Lowering the average age of City Council by a decade — while pushing its politics even further left - a new generation is about to arrive at Santa Barbara City Hall.
As the mayor’s race remained undecided, the election on Tuesday of new lefty Democrat district representatives Devon Wardlow (38), Ian Baucke (27) and Gabe Escobedo (37) adds two Millennials and a Gen Zer to the incumbent mix of Wendy Santamaria (29), Oscar Gutierrez (42) and lone Boomer and moderate Mike Jordan (71) - as fellow Gen X members Eric Friedman (49) and Kristen Sneddon (55) sweat out the ongoing vote count (10,701-10,389) that will determine the next mayor.**
On a post-election edition of Newsmakers TV, Julianna Lozada, Nick Welsh and Josh Molina join the genial host in slicing, dicing and dissecting Tuesday’s results, which also produced, among other things, two new Santa Barbara Unified School District trustees and a new member of the Board of Supervisors.
The gang also talks inside-the-newsroom stuff, including a spirited exchange about what’s considered fair and foul in election attacks; a full and frank exchange of views about who’s responsible for vetting candidates; and a young reporter’s first impressions of covering campaigns in the free fire zone of Santa Barbara politics.
Plus: the untold story of the time Devon unexpectedly showed up at the front door of Mr. Cranky Pants.
All this and more, right here, right now, on Newsmakers TV.
Check out the new episode 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.
** (P.S. Stipulating that Newsmakers never made it through Calculus: by our reckoning the current average age of City Council is 50.7 years, and will decrease a decade regardless of who’s mayor, with Eric making it 41.5 or Kristen bringing it to 42.4.)