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City of Santa Maria · Statewide General Election

Santa Maria City Council, District 3

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On the ballot

This person would represent one of Santa Maria's four council districts on the City Council for a full 4-year term. 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.

Incumbent Gloria Soto is seeking another term representing Santa Maria City Council District 3, against challenger Corby Poulis Sr.

District 3 elects one member to a full 4-year term on 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.

Soto first won this seat in November 2018 and was re-elected without this dataset finding a contested-race record in 2022; her current term expires in 2026. Poulis qualified as her challenger 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.

Gloria Soto

Soto was first elected to the City Council in November 2018 -- becoming, at age 29, the first Councilmember elected under Santa Maria's district-elections system and, at the time, the youngest woman ever elected to the council -- and was re-elected in November 2022. Per the city's own biography page, she has worked at Planned Parenthood California Central Coast since 2011, currently as a Major Gifts Officer, after growing up in Santa Maria as the daughter of immigrant farm-working parents. She has also served on the board of Future Leaders of America and sits on the board for the Fund for Santa Barbara.

Strengths

Two prior terms on the Council (since 2018) plus a long professional history in Santa Maria-area nonprofit and community work.

Trade-offs

Her committee has disclosed $10,000 in large late contributions from two out-of-town donors this cycle (see Financial section) -- worth weighing alongside her long incumbency.

Keep in mind

This dataset found no independent news coverage of her specific council record or 2026 platform beyond her official biography and the fact of her committee's fundraising -- her city bio page predates this campaign and does not describe her priorities for a third term.

Corby Poulis Sr.

Corby Poulis Sr. is challenging incumbent Gloria Soto for the District 3 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) · 8 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.
  • cityofsantamaria.org (opens in a new tab)City of Santa Maria -- own "Gloria Soto Councilmember" bio page, via a Wayback Machine snapshot captured 2026-08-30 (the freshest capture of any cityofsantamaria.org page found this pass; the live site 403s every direct fetch): states, in the city's own words, "Gloria Soto was elected to the City Council in November 2018, and re-elected in November 2022, by voters in City Council District Three"; lists "Date Last Elected: 2022" and "Term expires: 2026." Describes her career at Planned Parenthood California Central Coast since 2011 (currently Major Gifts Officer), board service for Future Leaders of America and the Fund for Santa Barbara, and that she was Santa Maria's first Councilmember elected under district elections, at age 29 in 2018.
  • netfile.com (opens in a new tab)Gloria Soto's committee's filed FPPC Form 497 (late contribution report), for "Gloria Soto for Santa Maria City Council District 3 2026" (Committee ID 1407086), filed 8/20/2026, downloaded and read directly: discloses a $5,000 contribution received 8/19/2026 from Steven Glikbarg, listed occupation "Real Estate Management," employer "Firefly Management Inc," of Santa Barbara.
  • netfile.com (opens in a new tab)Gloria Soto's committee's filed FPPC Form 497 (late contribution report), filed 8/21/2026, downloaded and read directly: discloses a $5,000 contribution received 8/20/2026 from Ted Rhodes, listed occupation "Photographer" (DBA Ted Rhodes), of Carpinteria.

Last updated September 2, 2026.