The Blue Wave Hits the United States—and Santa Barbara
By Iris Heckes
Some elections have been called, but many votes are still being counted. These numbers are accurate as of 1:12 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 4. View Santa Barbara County election results here.
Instagram and news outlets have been flooded by the blue wave, with Democrats parading success and Republicans, including the president, posting statements such as “PSA: Trump is still your president.”
The midterm election results are still coming in: locally in Santa Barbara, statewide and nationally.
The voting process started officially on Oct. 5 in California and concluded at 8:00 p.m. as polls closed on Nov. 3. In Santa Barbara County, 89,542 of 249,802 registered voters’ ballots had been processed as of Wednesday, with more still being counted.
Democratic Governor-elect Xavier Becerra is winning with an overwhelming 4,982,430 votes statewide, against Republican candidate and Trump-endorsed Steve Hilton. Becerra will soon replace Gavin Newsom, with Santa Barbara County accounting for 58,175 of the 4.9 million votes this morning. With 59% of the vote in, Becerra leads with 64%.
The Lieutenant Governor-elect, Democrat Fiona Ma, beat Republican Gloria Romero with 63.8% of the votes, according to NBC News.
Secretary of State re-elected incumbent Democrat, Shirley N. Weber, winning the election against Donald P. (Don) Wagner with an unsurprising 64.7% majority statewide, with Santa Barbara supporting Weber with 66.56% of the votes. She is California’s chief elections officer.
Close California election results include the new insurance commissioner. Jane Kim narrowly leads against Ben Allen, both democratic candidates. Their race has not been called yet.
Congressman Salud Carbajal and State Assembly member Gregg Hart, both incumbents, won reelection with 66% and 67% of the vote respectively.
The Santa Barbara County Democratic Party, Democratic Women of Santa Barbara, and Santa Barbara Young Democrats co-hosted an election watch party at Validation Ale in the Funk zone. After years of tensions between the groups, they are beginning to work together more. “Our work is cut out for us,” said Carbajal at the event after the result. “Winning is just the first step.”
The new mayor of Santa Barbara is undetermined, with Councilmember Eric Friedman leading by just a few hundred votes over the Democratic Party-endorsed Councilmember Kristen Sneddon. “With the Mayor's race not yet determined, I am celebrating the direction Santa Barbara is heading with the Council seats, and the future is bright,” Sneddon said in a statement on Instagram. Out of 22,069 Santa Barbara City voters, Friedman leads with 9,475 votes to Sneddon’s 9,101. The remainder of the votes were distributed between Wendy Sims-Moten and Matt Kilrain.
With many close races, the 5th District seat on the County Board of Supervisors is still yet to be called. Progressive Democrat Ricardo Valencia and Republican Maribel Aguilera are neck-and-neck, taking 3,567 and 3,291 votes respectively.
In District 4 of Santa Barbara, Devon Wardlow, as the democratic endorsed Councilmember elect, has won 2,614 votes out of 5,613. She defeated Monte Wilson, Genevieve Taft-Vasquez, and Jason Dominguez with 46.6% of the vote.
It was no surprise that Ian Baucke took the win for District 5. The Councilmember-elect had 2,532 votes, leaving Cevin Cathell and James Zurlinden with the other 1,507 votes. His win took 62% of the vote.
In District 6, Gabe Escobedo beat candidates Alexander Stoeber, Jason Carlton, and Anabella Lehne with 68.3% of the vote.
Two of Santa Barbara City College’s board seats changed hands. Student Dominique Lujan won with 75.2% of the vote in Trustee Area 5. Although the race in Area 7 is also not called, Andrea Varon leads with 48%.
For Santa Barbara Unified School District, new leadership is on the way. Nonprofit CEO and school-mom Valerie Amparan decisively beat incumbent Rose Muñoz with 43.58% of the vote; 1,548 people. Democratic Party-endorsed Jacqueline Inda Karlsen beat out business-minded Mark Philibosian with 63% of the vote.
With President Donald Trump being the most unpopular president during his term, with 26% of Americans supporting and 41% opposing his administration, America has stepped up and put its foot down in more states than California.
Pivotal Senate election results took place in Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Maine, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas. The Democratic Party flipped seven Senate seats and has at least a 54-seat majority. In Texas, the Democratic roster won—James Talarico for Senate, and the offices of Attorney General, Governor, and Lieutenant Governor.
The House of Representatives also faces major changes, with all 435 seats up for election. Democrats clearly took the majority of the House. The New York Times projects 247 democratic house seats. A majority is 218. The House is also expecting upwards of 100 Democratic women to hold office, making history in the states.
Finally, the races for Governors of states leave the U.S. with five Democratic gubernatorial flips.
More to come on candidate deep dives and proposition uncoverings at unmutedyouth.news. Unmuted has featured the midterm race for Santa Barbara’s Mayor, School Board, District 4, 5, and 6.
