By Jorge Casuso
November 5, 2026 – The political status quo is prevailing in Tuesday's General Election, with every incumbent in the races for City Council, as well as Rent, School and College boards poised to retain their seats.
Councilmember Lana Negrete maintained her lead over Mayor Caroline Torosis in the race for three Council seats, while environmental activist Ashley Oelsen was on track to replace outgoing incumbent Councilmember Jesse Zwick.
Zwick did not seek reelection after being hired to head a housing advocacy group, a position that creates a potential conflict of interest when housing issues come before the Council.
Local businessman Doug Trussler held on to the fourth spot, but was more than 1,500 votes behind Oelsen. Trussler was followed by Brett Morrow and Rent Board member Danny Ivanov.
Morrow and Ivanov are running on a slate headed by Torosis and backed by Santa Monicans for Renters' Rights (SMMR), which has dominated local politics for more than 40 years.
Negrete, the lone non-SMRR voice on the seven member Council, is running with Oelsen and Trussler in an effort to make a dent on SMRR's super-majority on the Council.
Traditionally, Council incumbents were routinely reelected in Santa Monica, with only three incumbents losing their seats between 1994 and 2020. That abruptly changed with the coronavirus shutdown in March 2020 followed by the Memorial Day riots that tore through the city's Downtown.
That November, three SMRR incumbents were swept out of office in a voter revolt. Four years later, two of the incumbents that won seats in 2020 were ousted when SMRR swept all four open seats.
Incumbents on elected boards have seen little or no turmoil, facing few challengers or, in some cases, no challengers at all. The pattern has persisted in Tuesday's race, where the seven incumbents running all are easily cruising to victory.
In the race for four seats on the School District Board, the three incumbents running -- Alicia Mignano, Laurie Lieberman and Stacy Rouse -- will return to the seven member board, joined by Robbie Staenberg. Challenger Harry Leshner is running a distant fifth.
The race for four seats on the College District Board also saw the three incumbents running -- Sion Roy, Tom Peters and appointed member Luis Barrera Castanon – poised for easy victories, along with Kera Blades Snell. Former councilmember Oscar de la Torre was a distant fifth,
The Rent Control Board saw only one incumbent, Kurt Gonska, seeking reelection in the race for three seats on the five-member Board. He was second, behind former Mayor Sue Himmelrich and ahead of Heather Thomason. All three have insurmountable leads over the other two candidates.