Madeline Bryce / Daily Nexus
The UC Santa Barbara spring election was supposed to close this past Thursday but was extended due to low voter turnout, with items on the ballot such as Associated Students offices and nothing else that anyone can name. As political discourse on campus surrounding the election is seemingly quieter than ever, it parallels a larger, but no more relevant, statewide race for the governor’s seat.
The front-runner for the California governor’s office was now-disgraced former Representative Eric Swalwell — thankfully, this country always takes sexual assault allegations very seriously, and he resigned from his position and ended his campaign.
Community members weighed in about who they think might be the next most-viable candidate for the position.
“What?” second-year environmental studies major Nathan Perez said.
Not only were students passionate about the gubernatorial race and eager to talk about it, but high-profile political scholars are also debating fiercely about the topic.
“I really don’t know. I haven’t thought about it,” distinguished professor and Department of Political Science Chair Susan Pandey said.
In order to generate voter turnout for the UCSB spring election, Associate Students (A.S.) senators threw a “Pizza and Politics” party in Storke Plaza on Monday. Almost the entire A.S. Senate was in attendance, along with several A.S. officers and other ambiguous nerds.
“We really hope this event will allow us to answer some questions that undecided voters have. We assume that most people haven’t voted because they’re unsure about our policies, which are really complex and important to the student body. I can’t wait to meet potential voters and get voter turnout up,” second-year global studies major and College of Engineering Senator Catherine Stewart said.
Pizza and Politics ended up being the most successful A.S. event of the entire 2025-26 school year, garnering 12 attendees. The event featured two (2) Costco pizzas, some balloons, a “spin-to-win” wheel from which attendees could receive a free Jolly Rancher and three times more A.S. officials than attendees, themselves.
Despite the event’s smashing success, rumors on the ground suggest that the whopping 12 attendees may have been staged.
“I heard that the senators just told their friends to come. Senator Walker’s situationship was here earlier, but I think that she dumped him in the corner after seeing how boring it was,” first-year biochemistry major and event onlooker Joshua Christian said.
Along with the A.S. event, alleged gubernatorial frontrunner Tom Steyer visited Santa Barbara recently for a town hall at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. With a crowd of around 300 people, the political engagement was higher than any recent event in Santa Barbara history.
“I liked him,” Goleta community member John Chiou said. “I attended today because my wife wanted to.”
When asked about Steyer’s competition in the race, Chiou failed to name another candidate.
In order to get a young voter’s perspective, we put out a search for sources on students with opinions on Steyer as a candidate. One student, third-year English major Ethan Lane, responded.
“Is Tom Steyer the guy running for A.S. president? I’m not really sure about his position on I.V. cityhood,” Lane said.
As students seemed torn about which election to care about less, we published a poll on Instagram where followers could vote for the race about which they cared the most. With over 800 views on the story, only six viewers voted in the poll. Three voted for the gubernatorial race, one voted for the UCSB spring election and two responded “neither.”
Future events to generate voter engagement are allegedly on the horizon, including the “Tom Steyer for EVPLA Taco Tuesday” party this coming Friday. Stay tuned for more information.
Joseph R. Biden only knows about the A.S.S. election.
