In 2019, City Council member Jason Dominguez lost an excruciatingly close race for re-election in Santa Barbara’s Eastside District 1, the target of a successful effort by the local Democratic Party to boot him out of office.
Now, Dominguez has mounted a comeback bid. Still a registered Democrat, he has moved to District 4, where he believes his independent streak will find support from its more moderate and higher-income voters, at a time when lefties dominate council politics.
“It’s a much different city council in 2026 than it was when I ran for re-election — I think people had a lot more confidence in the council six years ago,” Dominguez told Newsmakers. “When you look at polling (that asks) ‘Is the city going in the right direction?’ — it’s at an all-time low.
“And that’s part of the reason I want to run,” he added. “We’re going to lose four council members and the mayor. There’s going to be a very big transition.”
In a one-on-one interview, the latest in our series of conversations with candidates for SB City Council and Mayor, the 57-year-old Dominguez reflected on his eight-vote, 2019 re-election loss to Alejandra Gutierrez — the endorsed candidate of the Democrats, who dropped her four years later in favor of current District 1 incumbent Wendy Santamaria — and discussed changes in the local political landscape since 2015, when he won election as a member of the first council fully seated under the district elections system.
“There are the sharp elbows of a political party and its bosses, who want to have only their candidates on council,” Dominguez said. “So I understand it, but I think the way voters can push back … on that is to vote for people like me who didn’t get an endorsement from a political party — someone who’s independent-minded, independent-thinking,” he added.
“And people should … if they want a government that’s independent and not involved in culture wars or political battles, they should vote for people like me. If you want someone who’s going to dogmatically follow a party line, then don’t vote for me.”
District 4 includes the Riviera and the Upper East Side, among other neighborhoods. With 17 weeks to go before the Nov. 3 election, Dominguez currently faces three rivals who have filed paperwork to run: retired tech executive Monte Wilson; Democratic Party-endorsed Planning Commissioner Devon Wardlow; and Neighborhood Advisory Council member Genevieve Taft-Vasquez. (The latter two are scheduled for upcoming interviews; we spoke with Monte Wilson previously.)
Among other topics in our conversation, Dominguez offered a prescription to address concerns that the current local electoral system produces council members more focused on the narrow interests of district constituencies than on the overall interests of the entire city: ranked-choice voting.
Under a ranked-choice system, such as that used in San Francisco and other Bay Area communities, voters rank candidates in order of preference. If no candidate wins a majority of first-choice votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and their votes are redistributed to those voters’ next choice, repeating until one candidate has a majority.
“Ranked-choice voting is basically just an instant runoff,” Dominguez said. “Ranked-choice voting would definitely be a priority” if he is elected, he added.
Dominguez on three other key issues:
Rent control. “I don’t think it’s worked in many places, and if you talk to (prominent UCSB economist) Peter Rupert and some of the local economists, they say that it doesn’t work, that it’s counterproductive. At this point I’d be pretty against rent stabilization … you also have to add in the fact that we’re a small city and we’re going to spend a couple million dollars administering the program. We don’t have the economy of scale … We’d be better off putting that money into direct subsidies or giving people vouchers.”
Budget. “It’s the old cliché: ‘Hey, there’s still checks in my checkbook — how could there be no money there?’ … I think we need to go to a position where departments really reexamine their budgets and come up with 10 percent savings, whether it’s eliminating a program that’s no longer working or reallocating staff … No more consultants … No more severance contracts when we sign department heads.”
State Street. “If I’m on council, I don’t want to spend 80 percent of our time and thousands of hours and millions of dollars fighting over (vehicles allowed on State Street). But could you just have one week a month where it’s open to cars? … Riding an e-bike in a crowded area doing a wheelie is a nuisance. It’s a crime. It’s reckless driving. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. If the council wants to enforce that law, they can. So I can lead that charge when I’m on council.”
Newsmakers’ Candidate Conversations. To offer Santa Barbara voters early introductions to contenders for Mayor and four City Council seats in the Nov. 3 election, Newsmakers is publishing one-on-one interviews with the candidates over the summer. Here is who else we’ve talked with to date:
Monte Wilson, candidate for District 4 council seat. June 23.
Eric Friedman, candidate for Mayor, June 28.
This article originally appeared on santabarbaranewsmakers.com
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Wrong that this voter had more confidence in the city council and mayor under the old system. At least the new districts create opportunity for elected officials from the business friendly Downtown Organization that ran everything before. Jason may find that support in his new district but I doubt it. He is probably reliant on their money however. He needs to face facts and realize that the State Street “problem” is greedy property owners who cater to the businesses that give them extraordinary returns or get subsidy. Places stay empty for months until a high profit bar or restaurant comes along willing to give up the rent demanded. The result is a tawdry downtown that may look attractive at night to young people out to party. There should be a fee on vacant property to move it along. There needs to be a steady influence on the State Street look that eliminates the tawdry and unhealthy structures that border the street now. This may require opening the street up to other traffic and freeing in from the grip of those just having fun cruising. But I do agree on ranked choice voting. Long time overdue.
Second sentence should read: “At least the new districts create the opportunity for elected officials TO DIFFER from the business friendly Downtown Organization….”
I’m happy to see Jason back in the game. Back when he was in District 1 he was the only candidate/Council Member to ever come to our door. A voice of reason and intelligence. We don’t need activists in the local government, we need people with practical answers to problems. Someone that can address housing, crime, and the budget without a narrow national politics lens. I really hope he can break through.
I agree and am very happy to see Jason back. He was an excellent representative in and for the District 1, always responsive to neighborhood issues, from potholes to planning. He listened and gave the impression of hearing, without a pre-determined agenda. If the complaint was about something that could be done, Jason made the connections with staff and the work got done. If it was a generalized thing, he at least listened. New to local politics he started off on the wrong foot, antagonizing the then mayor, Cathy Murillo whose mind like an elephant’s never overlooked a perceived slight. He and his family were renters and he knows the world of Santa Barbara tenants; with his four years on the council, there won’t be the learning curve (and $expense of staff time) of new council members.
> Cathy Murillo whose mind like an elephant’s never overlooked a perceived slight.
What an incredibly dishonest statement. I know Cathy well and she is humble and extremely forgiving.
> We don’t need activists in the local government
Then you don’t need Jason.
Actually we very much need activists in local government, but people differ as to what policies and outcomes they should actively work for.
Let’s go. Fiscal responsibility? Yes. Never-ending spending on consultants to tell the City Council what to do and then they don’t act on it? Nope. Common sense, thoughtful, independent thinkers? Yes. Democratic Socialists? Nope.
You want your representatives to have many of the qualities you seem to lack!
Glad to See Jason is back. Hopefully Santa Barbara can turn itself around. I feel for all the folks dealing with the incompetence of City Hall, what is interesting is that it is pretty much the same in every city in California. it is so much easier to mature out of the petty games, narratives and people who run local government and focus on positive things happening in the world.
As Basic would say – instead about whining about people in political positions go find a better one and vote for them. Except, don’t forget where you live. You live in a liberal/progressive area so you are in for a lifetime of whining and being triggered.
Advice from someone who can’t even focus on basic sentence structure. Very strange.
I find it annoying that a candidate who lost an election in one district simply moves to another district and tries again. Is this all for ego, Jason?
> if you talk to (prominent UCSB economist) Peter Rupert
A well known right wing ideologue with a very strong vested interest in a particular position.