Fifth District Supervisor Campaigns Pass $530K in Pre-Election Push

The race to represent Santa Barbara County's Fifth District has become the most expensive local contest on Tuesday's ballot, with the two candidates vying to succeed long-serving Supervisor Steve Lavagnino having collectively raised more than $534,000, Noozhawk reported.

The showdown between Santa Maria City Councilmember Maribel Aguilera and Santa Maria-Bonita school board member Ricardo Valencia comes after Lavagnino opted not to seek reelection following 16 years on the Board of Supervisors, leaving an open seat for the first time in the North County district in nearly two decades. The outcome will help determine the balance of the five-member board that governs a county of roughly 450,000 residents, overseeing everything from land use and oil permitting to public health and the sheriff's budget.

A Fundraising Race Within the Race

According to campaign finance filings covering the pre-election reporting period, Aguilera has raised $304,541 this year, including roughly $104,000 in the final push since Sept. 20. Valencia has brought in $229,584 for the year, about $30,985 of it in that same late stretch. Both campaigns reported approximately $100,000 in cash on hand as of the mid-October filing deadline.

The two advanced to the general election after finishing as the top vote-getters in June's three-way primary. The Fifth District covers Santa Maria, Guadalupe, and the northernmost reaches of the county — communities that have driven much of the region's population growth in recent decades and often feel their interests diverge from the South Coast's, making supervisorial representation there a matter of perennial local concern.

Aguilera, a business and real estate attorney, has drawn support from the business community, including the Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber of Commerce and local firms and individuals. Valencia, a high school teacher, has built his war chest on a broad base of individual donors and Democratic political organizations — more than 300 individual contributors, by his campaign's count, including teachers, students, small business owners, home care providers, and unions.

An Independent Versus a Democrat in a Nonpartisan Race

County supervisor is officially a nonpartisan office, but political fault lines have nonetheless emerged. Aguilera is an independent, and she told Noozhawk that the lack of party machinery behind her has made fundraising harder. "That's been a little bit harder than just getting donations from Democrats," she said.

Both candidates spent the final pre-election weekend canvassing and calling voters while juggling full-time jobs.

"We've heard nothing but positive things when we've been knocking on doors," Aguilera said. "There's a lot of overwhelming support locally." She said affordability and the local economy top the concerns voters raise. "A lot of families have two or three jobs just to get by."

"This weekend, we will continue knocking on doors and making calls until every voter is reached," Valencia said, adding that the breadth of his small-donor support was "humbling and inspiring."

PAC Spending Injects Outside Money Into the Contest

Beyond the candidates' own committees, independent expenditures have added another layer — and another flashpoint — to the race. The North County Jobs & Opportunity PAC, a political action committee formed last year, has spent more than $110,000 supporting Aguilera and opposing Valencia, according to county campaign finance records. The spending has gone toward social media advertising and mailers.

The PAC's funding draws attention to an issue with particular resonance in Santa Barbara County: oil. Sable Offshore Corp. — the company now operating the offshore platforms and pipeline associated with the former ExxonMobil assets along the county's coast — contributed $61,000 to the PAC on Oct. 21, on top of $49,000 it had previously given. Other contributors include the Deputy Sheriffs' Association, the Santa Barbara County Republican Party, and PG&E. The PAC's principal officers are listed as Tony Guy and Glenn Morris of Santa Maria and Chip Wullbrandt of Ballard.

Offshore oil has long been one of the most contentious issues in county politics, dating to the 1969 platform blowout that helped galvanize the modern environmental movement. With Sable seeking to restart and expand coastal operations, the next Board of Supervisors is likely to face consequential decisions — or at least consequential political pressure — over the industry's future here, and the Fifth District seat could matter in that fight.

Valencia, alluding to the outside spending against him, said: "There may be critics and corporations who would rather not see me win, but with the backing of our community, we will persevere and fight for a thriving District 5."

What Comes Next

Polls close Tuesday evening, and county elections officials will begin releasing results shortly after 8 p.m. Because California processes ballots received by mail in the days following Election Day, the initial count may not settle a close race immediately.

Whoever wins will join the board in January representing the county's most populous district, confronting housing affordability, water, public safety costs, and the ongoing debate over the county's economic future — the very issues both campaigns say dominate conversations at North County doorsteps.

For Santa Barbara residents countywide, the result will shape a board that makes decisions affecting budgets, development, and coastal policy far beyond the Fifth District's borders.