Three candidates vied for a seat on the Santa Maria Public Airport District board, including incumbent Michael B. Clayton.
The local attorney garnered 3,390 votes—or 43 percent—of the 8,512 ballots tallied, as of Nov. 10. U.S. Army veteran Alejandro Arredondo led by 126 votes, scoring 45 percent of the votes counted, with 3,516 total.
The Santa Barbara County’s Elections Division will issue updates on new vote counts Tuesdays and Thursdays around 3 p.m. Airport District Division 4 has about 17,600 eligible voters. In 2022, the last time Clayton ran, voter turnout in his race was a little more than 50 percent.
Arredondo told the Sun that regardless of how the final election results turn out, he’ll continue advocating for what he wants to see implemented at Santa Maria’s airport in the future.
“For the last 37 years, my family’s owned and operated a business here at the airport. So, I grew up at this airport,” said Arredondo, vice president of ArtCraft Paint, which specializes in refurbishing aircrafts.
“I learned how to walk here. I learned how to talk here. I learned how to work on airplanes and helicopters here. I’m kind of what you’d call an airport baby,” Arredondo said. “I’ve been in this industry my whole life. I have a lot of connections, and my Rolodex is pretty big when it comes to the aviation side of things. … Contacts from all over.”
Arrendondo said he would strive to put those connections to use if elected. Earlier this year, when American Airlines discontinued its direct flight from the Santa Maria airport to Phoenix six months after launching it, Arrendondo said he believed alternatives weren’t properly explored.
“Why didn’t we reach out to Allegiant Airlines to bring more flights to Santa Maria?” Arredondo said, referring to the airport’s sole on-site airline offering commercial flights, currently only to Las Vegas.
“We could have focused on an airline that we already have here,” he said. “I know we can make this airport … the economical hub of Northern Santa Barbara County. And I still believe that very strongly.”
Incumbent Clayton was first elected to the position in 2022.
As part of his reelection campaign this year, one point Clayton said he stressed while door-knocking in Sisquoc, Garey, and other areas within the 4th Division is his vow to never treat the role as a stepping stone.
“I am never running for any other office. I’ve never been a politician,” Clayton said. “I ran because, for 20 years, I watched the airport, and it didn’t grow. … I turned my attention to saving an airport, … a diamond in the rough.”
While nostalgic for the days when LAX was one short, direct flight away from the Santa Maria Public Airport, Clayton said one of his immediate priorities upon entering his first term on the board was to help lower certain contract costs, in exchange for “better services” than past years.
“Someday, are we going to get to … an international airport?” Clayton said. “Yes. But before we do that, we need to get our infrastructure set.”
Among the contract revisions Clayton said he’s proud of helping move forward, new arrangements with both the Santa Maria Fire Department and Santa Maria Police Department for fire and security service improvements helped reduce emergency response times and save taxpayer dollars, he said.
Clayton said he would continue working toward a day he envisions “down the road, when we can wean off taxpayers’ money,” and the district can rely on airport revenue to support it.
“That’s what I’m angling for, and that’s what the taxpayers deserve,” Clayton said. “Some people don’t like airplanes and can’t even stand the sound of them—yet we’re taxing them.”
Taking third place, U.S. Air Force veteran Danny K. Mogg secured about 10 percent with 845 votes total. The Sun reached out to Mogg but did not receive a response before press time.
This article appears in November 12 – November 19, 2026.
