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City of Santa Maria · Statewide General Election

Santa Maria City Council, District 1

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On the ballot

This person would represent Santa Maria's District 1 on the City Council for the balance of an unexpired term, through November 2028 -- filling the seat vacated when Councilmember Carlos Escobedo resigned in early 2026. Santa Maria, a Santa Barbara County charter city of about 109,707 residents (2020 Census), elects its four City Council members by district to 4-year terms and its Mayor separately, citywide; the Mayor's seat is not up this cycle. The city runs under a council-manager government, with an appointed City Manager handling day-to-day operations.

Three candidates are running for Santa Maria City Council, District 1: incumbent Ricardo Batalla, Celest Sienna Mendoza, and Gary Janek Michaels. The winner serves out the balance of an unexpired term, through November 2028.

District 1 elects one member to Santa Maria's City Council, which also has a directly elected, citywide Mayor not up this cycle. Santa Maria is a Santa Barbara County charter city of about 109,707 residents (2020 Census), governed council-manager style with an appointed City Manager handling day-to-day operations. This particular term is short: it ends November 2028, not the usual four years out, because it fills the balance of a term Carlos Escobedo vacated when he resigned from the seat in early 2026.

The City Council appointed Ricardo Batalla to fill the vacancy in April 2026; he is now running to keep the seat through a full public vote. Two challengers, Celest Sienna Mendoza and Gary Janek Michaels, both qualified for the ballot alongside him, per the Santa Barbara County Elections Division's own certified candidate list, reported independently by both the Santa Maria Times and Noozhawk after the Aug. 7 close of filing.

Ricardo Batalla

Batalla grew up in Santa Maria's District 1 and was appointed to the council seat in April 2026, after Carlos Escobedo's resignation. He formally launched his campaign for a full term at an evening event at Oakley Park, the elementary school he attended, telling the Santa Maria Times, "I grew up in District 1 and I'm excited to launch my campaign for reelection." His stated priorities include affordable housing, public safety and support for first responders (he has specifically flagged four vacancies in the fire department as a concern), youth programs, homelessness mitigation, economic opportunity, and fiscal accountability.

Strengths

About five months as the sitting appointee already, plus lifelong roots in District 1 -- he is asking voters to ratify an appointment they didn't get a direct vote on.

Trade-offs

His campaign-launch coverage names no specific votes from his short tenure, focusing on general priorities instead; no campaign-finance filing was found for him this pass.

Keep in mind

He faces two challengers rather than running unopposed, so this is a genuine contest even though he already holds the seat.

Celest Sienna Mendoza

Celest Sienna Mendoza is one of two challengers to incumbent Ricardo Batalla for the District 1 seat. Both the Santa Maria Times and Noozhawk name her as a qualified candidate in the Santa Barbara County Elections Division's certified field; this dataset found no campaign website, filed candidate statement, campaign-finance filing, or independent news coverage describing her occupation or platform this pass.

Strengths

None independently confirmed by this pass beyond her name appearing in the county's own certified candidate list, as reported by two independent news outlets.

Trade-offs

No campaign website, filed candidate statement, campaign-finance filing, or independent news coverage describing her occupation or platform was found this pass.

Keep in mind

This is a documented sourcing gap, not a claim she lacks a platform -- no campaign-finance filing was found for her this pass (see Financial section).

Gary Janek Michaels

Gary Janek Michaels is one of two challengers to incumbent Ricardo Batalla for the District 1 seat. Both the Santa Maria Times and Noozhawk name him as a qualified candidate in the Santa Barbara County Elections Division's certified field; this dataset found no campaign website, filed candidate statement, campaign-finance filing, or independent news coverage describing his occupation or platform this pass.

Strengths

None independently confirmed by this pass beyond his name appearing in the county's own certified candidate list, as reported by two independent news outlets.

Trade-offs

No campaign website, filed candidate statement, campaign-finance filing, or independent news coverage describing his occupation or platform was found this pass.

Keep in mind

This is a documented sourcing gap, not a claim he lacks a platform -- no campaign-finance filing was found for him this pass (see Financial section).

Source review: Strong (88/100) · 6 cited sources

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

  • cityofsantamaria.org (opens in a new tab)City of Santa Maria -- own "Elections" page (services/departments/city-clerk-records/elections), via a Wayback Machine snapshot captured 2026-07-14 -- the live site (cityofsantamaria.org) returns HTTP 403 (Akamai bot protection) to every direct fetch, and even archive.org's own on-demand "Save Page Now" capture failed with an immediate HTTP 520 specific to this domain: states, in the city's own words, that "[t]he Santa Maria City Council is comprised of four Councilmembers, elected by district to four-year terms, and a Mayor, elected at-large to a four-year term," and that the Mayor and City Treasurer/City Clerk (also elected at-large) are not up this cycle. Lists the three offices up Nov. 3, 2026 as City Council District 1 (an unexpired term ending Nov. 2028), District 3, and District 4 (each a full four-year term), plus Ballot Measure C2026 (descoped from display in this dataset). Gives the July 13-Aug. 7, 2026 regular nomination-papers filing window, extendable to Aug. 12 under Elections Code Section 10225(a)(b) for an office an incumbent does not refile for. Its own "CANDIDATE FILINGS" section, broken out by district, was still an unfilled placeholder at this July 14 capture -- three weeks before the close of filing -- so this source establishes office structure and term lengths only, not the roster.
  • santamariatimes.com (opens in a new tab)Santa Maria Times -- Lisa Andre and April Chavez, "Familiar Faces, Old Rivalries Mark SB North County's November Ballot" (Aug. 26, 2026, updated Aug. 28): states plainly that "candidate filing closed Aug. 7, and the Santa Barbara County Elections Division has released qualified candidate lists for the November general election." Names Santa Maria's full, qualified field: District 1 (unexpired term to Nov. 2028) -- Richard Batalla, Celest Mendoza, and Gary Michaels, the seat vacated by Carlos Escobedo's resignation; District 3 -- incumbent Gloria Soto vs. Corby Poulis Sr.; District 4 (open seat) -- Vincent Martinez vs. Tyler Barksdale, the seat currently held by Maribel Aguilera, who is instead running for District 5 county supervisor against Ricardo Valencia in a Nov. 3 runoff (41.87% Valencia, 31.15% Aguilera, 26.59% Cory Bantilan in the three-way June primary, per certified county results). Also covers Santa Maria's Measure C2026 (descoped here) and races in Guadalupe, Lompoc, Buellton, and Solvang.
  • noozhawk.com (opens in a new tab)Noozhawk -- Giana Magnoli, Noozhawk Executive Editor, "Candidate Lists Set for Santa Barbara Council and Races Across the County on November Ballot" (Aug. 18, 2026), via a Wayback Machine snapshot (captured 2026-08-18, the same day it published): independently corroborates the identical Santa Maria field, attributing District 1's three-way field explicitly to the county: 'Ricardo "Richard" Batalla, Celest Sienna Mendoza and Gary Janek Michaels qualified to run for that spot, according to the County Elections Office' (full middle names not given by the Santa Maria Times). Confirms District 3 as incumbent 'Gloria Soledad Soto, who is running for another term, and Corby Poulis Sr.,' and District 4 as 'Vincent Martinez and Tyler Barksdale,' with Aguilera-Hernandez 'running for the Fifth District County Supervisor seat' against Ricardo Valencia.
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia, "Santa Maria, California": used narrowly for the 2020 Census population (109,707) and independent confirmation that Santa Maria is a charter city (chartered December 2000) with a council-manager government -- does not cover the 2026 election.
  • netfile.com (opens in a new tab)NetFile -- the City of Santa Maria's real-time "Filing Log" RSS feed (agency code SMAR; covers the trailing 15 days of e-filed and paper-only filings, queried 2026-09-02): the only two candidates with any filing in that window are Vincent Martinez (District 4) and Gloria Soto (District 3) -- see their individual Form 410/497 entries below. No filing appears under Ricardo Batalla, Celest Mendoza, Gary Michaels, Corby Poulis, or Tyler Barksdale's name in this window -- a negative-result check limited to a rolling 15-day period, not proof no committee exists for any of the five; the portal's own full public search (netfile.com/public/SMAR/campaign) is a client-rendered single-page application this pass's fetch tooling could not otherwise search.
  • santamariatimes.com (opens in a new tab)Santa Maria Times -- April Chavez, "Batalla launches campaign for Santa Maria City Council District 1 seat" (Aug. 7, 2026, updated Aug. 12): profiles Ricardo Batalla, who grew up in District 1 and was appointed to the seat in April 2026 after Carlos Escobedo's resignation; he launched his campaign for a full term at a Friday evening event at Oakley Park (where he attended elementary school). Quotes him: "I grew up in District 1 and I'm excited to launch my campaign for reelection." Lists his platform -- affordable housing, public safety/first-responder support (he specifically cites four fire department staffing vacancies), youth programs, homelessness mitigation, economic opportunity, and fiscal accountability. Does not name or address any District 1 opponent.

Last updated September 2, 2026.