Four candidates in the running for Santa Maria mayor, including longtime incumbent

SANTA MARIA, Calif. - The upcoming election for Santa Maria mayor features a crowded field of four candidates, which includes three challengers looking to unseat the longtime incumbent.

In the race for Santa Maria mayor is current mayor Alice Patino, along with challengers Diana Perez, William Smith and Andrew Foster.

For Patino, this marks her fourth time running for mayor, while Smith has challenged Patino twice before in 2016 and 2020, while Perez and Foster are running for the citywide seat for the first time.

While city council members are now selected using a district format, the mayor's seat is chosen by all of Santa Maria voters.

Patino is the first female mayor in Santa Maria history. She first captured the seat in 2012 and has twice been re-elected, in 2016 and 2020. She has also served on the Santa Maria City Council since 2000.

Smith served on the Santa Maria-Bonita School District Board during a four-year term from 2010 to 2014.

Perez stepped down as president of Santa Maria Joint Union High School District Board in mid-July to campaign for the mayoral position.

Foster, a Santa Maria native and Army veteran, is making his first bid for public office.

To help inform voters so they learn more about the candidates and where they stand on key issues, News Channel 3-12 recently spent time with each of the four candidates and asked a series of same questions.

Each of the full-length interviews are attached to this web story so voters will be able to watch the candidates answer the questions in their entirety.

The questions ranged from why each candidate feels they are the best one to choose from, to what can be done to address the city's current $21 million budget deficit, to their opinions on the current downtown redevelopment, to what issues they feel are most important, to what a vote for them will mean should the candidate win the race, as well as several others.