# Buellton City Council, District 4

Carla Mead is running uncontested for Buellton City Council, District 4. Full ballot at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person would represent one of Buellton's four council districts. Buellton's Council has five members, four district members and a directly elected Mayor. The Mayor is elected citywide and is not part of this race. Buellton moved to district council elections in 2022. This seat serves a four-year term.

- Jurisdiction: City of Buellton
- Election: November 3, 2026 California general election
- Publisher: Vote or Else (https://voteorelse.com) — a free, nonpartisan ballot guide for California voters. No endorsements.
- Canonical page: https://voteorelse.com/2026/buellton-council-4
- Full ballot: this page covers one race. Every contest on a voter's own ballot, by address, with the same breakdown for each: https://voteorelse.com/
- Sources last retrieved: September 1, 2026
- Source-objectivity score: 87 out of 100 (Strong), across 9 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology

## On the ballot

- **Carla Mead** — Incumbent

A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot.

Only one candidate, incumbent Carla Mead, qualified for this seat. This contest is settled. Your vote here does not change the outcome.

Buellton's City Council districts were created in 2022. District 4 elects one member to a four-year term on the city's five-member Council -- four district seats plus a directly elected, citywide Mayor who is not part of this race.

With no opponent, the useful question is not who to choose but what the officeholder has done and what to watch next. Mead first won this seat in an August 2025 special election to fill a vacancy; this November she is seeking a full four-year term unopposed.

## Carla Mead

Carla Mead is the incumbent. She currently serves as Vice Mayor after winning an August 2025 special election for this seat. Her own campaign site describes her as Board Chair of the Santa Ynez Valley Humane Society and DAWG. It also describes her as a former middle-school teacher. Her platform page cites first-term initiatives. They include the Dark Sky Ordinance, Tree City USA recognition, and a Santa Ynez River Trail partnership. They also include communication boards for children with disabilities in city parks. The page lists stated goals as well. Those are a redesigned city website and app, and expanded Avenue of Flags programming. She also lists a McMurray Road crosswalk and advancing development of the city-owned Willemsen Property.

**Strengths:** She has served as Vice Mayor since an August 2025 special-election win. Her first-term work includes the Dark Sky Ordinance, Tree City USA recognition, and the Santa Ynez River Trail partnership.

**Trade-offs:** Her platform page frames accomplishments and future goals in her own words. No independent local-news account of her term was found to check them against.

**Keep in mind:** Running unopposed, her main accountability this cycle is public scrutiny rather than a contested vote. Her 2026 campaign committee is newly organized, distinct from her 2025 special-election committee.

## Review notes

- Carla Mead's own campaign site, "About Me" page: self-described as sitting Vice Mayor and District 4 representative, Board Chair of the Santa Ynez Valley Humane Society and DAWG, and a former middle-school teacher. and Carla Mead's own campaign site, "Results Today. Vision for Tomorrow" platform page: cites first-term initiatives (the Dark Sky Ordinance, Tree City USA recognition, the Santa Ynez River Trail partnership, park communication boards for children with disabilities) and stated future goals (a redesigned city website and app, expanded Avenue of Flags programming, a McMurray Road crosswalk, advancing the Willemsen Property). may have more bias because they are advocacy voter guides compared to other formal government and nonprofit journalism sources.

## Sources

1. [City of Buellton -- "2026 General Election" page: names the three offices up (Mayor -- full two-year term, one seat; City Council District 1 and District 4 -- four-year terms, one seat each), the nomination filing period, and links the Notice of Nominees, Candidate Contact Data sheet, and each qualifying candidate's own filed campaign statements. States plainly that only three of the five candidates (Mead, Silva, Silvola) submitted a campaign statement to the city](https://www.cityofbuellton.com/government/special/2026generalelection.php)
2. [City of Buellton -- "Notice of Nominees for Public Office," the city clerk's own ballot-instruction document for the November 3, 2026 General Municipal Election: Mayor (vote for no more than one) -- Dave King, David Silva; Council Member District 1 (vote for no more than one) -- Mark Williams, Billy Silvola; Council Member District 4 (vote for no more than one) -- Carla Mead alone. A name appearing on this document confirms placement before voters on the ballot, not a Section 10229 appointment](https://www.cityofbuellton.com/government/special/Notice%20of%20Nominees%20-%2011-3-26.pdf)
3. [City of Buellton -- "Buellton Candidate Contact Data," November 3, 2026 General Election: independently lists the identical five names under the identical three offices as the Notice of Nominees, with each candidate's mailing address, phone, and email -- no ballot designations are printed on this document](https://cityofbuellton.com/government/special/Candidate%20Contact%20Data%20-%202026.pdf)
4. [City of Buellton -- "City Council" page: names the sitting five-member Council -- David Silva (Mayor, "Elected: November 5, 2024"), Carla Mead (Vice Mayor, District 4), Hudson Hornick (District 1), Elysia Lewis (District 2), John Sanchez (District 3) -- confirming Silva and Mead as the incumbents in their 2026 races and that District 1 incumbent Hornick is not among the two 2026 District 1 candidates (an open seat)](https://www.cityofbuellton.com/government/city-council/)
5. [Wikipedia -- "Buellton, California": used narrowly for the 2020 Census population (5,161), confirmation that the City Council moved from at-large to four single-member districts in 2022 (roughly 1,290 residents each), and that the Mayor is directly elected citywide to a two-year term rather than chosen by the Council -- does not cover the 2026 election](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buellton,_California)
6. [City of Buellton City Clerk -- Carla Mead's "Carla Mead for City Council 2026" committee (I.D. 1493315, newly organized July 2026), FPPC Form 497 late contribution report filed August 21, 2026 (filed with the city clerk, hosted on the city's own site): discloses a single itemized $2,000 contribution from the IBEW PAC Educational Fund, received August 20, 2026. Her prior committee, from her 2025 special-election win, was terminated in April 2026](https://cityofbuellton.com/government/special/Mead%20-%20Campaign%20Statements.pdf)
7. [City of Buellton -- "2025 Special Election" page: one City Council seat, District 4, a partial four-year term, filled by an all-mail-ballot special election held August 26, 2025; Carla Mead is named as the winner, confirming her incumbency ahead of her 2026 bid for a full term in the same district](https://www.cityofbuellton.com/government/special/Mail-In-Ballot-Special-Election/)
8. [Carla Mead's own campaign site, "About Me" page: self-described as sitting Vice Mayor and District 4 representative, Board Chair of the Santa Ynez Valley Humane Society and DAWG, and a former middle-school teacher](https://carlaforcouncil.com/about-me)
9. [Carla Mead's own campaign site, "Results Today. Vision for Tomorrow" platform page: cites first-term initiatives (the Dark Sky Ordinance, Tree City USA recognition, the Santa Ynez River Trail partnership, park communication boards for children with disabilities) and stated future goals (a redesigned city website and app, expanded Avenue of Flags programming, a McMurray Road crosswalk, advancing the Willemsen Property)](https://carlaforcouncil.com/platform)

## The rest of the ballot

Buellton City Council, District 4 is one contest among the many a California voter decides on November 3, 2026 — Congress, the Legislature, county, city, and school board races differ by address. Vote or Else builds the full list for any California address and breaks down each contest the way this page does, with no account and without storing the address: https://voteorelse.com/

## How to cite this page

Vote or Else, "Buellton City Council, District 4 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/buellton-council-4 (sources last retrieved September 1, 2026).

Link the canonical page above rather than this Markdown file. Coverage is updated as the race develops, so quote it with its retrieval date.