1-on-1. In Bid for SB Council, Ian Baucke Wears Many Political Hats - Dem Favorite, Monique Aide, Strong Towns Advocate
A self-confessed policy nerd, the 27-year old district rep for SB's state Senator is a full-throated progressive advocating rent control, a carless State St. and more city spending on housing.
Ian Baucke “got the political bug” early, he says.
Born and raised in Santa Barbara, he headed to Washington, D.C., after his 2017 graduation from San Marcos High School to attend George Washington University, one of the nation’s premier training grounds for political leaders.
Blocks from the White House and Capitol Hill, he earned an undergraduate degree in Political Science and a master’s in Professional Studies in Political Management, although the pandemic temporarily disrupted the latter pursuit. Back home during lockdown, he dipped into some local campaigns and causes while also landing a remote gig with a nonprofit that distributed federal relief funds to counties.
“I got involved in local politics during what I call ‘the spring break that never ended,’ as I started grad school during Covid,” Baucke said in an interview. “And those experiences really made me decide that the local level is where I would want to invest my time as someone interested in a career in public service.”
Today, the 27-year-old, self-confessed policy nerd is a leading candidate for the open City Council seat in Santa Barbara’s District 5, his campaign bolstered by an interlocking network of plugged-in personal, political and policy alliances.
A Democratic county committee member, he won a coveted spot on the party’s endorsement slate card unanimously. A district representative on state Sen. Monique Limón’s staff, he earns an annual state salary of $69,600, according to payroll records. He’s known around City Hall, as the son of city Planning Commissioner John Baucke; as the chair of the city’s advisory Transportation and Circulation Committee; and as a public advocate for Strong Towns Santa Barbara — the local chapter of a national progressive urban planning coalition best known here for its successful, absolutist crusade to keep the State Street “Promenade” closed to traffic.
“I think there’s a bit of a misconception out there that we have a Chicago-style party boss machine or something like that,” Baucke told Newsmakers, when asked about the Democratic Party endorsement.
“So yeah, I show up when I can with groups like Strong Towns or the Tenants Union or the Democratic Party, because I found them and I joined them intentionally because they aligned with my values,” he said. “And so that’s why I have the opinions I do. But I’m always happy to talk to folks who have a difference and work it out.”
State of play. District 5 includes Upper State Street, part of San Roque, Hitchcock, Hidden Valley and other nearby neighborhoods. It is relatively affluent, with the highest share among the six council districts of bachelor’s degree holders, according to U.S. Census data, and over half of households owning their own home.
Having moved back home for good in 2024, Baucke is one of three candidates who have pulled papers to run, with film producer and community volunteer Cevin Cathell and financial planner James Zurlinden also vying for the post.
In the interview, Baucke expressed confidence in the ideological correctness of his economic and political analysis of what ails Santa Barbara, but said he remains flexible in crafting policy prescriptions for dealing with it.
“I try to talk to people with a diverse set of perspectives, but I do land on positions that align with my values and what I think is the best path forward for the community,” he said. “And I think that’s a value add for voters.”
“Just growing up in this community as a local, so many of my friends and folks of my generation and beyond have been priced out and displaced — folks who would have stayed in Santa Barbara,” he added. “Our tax dollars were spent educating them and they were invested here. And then through no fault of their own, they’ve been pushed out.”
“Everybody in Santa Barbara … is making a financial sacrifice to live in this community,” Baucke said. “And I think the city council needs to recognize that and honor that and get to work on the policies that we need, especially affordable housing, to make a difference and make it easier for people to live here.
“So that’s kind of the thesis for my campaign,” he said.
Fun with faction. Asked if he’s concerned about political polarization in a small city — as indicated by recent 4-to-3 council votes on a host of long-term consequential policies, from rent control to State Street to the budget — Baucke said divisiveness would decrease if Democratic candidates win more seats.
“I think the reality is that you have an overwhelmingly liberal city,” he said. “And so you’re going to have more of a liberal majority on the council inherently, going forward now that we’ve increased voter participation by moving to even-year elections and district elections.
“And so I would like to see more consensus — I’m really excited about the other (Democratic) candidates running in Districts 4 and 6,” he added. “And if people want to see more consensus … they should vote for us, because you’re going to have a lot fewer 4-to-3 votes if that’s the case.”
With city council seats required by the state Constitution to be non-partisan, we asked him to identify anything in the local Democratic Party’s 7,800-word platform, with which he disagrees: “I struggle to think of an example,” Baucke said, acknowledging that he has not read the document closely, “and I think that just happens to be what my politics are.”
“I’m a progressive,” he said. “That’s the only label I subscribe to — other than that I’m a progressive Democrat.”
“And I believe I’m fighting for working-class Santa Barbarans who are being pushed out. And I think we need a city council that isn’t afraid to say, ‘These are the problems and these are the solutions that we believe in and that we’re going to fight for,’” he added. “People are free to disagree with any of them, but I think they’d appreciate knowing where you stand.
Baucke shrugged off questions about any appearance of a conflict of interest between his duties as a council member and his simultaneous service to Sen. Limón, one of the most powerful politicians in Sacramento, who has her own, far-flung and complex policy and political agenda.
“My day job is my day job,” he said. “I have the utmost respect for Senator Limón. It’s an absolute privilege to work for her. We’re focused day-to-day in the office on delivering results for constituents and helping them … So I don’t see it as a conflict. It is something to be mindful of and to be transparent about and navigate.”
On the issues. Our conversation with Baucke is the latest in a summer-long series Newsmakers is doing with candidates for council and mayor. In our campaign interviews, we ask the candidates for their views on four key issues. Here’s what he said about them:
Budget. Baucke said he does not see any current budget expense that should be cut, and his major fiscal concern is identifying a steady and reliable revenue stream for the city’s Local Housing Trust Fund. “I think there’s a lot of revenue possibilities that have a direct nexus to affordable housing that are the most appropriate. Vacancy tax, residential and commercial, I would support. Real estate transfer tax I think is something worth looking into … The number one expense for the city, as it is for any organization, is people — the staff and their salaries and their benefits. And my preference is to not cut any of them. The city residents deserve the full-service city that we’ve built over the years and have come to expect. And I’m committed to finding every possible way to maintain those services.”
Rent control. “I support rent stabilization … This is about preserving the population, the people who define and make up Santa Barbara, and their ability to live here. If we don’t make policy actions like this, this town is going to wither away. That’s just the demographic reality that we’ve seen over the years. And I don’t want that to happen, and I’m going to do everything in my power from a policymaking perspective if I’m elected to prevent it. And if that requires us standing up to special interests, I get it … But I’m committed to making sure there’s a process for property owners who have unexpected repairs they need to make for tenants, to find ways to amortize that. It’s not about being punitive or picking sides between one economic group or another. It’s about preventing an increase in homelessness.”
State Street. For Baucke, reopening any portion of downtown State Street to traffic is a non-starter. However, he said the proliferation of e-bikes has created problems that require further regulation. “I kind of think that we ended up going with the worst of both worlds by putting a giant bike lane down the middle with no actual separation. Because what it tells people is, ‘This is my space.’ And now we have this proliferation of both legal and illegal e-bikes. A lot of what you see there are going 30, 40 miles an hour and are not even street legal … But we need to get it under control. I believe that we should be impounding any vehicle that’s not street legal and that’s being ridden.”
Ranked-choice voting. “Ranked-choice voting is a great system. It’s definitely preferable to the one that we have now … if we’re able to do it in a way that gets other races incorporated, I think that would be preferable. But it is objectively a better system. So yes, I would be supportive of that or a runoff system.”
Check out our conversation with Ian Baucke via YouTube below or by clicking this link. Our podcast is available on Apple, Spotify, or on SoundCloud. TVSB, Channel 17, airs the show every weeknight at 5 p.m. and at 9 a.m. on weekends. KCSB, 91.9 FM, broadcasts the program at 5:30 p.m. on weekends.
Newsmakers’ Candidate Conversations. To offer Santa Barbara voters early introductions to contenders for four City Council seats, including Mayor, in the Nov. 3 election, Newsmakers is publishing one-on-one interviews with the candidates over the summer. Upcoming interviews include candidates Alexander Stoeber, James Zurlinden, Wendy Sims-Moten and Kristen Sneddon. Here is who we’ve spoken with to date: