Genevieve Taft-Vazquez, the candidate next door, seeks to represent home district on Santa Barbara City Council

In a city where political endorsements can be a one-way ticket to getting elected, Genevieve Taft-Vazquez is choosing the road less traveled. A former sustainability director at Coca-Cola, the Lower Riviera mom-of-three is vying for a competitive seat with a grassroots campaign to represent the district she grew up in for Santa Barbara City Council. “I was born and raised in this district,” Taft-Vazquez said. “I m very tied to this district. It is not some place I m dipping in and leaving.” In District 4, an area that encompasses the Santa Barbara Mission, San Roque and the Riviera—mostly single-family homeowners—Taft-Vasquez is trying to pull off the ultimate upset: beat the Santa Barbara County Democratic Party- and the Santa Barbara Independent-endorsed candidate by crafting a campaign as an everyday folksy Santa Barbara resident who is selected by the people, not the Party.  She faces the perceived frontrunner Devon Wardlow, a Santa Barbara Planning Commissioner, who ha