# Mayor of Santa Barbara Compare records and positions simply between Matt Kilrain, Kristen Sneddon, Wendy Sims-Moten, or Eric Friedman for Mayor of Santa Barbara at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person would be Mayor of Santa Barbara. Voters elect the Mayor directly, separate from the council seats. The Mayor leads a 6-member council elected by district. The council sets the budget, land use, and city laws. The city has about 88,700 residents in Santa Barbara County. The term is four years. - 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-mayor - 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: 80 out of 100 (Strong), across 12 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Matt Kilrain** - **Kristen Sneddon** — Councilmember, District 4 - **Wendy Sims-Moten** — Former School Board Member - **Eric Friedman** — Councilmember, District 5 A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. Four candidates are running for Mayor of Santa Barbara. They are Councilmembers Eric Friedman of District 5 and Kristen Sneddon of District 4. Also running are former school board member Wendy Sims-Moten and Matt Kilrain. Vote for one. There is no primary and no runoff. Santa Barbara's Mayor is directly elected citywide, separately from the six district Council seats, for a 4-year term with an existing four-consecutive-term limit. The winner presides over a council-manager government -- the budget, land use, and city ordinances for this Santa Barbara County city of about 88,700 residents -- while a professional city manager runs day-to-day operations. The seat is open: Mayor Randy Rowse is not seeking re-election, described in local reporting as term-limited. Both Friedman and Sneddon are giving up safe re-election to their current Council seats to run here, opening both of those seats in separate races on this same ballot. The contest is broadly a moderate-vs-progressive choice: Friedman, a business- and labor-backed moderate, opposes the city's rent-stabilization ordinance and favors a more flexible approach to reopening State Street to cars; Sneddon, endorsed by the county Democratic Party and multiple former mayors, supports rent stabilization and wants Paseo Nuevo's redevelopment to go to a public vote. Friedman substantially outraised Sneddon in the first half of 2026. Sims-Moten and Kilrain round out the field with comparatively little independent news coverage found this pass. ## Eric Friedman Eric Friedman is the sitting Councilmember for District 5. He is a longtime Democrat who works at Trader Joe's. He is recovering from an April 2025 heart attack. His campaign draws support from business owners and worker unions. He opposes the city's rent-stabilization ordinance. He favors a more flexible, step-by-step approach to reopening State Street to cars rather than keeping it fully closed. **Strengths:** A sitting Councilmember's record to run on. A substantial fundraising lead. Support from both business and labor, a coalition spanning the city's usual political divide. **Trade-offs:** He is giving up his own Council seat to run. Santa Barbara loses his current representation on District 5 whether or not he wins the Mayor's race. **Keep in mind:** His opposition to rent stabilization puts him at odds with Sneddon. It also puts him at odds with the county Democratic Party's own endorsement in this race. That is worth weighing for voters focused on that issue. ## Kristen Sneddon Kristen Sneddon is the sitting Councilmember for District 4. She is a geology professor at Santa Barbara City College and is now in her second Council term. She wrote the 2021 legislation creating the State Street Advisory Committee. She opposes reopening the closed downtown corridor to cars. Her platform centers on housing affordability and environmental sustainability. She also backs support for the city's low-income and immigrant residents, including a new rent-stabilization ordinance. She has called for a public vote on the Paseo Nuevo mall redevelopment. She is endorsed by the Santa Barbara County Democratic Party and multiple former mayors. **Strengths:** A specific, named legislative accomplishment, the State Street Advisory Committee, rather than platform themes alone. She also has endorsements from the county party and several former mayors. **Trade-offs:** She enters the race with roughly a third of Friedman's campaign cash on hand as of mid-2026. That is a real fundraising disadvantage in a citywide race. **Keep in mind:** Like Friedman, she is giving up her own Council seat to run. District 4 is an open contest on this same ballot no matter who wins here. ## Wendy Sims-Moten Wendy Sims-Moten is executive director of First 5 Santa Barbara County. She served two terms on the Santa Barbara Unified School Board from 2016 to 2024. The CAUSE Action Fund honored her in April 2026 for community leadership. No dedicated 2026 campaign coverage describing a specific policy platform was found for her. She appears in local roundups of the mayoral field. **Strengths:** Eight years of elected school-board experience. A current executive role in early-childhood public service. That is a different kind of public record than either sitting Councilmember's. **Trade-offs:** No campaign site or platform statement was found. That is a genuine sourcing gap next to Friedman and Sneddon. It is not a claim that she lacks a platform. **Keep in mind:** Her school-board background points toward education and youth-services experience. That differs from either Councilmember's land-use and budget focus. How it translates into her mayoral platform could not be confirmed. ## Matt Kilrain Matt Kilrain is known locally as "Boat Rat Matt." He ran for Santa Barbara Mayor in 2021 and finished last in that field with 178 votes. No dedicated 2026 campaign coverage or platform statement was found for him. He appears in local roundups of the mayoral field. **Strengths:** None independently confirmed beyond his filed candidacy and a prior mayoral run. **Trade-offs:** Of the four Mayoral candidates, he has the thinnest public record. No campaign site, platform statement, or news profile was found. His one prior run for the office finished last. **Keep in mind:** This is a sourcing gap, not a claim that he lacks a platform. No independently verifiable description of his 2026 candidacy was reachable. ## 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 -- "Kristen Sneddon Says She's Running for Santa Barbara Mayor -- 'We're Stuck and We Need Progress, Not Stagnation'" (Nov. 16, 2025): reports Sneddon's mayoral campaign filing, her geology-professor background, two-term Council record, and stated positions on rent stabilization and the Paseo Nuevo redevelopment](https://www.independent.com/2025/11/16/kristen-sneddon-says-shes-running-for-santa-barbara-mayor-were-stuck-and-we-need-progress-not-stagnation/) 9. [Santa Barbara Independent -- "Four-Way Race for Santa Barbara Mayor?" (Nick Welsh, Jan. 6, 2026): early roundup naming Rowse, Friedman, Sneddon, and Sims-Moten as potential Mayoral candidates](https://www.independent.com/2026/01/06/four-way-race-for-santa-barbara-mayor/) 10. [Santa Barbara Independent -- "With $137K in the Bank, Eric Friedman Holds 3-1 Edge over Kristen Sneddon in Santa Barbara Mayor's Race Fundraising" (Aug. 4, 2026): reports Jan. 1-June 30, 2026 campaign-finance totals -- Friedman $148,310 raised / $136,944 cash on hand; Sneddon $42,945 raised / $34,606 cash on hand -- and states plainly that Mayor Randy Rowse 'is not running. He is termed out'](https://www.independent.com/2026/08/04/with-137k-in-the-bank-eric-friedman-holds-3-to-1-edge-over-kristen-sneddon-in-santa-barbara-mayors-race-fundraising/) 11. [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/) 12. [Santa Barbara Independent -- "Wendy Sims-Moten Reflects on Her Eight Years on Santa Barbara Unified School Board" (Callie Fausey, Dec. 19, 2024): confirms Sims-Moten's 2016-2024 school-board tenure, used narrowly for her biographical background](https://www.independent.com/2024/12/19/wendy-sims-moten-reflects-on-her-eight-years-on-santa-barbara-unified-school-board/) ## The rest of the ballot Mayor of Santa Barbara 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, "Mayor of Santa Barbara — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/santa-barbara-mayor (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.