There are no more ballots to count, no more campaign flyers filling mailboxes, and no more candidate debates being held as the Santa Barbara County Clerk-Recorder’s Office certified the 2022 election on Dec. 7, allowing the new or returning elected officials to step into their roles.
In Santa Maria, Gloria Soto—the incumbent for the City Council’s 3rd District—won her race against Steven Funkhouser by 41 votes. She garnered 50.44 percent of the votes (1,730 total) and Funkhouser received 49.24 percent (1,689 total), according to the county’s certified results.
Certified results also showed that attorney Maribel Aguilera-Hernandez kept her lead against obstetrician-gynecologist Carol Karamitsos during the 4th District City Council race to win her election. Karamitsos had 2,668, and Aguilera-Hernandez won with 3,175 votes—she will now be the new face on the dais as Etta Waterfield retires and moves to Montana.
In Lompoc, Jenelle Osborne will continue leading as mayor after fending off a challenge from former City Councilmember Jim Mosby. She received 4,838 votes (about 53 percent) and Mosby had 4,077 (about 45 percent).
Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors candidates ran unopposed in 2022, and Laura Capps stepped into her role early as the 2nd District’s new supervisor with an approval from Gov. Gavin Newsom, since Gregg Hart had to begin his work as the new 37th District state Assembly member. Capps was sworn in on Dec. 6, and there will be an official ceremony on Jan. 10, 2023, when her four-year term begins.
“Thanks to Gov. Newsom we are not skipping a beat between Supervisor Hart’s effective service to the county and the beginning of mine,” Capps said in a statement. “I’m honored to have the opportunity to make progress on the urgent challenges our county faces, predominantly housing, poverty, drought, climate change, economic recovery, and mental and public health.”
New Assemblymember Hart has already begun working in Sacramento, representing all of Santa Barbara and parts of SLO County. Unofficial results from the secretary of state show Hart in the lead with 58 percent of the votes and challenger Mike Stoker with 42 percent.
At the federal level, U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal led with 60.6 percent of the votes (159,019 total) to represent the 24th District, which encompasses SLO, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties. His opponent, Brad Allen, had 39.4 percent of the votes (103,533), as of press time.
The secretary of state planned to certify state and federal election results on Dec. 16, after the Sun went to press.
This article appears in Dec 15-22, 2022.
