Determining who will take the Buellton City Council’s vacant 4th District seat rests on the results of the August vote-by-mail special election.
While those results are set to be certified by Sept. 12, the city’s semi-official reports show candidate Carla Mead in the lead with 60 percent of the votes.
According to an Aug. 29 update from the city, about 440 ballots were cast from residents—out of 870 registered voters—of Buellton’s 4th District, where Mead and fellow City Council candidate and former mayor Dave King reside.
The Sun reached out to both candidates for comment on the semi-official results but didn’t receive responses before press time.
While King had been on the council on and off for the past decade, Mead’s campaign to represent Buellton’s 4th District marks her first foray into politics, she told the Sun in July.
“I would never pretend that I’ve done this before,” said Mead, a former middle school teacher and current board chair of the Santa Ynez Valley Humane Society.
One of her election platforms was about economic growth, with a focus on attracting new restaurants, shops, and other businesses to Buellton, especially in the city’s Avenue of Flags area.
The Santa Barbara County Democratic Party, Democratic Women of Santa Barbara County, county 3rd District Supervisor Joan Hartmann, and former Buellton mayor Victoria Pointer were among those who endorsed Mead, according to the candidate’s website.
Current Buellton Mayor David Silva also endorsed Mead, who he expressed support for when the council initially considered appointing someone to take the 4th District seat rather than hold a special election in August—which staff warned the council would cost at least $35,000.
The vacant seat belonged to Silva, a former council member, before he won the 2024 race for mayor against former mayor King. In early 2025, the four-person council was split between appointing Mead and King to represent the 4th District.
Of the two, Mead was the only candidate to formally apply for the role with a letter of intent, which the city directed those interested in the role to do.
“I still maintain that King, … is the best and most qualified candidate for this position,” 1st District Councilmember Hudson Hornick said in January. “I am unwilling to appoint somebody else aside from King, … absent an election.”
Hornick said that his stance was based on the “1,200 people [who] voted for him” during the 2024 mayoral election.
“I’m also keenly aware that those 1,200 people did not all come from District 4, but still, it’s a significant number of people,” he said. “I would like to honor them.”
According to the city’s semi-official 4th District election results, King received about 170 votes from the pool of 450 ballots.
This article appears in Sep 4 – Sep 14, 2025.