# Santa Barbara City Council, District 5 Compare records and positions simply between Cevin Cathell, James G. Zurlinden, or Ian J. Baucke for Santa Barbara City Council, District 5 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person would represent one of Santa Barbara's six council districts. They vote on the budget, land use, and ordinances. Santa Barbara is a Santa Barbara County city of about 88,700 residents. The term is four years. The Mayor is elected separately, citywide. The council does not choose the Mayor from among its own members. - Jurisdiction: City of Santa Barbara - 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/santa-barbara-council-5 - 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: 77 out of 100 (Mixed), across 8 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Cevin Cathell** — Film Producer - **James G. Zurlinden** — Finance Professional - **Ian J. Baucke** — Legislative District Representative A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. Three candidates are running for Santa Barbara City Council, District 5 (Upper State Street, La Cumbre, and San Roque): Ian J. Baucke, Cevin Cathell, and James G. Zurlinden. Vote for one -- no primary, no runoff. District 5's seat is one of six district Council seats on Santa Barbara's council-manager government -- the budget, land use, and city ordinances for this Santa Barbara County city of about 88,700 residents -- alongside a separately, citywide-elected Mayor. It's a 4-year term. The seat is open because its sitting Councilmember, Eric Friedman, is running for Mayor instead of re-election, on the same ballot as this race. All three candidates are political newcomers to elected city office, though Baucke has direct government experience through their current job. Local reporting names them the field's leading candidate. Baucke and Zurlinden both back housing-affordability measures, while Cathell is more skeptical of rent stabilization specifically; on reopening State Street to cars, Zurlinden and Cathell are each open to it in some form, while this pass found no equivalent statement from Baucke. ## Ian J. Baucke Ian J. Baucke, 27, is a district representative for State Senator Monique Limón and the son of longtime Planning Commissioner John Baucke. Local reporting describes them chairing a Transportation and Circulation Committee. They are endorsed by the Santa Barbara County Democratic Party and campaign on housing affordability, and are described in local coverage as the leading candidate in this race. **Strengths:** Direct current experience working inside state government (as a State Senate district representative), a party endorsement, and local reporting naming them the front-runner. **Trade-offs:** At 27, they would be among the youngest members of the Council; this pass found no independent account of prior elected or appointed city office for them specifically, beyond their committee role. **Keep in mind:** Their father's own long tenure on the city's Planning Commission is a notable family connection to city land-use policy -- worth knowing, not disqualifying, when weighing their own independent record. ## James G. Zurlinden James G. Zurlinden is a political newcomer, a former chef now working in finance. He says he wants to represent voters who "feel like they don't have a voice," and supports both reopening State Street to traffic and a rent-stabilization measure for struggling families. **Strengths:** A platform that crosses the usual dividing lines on this Council's two signature issues (supporting both State Street reopening and rent stabilization), rather than aligning fully with either camp. **Trade-offs:** No prior appointed or elected city role, or civic-board service, is documented for him beyond his stated platform. **Keep in mind:** His career shift from chef to finance is mentioned in local coverage without further detail on how it shapes his specific budget or policy views. ## Cevin Cathell Margaret "Cevin" Cathell is a political newcomer, a film producer and longtime local volunteer. She says she is concerned about polarization on the Council, is skeptical of rent stabilization, and is open to experimentally reintroducing some vehicle traffic to State Street. **Strengths:** A stated focus on reducing Council polarization itself, distinct from either opponent's issue-specific framing, plus a described history of local volunteer work. **Trade-offs:** No prior appointed or elected city role is documented for her; "longtime local volunteer" is not itemized to a specific organization or role in the source found this pass. **Keep in mind:** Her openness to an experimental State Street traffic pilot is a more cautious position than Zurlinden's fuller support for reopening -- a distinction worth noting for voters focused specifically on that issue. ## Sources 1. [City of Santa Barbara City Clerk -- "Final List of Candidates," City of Santa Barbara, November 3, 2026 Election (dated August 17, 2026, the certified post-nomination-period roster): lists Mayoral (Eric Friedman, Matt Kilrain, Wendy Sims-Moten, Kristen Sneddon), District 4 (Jason Dominguez, Genevieve Taft-Vazquez, Devon Wardlow, Monte Wilson), District 5 (Ian J. Baucke, Cevin Cathell, James G. Zurlinden), and District 6 (Jason Carlton, Gabe Escobedo, Anabella Lehne, Alexander Stoeber) -- 4 contests, 15 candidates](https://santabarbaraca.gov/sites/default/files/2026-08/Candidate%20Contact%20Info%20-%20PUBLIC_1.pdf) 2. [City of Santa Barbara -- "Elections" (City Clerk's Office): states the Council approved a resolution calling the general municipal election to fill District 4, District 5, District 6, and Mayor; gives the July 13-August 7, 2026 nomination period and links both the Final List of Candidates and the city's NetFile Public Access Portal for campaign-finance disclosure](https://santabarbaraca.gov/government/city-hall/elections) 3. [City of Santa Barbara -- "Mayor & City Council": current-roster page naming Randy Rowse as Mayor and Wendy Santamaria (D1), Mike Jordan (D2), Oscar Gutierrez (D3), Kristen Sneddon (D4), Eric Friedman (D5), and Meagan Harmon (D6) as sitting Councilmembers -- confirms Sneddon and Friedman are each their district's incumbent, now running for Mayor instead of re-election, and that Harmon is not on this ballot; also states Councilmembers represent a district while the Mayor represents the entire city](https://santabarbaraca.gov/government/mayor-city-council) 4. [Wikipedia -- "Santa Barbara, California": used narrowly for the 2020 Census population (88,665) and the council-manager government type; does not cover the 2026 election](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Barbara,_California) 5. [Wikipedia -- "Mayor of Santa Barbara, California": gives a 4-year term and documents an existing four-consecutive-term limit (citing a court ruling that forced former Mayor Hal Conklin to step down mid-term for exceeding it); used narrowly for term length and the existence of a term limit, not for any 2026 candidate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayor_of_Santa_Barbara,_California) 6. [City of Santa Barbara's NetFile-hosted Public Access Portal for campaign-finance disclosure (public.netfile.com/pub2/?AID=csb, redirecting to netfile.com/public/csb/campaign): a client-rendered single-page app -- no filer data loaded via WebFetch this session, and no live-browser workaround was available (the shared Chrome extension was disconnected all session) -- a documented access gap, not a finding about any candidate's actual fundraising](https://netfile.com/public/csb/campaign) 7. [California Secretary of State CAL-ACCESS -- filer searches attempted for multiple 2026 Santa Barbara Mayor/Council candidates returned only an empty response each time this session, consistent with the Incapsula bot-blocking this dataset has repeatedly hit on this site -- a documented access gap, not a finding of no filer](https://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Misc/filerSearch.aspx?SEARCH=Eric%20Friedman) 8. [Santa Barbara Independent -- "Ready to Race: Who's Running for Santa Barbara City Council and Mayor" (Ryan P. Cruz, Aug. 11, 2026): comprehensive profile roundup of the Mayoral and District 4/5/6 fields, including two mayoral names (Mark Redmond, Michael Stilwell) later absent from the city's Aug. 17 certified Final List and therefore not built as options here](https://www.independent.com/2026/08/11/ready-to-race-whos-running-for-santa-barbara-city-council-and-mayor/) ## The rest of the ballot Santa Barbara City Council, District 5 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, "Santa Barbara City Council, District 5 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/santa-barbara-council-5 (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.