Administrative/Regulatory
Jun. 26, 2026
Veteran jurist's defeat marks rare upset in Santa Barbara judicial election
Attorney Luis Esparza defeated incumbent Judge Thomas R. Adams Jr. in a rare contested judicial election, ending the 85-year-old judge's more than four decades on the Santa Barbara Superior Court.
Santa Barbara attorney Luis Esparza defeated incumbent Judge Thomas R. Adams Jr. in the June 2 primary, unseating one of California's longest-serving trial judges in a rare contested judicial election.
According to the latest semi-official results as of Friday, Esparza received 51.5% of the vote to Adams' 48.2%, with write-ins receiving 0.3%.
The election represented one of the few contested judicial races in California, where incumbent Superior Court judges rare...
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