Rematch: Jeremy Ball and Jim Mosby are battling in another Lompoc race, this time to become the city’s next mayor

Lompoc voters are being asked to referee a rematch six years in the making this November, and the outcome could reshape the tone — and possibly the composition — of a City Council that has spent much of the past year mired in public conflict.

Incumbent Mayor Jim Mosby and 4th District Councilmember Jeremy Ball, both currently sitting on the Lompoc City Council dais, are facing each other for the second time since 2020, when Ball defeated Mosby for the 4th District seat. Mosby returned to City Hall in 2024 after defeating then-Mayor Jenelle Osborne, and has served on the council on and off since 2014, according to the Santa Maria Sun.

For Santa Maria residents who follow North County politics — and for the many commuters and families whose lives straddle the Highway 101 corridor between the two cities — the Lompoc mayor's race offers a window into broader questions about housing, development, and accountability playing out across the Central Coast.

A Race With an Unusual Twist

The contest carries an unusual structural wrinkle. Ball has one year remaining on his 4th District council term, meaning he'll stay on the council regardless of the mayoral outcome. And because Mosby also lives in the 4th District, he would be eligible for a hypothetical council appointment to fill a midterm vacancy if he lost the mayor's seat — potentially setting up what Ball called a worst-case "switch seats" scenario.

"Worst-case scenario, if we just switch seats, I think there would be some incremental progress because of a change in tone from the mayor's position," Ball told the Sun.

Ball's more hopeful vision involves two council candidates he fully supports: Sharlameigne Segovia, challenging 2nd District Councilmember Victor Vega, and Sarah Anne Read, running against fellow newcomer Nick Gonzales for the 3rd District seat being vacated by Councilmember Dirk Starbuck, who did not file for reelection. Like Ball, Segovia and Read are endorsed by the Santa Barbara County Democratic Party; Mosby, Vega, and Gonzales carry the county Republican Party's endorsement.

"I do feel like the city deserves to clean house," Ball told the Sun, "to change this council from what a lot of people feel is just the 'good ol' boys club,' to make it more representative of the people who live here."

The Censure Fight That Defined the Campaign

The idea of "cleaning house" has fueled a yearlong feud between the two men, largely centered on Councilmember Steve Bridge, who faces felony charges for allegedly misusing city funds. Ball pushed for Bridge to voluntarily step down beginning in late 2025, and the issue resurfaced repeatedly at council meetings through 2026 — including a Sept. 15 meeting where Ball's motion to censure Bridge failed on a 2-2 vote, with Mosby and Starbuck dissenting and Bridge abstaining.

Mosby told the Sun he believes Ball kept the issue alive because it became central to his campaign. "This is what he's running on," Mosby said, adding, "I don't have my entourage coming into City Council meetings yelling and screaming like he does."

The Sept. 15 hearing itself grew contentious. Audience outbursts prompted Mosby to warn he would "clear the chambers," and he asked law enforcement to remove at least one attendee, the Sun reported. Shouts of "shame" erupted as the hearing ended.

"They're Ball's people. That's his campaign," Mosby told the Sun. "They're his entourage. They come into the meeting, disrupting the council. I had to kick half of them out."

Ball argued a formal censure would help restore public trust, while Mosby countered that Bridge was one of many people who filed city rebate applications "that had flaws in them" and that the judicial process should be allowed to play out.

Where the Candidates Agree — and Don't

Despite the acrimony, the two men share some common ground. Mosby counts among his proudest accomplishments a policy shift he motioned for that slashed development impact fees from roughly $40,000 to approximately $3,100 per single-family unit under an ordinance that took effect in summer 2025. The measure passed unanimously — and Ball voted for it too.

"If we just have really high impact fees and no one ever develops anything, then the city never gets any fees anyway — to do that work they were intended for," Ball told the Sun, noting that Lompoc's persistent housing shortage remains one of the city's core challenges. That dynamic will sound familiar to Santa Maria residents, where housing production and development costs have long been flashpoints in local politics.

The candidates differ sharply on style and money. Mosby described his reelection effort as "self-funded" and suggested he owes no favors, saying, "I'm not going to go out there and take bribes from people. I don't owe anybody any money." Ball said his campaign raised nearly $20,000 in donations from supporters.

Mosby characterized their leadership approaches as "night and day," saying he trusts voters to judge the difference. "If people can't see a difference within this town in the last two years or are happy with what's going to go on if I'm not there, then that's the will of the people," he told the Sun.

Ball, for his part, said that despite not seeing "eye to eye on many things across the board" with Mosby, the two get along personally — and that he believes Mosby's "heart is in the right place." Their divide, Ball said, comes down to "the tone of leadership — how we engage with the city, how we hold people accountable, how we lift people and elevate people."

What Comes Next

Lompoc voters will decide the mayor's race and two council seats in the November general election. Residents interested in hearing directly from the candidates had an opportunity at an election forum featuring Mosby, Ball, and other council candidates, hosted in the Lompoc City Council Chambers at 100 Civic Center Plaza.

With endorsements split along party lines, a felony case pending against a sitting councilmember, and two incumbents with a six-year history of rivalry, the election amounts to a referendum on both Lompoc's direction and its political culture — results that will ripple across the 805 region's northern half.