Continuing the flurry of political bids for 2016, Assemblymember Das Williams announced Monday that he will run for 1st District Supervisor of Santa Barbara County. Williams, 40, terms out of the California State Assembly next year after serving in the legislature since 2010. Before that, he spent seven years on the Santa Barbara City Council.
Williams said many people had urged him to run for Congress but “one more good, progressive Democrat in that race would just increase the unnecessary mess and carnage.” Salud Carbajal, who currently represents Santa Barbara's 1st District, and Mayor Helene Schneider — both Democrats — formally announced their bids for the 24th Congressional District seat last week. Williams, whose wife is pregnant with their first child, added he wants to be a “good father first.”
Encompassing much of the South Coast, the 1st District includes Carpinteria, Montecito, the City of Santa Barbara, and Cuyama. Before Carbajal took office in 2005, the late Naomi Schwartz held the office for a decade.