Editor’s note: This online version of the Santa Maria City Council races story was updated to reflect the most recent election results, which were released on Nov. 15.
Incumbent Gloria Soto squeaked by challenger Steven Funkhouser in Santa Maria City Council’s 3rd District race, according to the Nov. 15 vote count update.
Until then, Funkhouser was ahead of Soto by 65 votes.
According to updated election results, Soto received 1,614 votes (50.2 percent) and Funkhouser had 1,589 (49.5 percent). Funkhouser only needs 25 votes to tie with Soto, and the county still had 12,330 ballots to process, according to the Santa Barbara County Clerk-Recorder’s Office. The county has until Dec. 8 to complete the count and certify the election.
Funkhouser told the Sun in earlier reporting that he would be monitoring the results like everyone else, but didn’t respond to the Sun’s inquiry about the update. Soto said that her lead feels like a “vindication” and she will remain cautiously optimistic until the final results are released.
During the 3rd District campaign, doctored photos showed up on mailers displaying negative, misleading images about Soto and her policies. According to previous Sun reporting, Funkhouser’s campaign committee spent $12,000 in campaign consultants, literature, and mailings with $5,000 going to the Cannon Research group—a Missouri-based consulting group that worked on U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz’s 2016 campaign in Texas.
In total, Funkhouser received more than $51,000 in contributions, and Soto received more than $82,000.
The gap widened in the 4th District with attorney Maribel Aguilera-Hernandez receiving 53.85 percent of the votes and obstetrician-gynecologist Carol Karamitsos with 45.45 percent. Prior to the update, less than 100 votes separated the two candidates, but that increased to 463.
“Whether it’s me or [Karamitsos], the council dynamics will change because it’s still a new person,” Aguilera-Hernandez told the Sun on Nov. 14. “I do hope that the council dynamics are positive and we can move the city forward [by] coming up with creative solutions.
Both candidates stepped up when current Councilmember Etta Waterfield decided to retire and move to Montana with her family, according to previous Sun reporting.
Karamitsos experienced her own confusion tracking election results, initially believing that she had lost the election to her opponent. She reached out and congratulated Aguilera-Hernandez and created a news release about her “loss” in the race, she said.
“I had misunderstood, this being my first election that was with the district. All the mail-in ballots will get certified tomorrow, so we will find out tomorrow [Nov. 15],” she said. “I don’t have the capacity to concede because the election hasn’t been certified.”
Karamitsos said she will honor the results, congratulate her opponent, and continue participation in politics as a resident in the community.
“I think it’s important that we as citizens actively engage with our representatives to make sure what our priorities are and what are the things that are important to us in the community,” she said. “I’m looking forward either to participating as a council member with that leadership, or participating as a citizen in helping to lend support to the council and the mayor about what are the needs of our community and what we want to see.”
This article appears in Nov 17-24, 2022.
