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City of Santa Maria · Statewide General Election

Santa Maria City Council, District 4

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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.

Santa Maria City Council District 4 is an open seat: Vincent Martinez and Tyler Barksdale are running to succeed Maribel Aguilera-Hernandez, who is running for Santa Barbara County 5th District Supervisor instead of seeking re-election.

District 4 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.

Sitting Councilmember Maribel Aguilera-Hernandez's current term expires in 2026, per the city's own records, and she chose to run for county supervisor rather than seek another council term -- the Santa Barbara Independent reported her supervisorial run as early as June 2026, before the council filing period even opened. She faces Ricardo Valencia in a Nov. 3 runoff for that county seat after a three-way June primary (Valencia 41.87%, Aguilera 31.15%, Cory Bantilan 26.59%, per certified county results). With no incumbent in this council race, both Martinez and Barksdale, who qualified per the county's own certified candidate list, are seeking their first term on the Santa Maria City Council.

Vincent Martinez

Vincent Martinez is a Santa Barbara County Planning Commissioner and managing partner of the Twitchell and Rice law firm. Announcing his campaign, he told the Santa Maria Times, "I am running for City Council to put my experience to work for our community and help address the challenges facing our region," citing homelessness, public safety, the city's budget deficit, and neighborhood/quality-of-life protection as priorities. He holds leadership roles with the Northern Santa Barbara County United Way and the Santa Maria Youth and Family Center, and co-founded and serves as president of the Santa Maria Police Council.

Strengths

Current service on the county Planning Commission plus a law practice and several local civic leadership roles -- meaningful land-use and organizational experience for a council seat.

Trade-offs

No city-council voting record to evaluate, since he currently sits on the county Planning Commission, not the council; his committee has drawn a $5,000 contribution from another candidate's committee.

Keep in mind

His committee has disclosed $13,000 in large late contributions this cycle -- more actively fundraising, by this dataset's findings, than any other candidate in this jurisdiction's three races.

Tyler Barksdale

Tyler Barksdale is running for the open District 4 seat against Vincent Martinez. 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 (89/100) · 11 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, "Vincent Martinez Launches Santa Maria City Council Campaign" (Aug. 10, 2026, updated Aug. 13): profiles Vincent Martinez, a Santa Barbara County Planning Commissioner and managing partner of the Twitchell and Rice law firm, running for the open District 4 seat; states he "has submitted his nomination paperwork and qualified for the ballot." Lists his platform -- homelessness, public safety, the city's budget deficit, and neighborhood/quality-of-life protection -- and civic roles with the Northern Santa Barbara County United Way, the Santa Maria Youth and Family Center, and as co-founder/president of the Santa Maria Police Council. Quotes him: "I am running for City Council to put my experience to work for our community and help address the challenges facing our region." Does not name or address any District 4 opponent.
  • cityofsantamaria.org (opens in a new tab)City of Santa Maria -- own "Maribel Aguilera-Hernandez, Councilmember" bio page, via a Wayback Machine snapshot captured 2026-04-13 (the only capture found this pass; the live site 403s every direct fetch): states "Maribel Aguilera serves as Councilmember - District 4," with "Date Last Elected: 2022" and "Term Expires: 2026." Describes her as a partner at Kirk & Simas, PLC (business and real estate law), eight years on the city's Planning Commission (2015-2022) before her council election, and prior work at North County Rape Crisis and the Legal Aid Foundation of Santa Barbara County.
  • independent.com (opens in a new tab)Santa Barbara Independent -- "June Primary Results Update: 50-Year Judge Unseated, Runoff Race Set for North County Supervisorial Seat" (June 13, 2026): reports "Santa Maria City Councilmember Maribel Aguilera will face off for the 5th District seat in November" against Ricardo Valencia -- independent confirmation, from before the council-seat filing period even opened, that Aguilera-Hernandez's District 4 council seat would be open in November rather than an incumbent reelection bid.
  • netfile.com (opens in a new tab)Vincent Martinez's committee's filed FPPC Form 410 (Statement of Organization -- Recipient Committee) for "Vincent Martinez for City Council 2026" (Committee ID 1494240), downloaded and read directly: qualification threshold met 7/27/2026; treasurer Bryan Burch (West Sacramento); lists Vincent Martinez as the sole controlling candidate, office sought "City Council, District 4," nonpartisan, 2026; bank of record California Bank and Trust (Los Angeles branch); jurisdiction where committee is active, City of Santa Maria; county of domicile, Yolo.
  • netfile.com (opens in a new tab)Vincent Martinez's committee's filed FPPC Form 497 (late contribution report), filed 8/25/2026, downloaded and read directly: discloses two $5,000 contributions received 8/4/2026 -- one from DL Farm Management, Inc. (a business entity, Santa Maria) and one from the committee "Lavagnino for Supervisor 2026" (Committee ID 1452730, Santa Maria).
  • netfile.com (opens in a new tab)Vincent Martinez's committee's filed FPPC Form 497 (late contribution report), filed 8/27/2026, downloaded and read directly: discloses a $3,000 contribution received the same day from Randy Renfrow, listed occupation "Owner," employer "Santa Maria Ford," of Santa Maria.

Last updated September 2, 2026.