It appears that Laura Capps may have already cleared the field of any serious challengers in her quest to become the county’s next 2nd District supervisor, well before the first day that prospective candidates are legally able to file their letters of intent with county election officials.
Capps, now serving her second term on the Santa Barbara school board, has been bombarding the media with an impressive array of high-profile endorsements — including the likes of Congressmember Salud Carbajal, District Attorney Joyce Dudley, all the former female county supervisors still alive, and the Laborers International Union of North America, Local 220. It worked. Her most viable Democratic rival, Jonathan Abboud — general manager of the Isla Vista Community Services District and a member of the Santa Barbara City College Board of Trustees — announced this Friday he would not be running.
Abboud, a talented political activist with deep roots in Isla Vista and the party’s progressive wing, had let it be known he was seriously interested in running for the 2nd District when the current occupant of the seat — Gregg Hart — announced that he would be running for the State Assembly; but Abboud never officially declared. He said he would elaborate further early next week but explained he could see the necessary level of support was not there.