Santa Barbara County supervisors often split along north-south lines on issues, and so did many voters in Tuesday’s election for the pivotal seat of 3rd District supervisor.

Doreen Farr led the field of five candidates, garnering nearly 36 percent of the votes overall, by sweeping almost all precincts in Isla Vista, UCSB and western Goleta.

In those areas, she drew as much as 72 percent of the votes cast in individual precincts, according to totals compiled by the county Elections Division.

Second-place finisher Steve Pappas of Los Olivos, on the other hand, made an impressive showing in the Santa Ynez Valley, which is home to all but one of the candidates.

He won most of the precincts in the valley, and fared well even in Solvang, where both Farr and David Smyser, that city’s former mayor, live.

Except for one precinct, Pappas also won the city of Buellton, where candidate Victoria Pointer resides and has been a city councilwoman for 16 years.

At last count, Pappas was about 500 votes ahead of Smyser for the right to compete against Farr in a November runoff election.

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However, more than 2,000 ballots from the 3rd District are among nearly 8,900 absentee and provisional ballots still to be validated and counted, said county Clerk-Assessor-Recorder Joe Holland.

Political observers said there is very little chance those remaining votes will undo Pappas’ second-place finish. So far, he has 25 percent of the votes counted and Smyser has 21 percent. They are followed by Dr. David Bearman of Goleta, with 9.9 percent, and Pointer at 8 percent.

What jumps from the pages of the precinct-by-precinct totals is the anemic showing by Smyser, a former county planning commissioner and ex-mayor and city councilman of Solvang, who was endorsed by incumbent 3rd District Supervisor Brooks Firestone.

Although Smyser won several precincts in the Lompoc Valley, Vandenberg Village and Los Alamos areas — and a small one in Solvang that got him 14 votes — he was nearly shut out by Farr in the South Coast portion of the sprawling district. There, he won only two small precincts in Goleta that together garnered him 20 votes.

Smyser could not be reached for comment Wednesday, and did not respond to voicemail messages left at his campaign office, on his cell phone and that of his campaign manager, Marlene King.

His campaign was well-financed and, as the only Republican in the race, he had strong backing from business, agricultural and real-estate interests. He also had formerly worked as Firestone’s administrative aide.

He was also the target of an anonymously distributed “hit piece” brochure that showed up in mailboxes throughout the district late last week, featuring excepts from newspaper articles and editorials critical of Smyser, several observers noted.

“Most of the candidates were shooting at Smyser” during the campaign, said Andy Caldwell, spokesman for the Coalition of Labor, Agriculture and Business (COLAB). “I think (his defeat) boils down to most of his opponents focusing all their attacks on him.”

Plus, Caldwell said, the pool of available votes — unusually small because of low voter turnout in this election — was divided among too many candidates.

The final turnout was still being tabulated, but it will be about 38 percent of registered voters countywide, Holland estimated.

Caldwell couldn’t predict where the conservative support Smyser drew will go for the November runoff, and whether either candidate will benefit from it.

“I have no clue,” he said. “I think it would take a miracle for anyone to beat Farr in November,” he added, because turnout at Isla Vista and UCSB is expected to be extraordinarily high then due to the presidential election.

Firestone said Tuesday he was surprised and disappointed by Smyser’s defeat.

“I thought he would be in the runoff” against Farr, added the first-term supervisor who decided not to run again and will leave the board in early January.

He said he didn’t see Smyser’s loss as a sign of voter discontent with the way the district is being represented.

“I really don’t think so,” Firestone said.

Pappas could not be reached for comment Wednesday, but said Tuesday night he was thrilled with the election results. His campaign gained strong momentum in recent weeks from a big influx of campaign donations that helped pay for a plethora of television ads.

“He ran a very strong campaign,” Farr acknowledged Wednesday. She’s not concerned about having to face him in a runoff, though.

“I think things will go well in November.”

Farr lived for 21 years in Goleta and was a 2nd District county planning commissioner there for three years. A retired businesswoman and planning consultant, she moved to Solvang in 2004, and is a former president of the Santa Ynez Valley Alliance citizens group.

She was pleased that “my message resonated (with voters) for the community work that I’ve done, which was nonpartisan,” she said. “I think voters were looking for that, (someone who is) reaching out and wanting to work with everybody.”

Although the seat is nonpartisan, lists of endorsements and campaign donations show she was heavily supported by Democratic factions, environmentalists and labor unions. Congresswoman Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara, appeared in numerous television ads supporting Farr.

Bearman, arguably the most liberal of the five candidates, said he’s unsure whether he will now throw his support to either Farr or Pappas. Pointer could not be reached for comment on whether she will endorse either candidate.

Bearman said he wasn’t surprised that Smyser apparently finished third.

“I just think Smyser didn’t give people a reason to vote for him,” he asserted.

“There was nothing that really stood out in his campaign,” Bearman added. “I think he was trying to appeal to everybody while appealing to nobody.”

Pappas, on the other hand, “ran a really good campaign” by showing specific stances he had taken in the past on issues, Bearman said. “I think the deluge of (television) commercials Pappas put out recently really helped him. I think he came across with more energy and sounded like more of a grassroots kind of person” than Smyser.

Chuck Schultz can be reached at 925-2691, Ext. 2241, or cschultz@santamariatimes.

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