Joshua Molina / Noozhawk photo Political newcomer Wendy Santamaria appears to have ousted Santa Barbara City Councilwoman Alejandra Gutierrez in the District 1 race, leading by nearly 5% as vote counting from the Nov. 5 election continues with all the speed of a banana slug hopped up on Valium, Xanax and a Nyquil chaser. As our Josh Molina reported, Santamaria is an outspoken rent control and tenants rights activist. Her victory would create a four-vote council majority favoring rent stabilization measures, including a “rent cap,” which apparently is what we’re calling rent control these days. “Santamaria’s election greatly increases the chances for some form of rent control,” said Ben Romo, a political analyst who was unaffiliated with any of the council campaigns this year. “There is now a majority of council members who generally support rent stabilization. However, I don’t think they have consensus on the specifics.” The lack of specifics isn’t surprising since rent control — excuse me, a rent cap — has never, ever achieved its objectives at any time or in any place, anywhere in the world. But what am I saying? Santamaria and council rent cap crusaders Oscar Gutierrez, Meagan Harmon and Kristen Sneddon are pros. The best. There’s a first time for everything and, besides, history is no match for Santa Barbara virtue signaling. As Santamaria was successfully challenging Alejandra Gutierrez, incumbents Oscar Gutierrez and Councilman Mike Jordan were re-elected comfortably. And although 49 of the 50 states are done with the 2024 election, California is in no hurry to finish counting its ballots. Nor is Santa Barbara County. As of Nov. 9, the county Elections Office still needed to count some 41,000 unprocessed vote-by-mail ballots, 1,000 provisional ballots, 5,100 conditional voter registration provisional ballots, and 2,000 challenged or incomplete ballots.