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City of Santa Barbara · Statewide General Election

Santa Barbara City Council, District 6

This is one contest. Enter your address to see every race on your November ballot, and keep track of your picks.

On the ballot

This person would represent one of Santa Barbara's six council districts on the City Council: the budget, land use, and ordinances for this Santa Barbara County city of about 88,700 residents. A 4-year term. The Mayor is elected separately, citywide, rather than chosen by the Council from among its own members.

Four candidates are running for Santa Barbara City Council, District 6 (Downtown): Jason Carlton, Gabe Escobedo, Anabella Lehne, and Alexander Stoeber. Vote for one -- no primary, no runoff.

District 6'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, Meagan Harmon, is not running for re-election; local reporting confirms she is instead endorsing one of this race's candidates, Gabe Escobedo, for her own seat, though this pass found no stated reason for her own decision not to run.

Local reporting names Escobedo the leading Democratic candidate and Stoeber, running as an independent, his top challenger; Lehne and Carlton round out the field. The clearest policy contrast is over housing: Escobedo emphasizes affordable-housing programs and preserving public space, while Stoeber and Lehne both frame their platforms around increasing housing supply through zoning and looser development rules rather than added regulation.

Gabe Escobedo

Gabe Escobedo is a former school district board president and former Planning Commission chair, described in local coverage as "a fixture in local politics." He campaigns on affordable housing, support for small businesses, and preserving public spaces, and is endorsed by the Santa Barbara County Democratic Party and by outgoing District 6 Councilmember Meagan Harmon.

Strengths

The most extensive local-government record in this field -- an elected school-board presidency and an appointed Planning Commission chairmanship -- plus the sitting Councilmember's own endorsement.

Trade-offs

The incumbent's endorsement, while a strong signal of institutional continuity, is not itself independent evidence of his specific policy positions beyond what he states himself.

Keep in mind

Local reporting names him the leading Democratic candidate in a field that also includes an independent (Stoeber) framed as his top challenger -- worth knowing this is described as a genuinely competitive two-candidate dynamic within a four-candidate field.

Alexander Stoeber

Alexander Stoeber is a real estate advisor running as an independent, described in local coverage as Escobedo's top challenger. He wants to increase housing supply through changes to zoning and development standards, and is skeptical that rent stabilization is an effective tool for affordability.

Strengths

Professional real-estate background directly relevant to the zoning and development-standards changes he's proposing, and local reporting naming him the clearest alternative to Escobedo.

Trade-offs

No prior appointed or elected city role is documented for him beyond his professional background.

Keep in mind

His real-estate advisory work is also the industry his proposed zoning and development changes would most directly affect -- worth noting, not disqualifying, alongside his stated positions.

Anabella Lehne

Anabella Lehne is a notary public and former escrow assistant for Fidelity National Title. She campaigns on making housing construction easier rather than adding new regulations.

Strengths

Professional background in real-estate-adjacent administrative work (escrow, notary services), giving her some transactional familiarity with the housing-development process she's campaigning on.

Trade-offs

No prior appointed or elected city role is documented for her; her platform statement found this pass is brief relative to Escobedo's or Stoeber's.

Keep in mind

Her position (ease construction, avoid new regulation) is broadly aligned with Stoeber's rather than Escobedo's on this seat's central housing debate.

Jason Carlton

Jason Carlton is a union member and president of Carlton Electrical Construction. He campaigns on ensuring the needs of "residents, businesses, and workers are supported by our city."

Strengths

A business-owner and union-member background that spans both the labor and small-business constituencies his platform names directly.

Trade-offs

No prior appointed or elected city role is documented for him; this pass found no source detailing specific policy positions beyond his general platform statement.

Keep in mind

Of the four District 6 candidates, this pass found the least independent coverage of him beyond his inclusion in the Independent's roundup -- a real, if modest, sourcing gap next to Escobedo and Stoeber specifically.

Source review: Mixed (77/100) · 8 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with several source types checked for context.

  • santabarbaraca.gov (opens in a new tab)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
  • santabarbaraca.gov (opens in a new tab)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
  • santabarbaraca.gov (opens in a new tab)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
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)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
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)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
  • netfile.com (opens in a new tab)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
  • cal-access.sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)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
  • independent.com (opens in a new tab)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

Last updated September 1, 2026.