Das Williams has served in public office for two decades, first on the Santa Barbara City Council (2003-2010), in the California State Assembly (2010-2016), and as Santa Barbara County Supervisor for the First District (2016-2024). Today, he serves as Senior Advisor for Policy and Legislative Affairs for Central Coast Community Energy (3CE), working to provide 100% clean energy to 1.2 million people across 5 counties and 34 cities—10 to 15 years ahead of California’s timeline—to give our children a cleaner and healthier planet.
[expander_maker id=”1″ more=”Read more” less=”Read less”]Growing up in Santa Barbara, splitting time between his parents in Ojai and Isla Vista, life circumstances caused Das to drop out of Dos Pueblos High School and live in a van as a teenager. Das found his way back through education at Santa Barbara City College, where he discovered his life’s calling under Dr. Manoutchehr Eskandari-Qajar: to be “a voice for the voiceless.” This mission took him to South Africa to work for Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress during the country’s first democratic election in 1994. After earning a degree from UC Berkeley, Das returned to Santa Barbara to attend UCSB’s Bren School and began his career in public service.

As a State Assemblymember and Chair of the Assembly Higher Education Committee, Das authored bills that expanded access to California’s public universities and colleges. Following the tragic Isla Vista mass shooting, he passed landmark gun safety legislation and organized gun buy-back events to remove dangerous guns from our neighborhoods. As a County Supervisor, he helped secure more funding for infant childcare and expanded after school programs for working families. Understanding that stable housing provides the foundation children need to succeed, Das authored local laws strengthening renters’ rights, created emergency assistance programs to prevent family evictions, and supported affordable and rental housing projects that working families desperately need.

Today, Das lives in Carpinteria with his wife Jonnie, and is a proud Das to their two daughters, Ya’Ash and Khaya.[/expander_maker]