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Updated Numbers Confirm Cathy Murillo Winner Of Santa Barbara's Mayoral Race; Measure C Passes

A Santa Barbara City Councilwoman is apparently going to be the city's next mayor.

Cathy Murillo has 28% of the vote in the field of five candidates for the post, while fellow council member Frank Hotchkiss is in second with 22% of the vote in Tuesday's election.

Those numbers are based on the ballots received by the city before last night’s 8 p.m. deadline. But, because it’s a vote by mail election, ballots will still be coming in and counted for the next few days.

In the three city council races, Kristen Sneddon is the apparent District 4 winner with 51% of the vote. In District 5, Eric Friedman has 55% of the vote, to Warner McGrew’s 45%. And, in District 6, incumbent Gregg Hart easily won a new term with 56% of the vote. Again, the numbers are expected to change slightly as mailed in ballots are counted.

The city’s voters approved Measure C, which would raise the city’s sales tax by one percent, from 7.75% to 8.75% to raise an estimated $22 million dollars annual to fund needed city infrastructure maintenance. It received a 56% yes vote, well past the needed bare majority to pass.

Lance Orozco has been News Director of KCLU since 2001, providing award-winning coverage of some of the biggest news events in the region, including the Thomas and Woolsey brush fires, the deadly Montecito debris flow, the Borderline Bar and Grill attack, and Ronald Reagan's funeral.