment.

“Neither has demonstrated the skills, drive, or knowledge necessary to represent the district effectively,” Maertz said. “There are many unmet needs on the Eastside that must be discussed, and many voices that need to be heard. I remain committed to working with my neighbors and my community to make sure those issues are addressed.”

Maertz said she will now focus her energy on a campaign for an open seat on the Santa Barbara City College Board of Trustees, where she will look to take a role as Area 3 (downtown Santa Barbara) representative.