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City of Alhambra · Statewide General Election

Alhambra City Council, District 5

Draft candidate list — early preview until the state’s official list publishes on August 27, 2026.

This is one contest. Enter your address to see every race on your November ballot, and keep track of your picks.

On the ballot

This person holds your district's seat on Alhambra's 5-member City Council: city ordinances, the budget, and land use.

Incumbent Adele F. Andrade-Stadler faces two challengers for District 5: college professor and former Historic Preservation Commissioner Melissa Michelson, and commercial plumber Alejandro Covarrubias, who local reporting says did not qualify for the ballot in a previous attempt.

This person holds one of five district seats on Alhambra's City Council: city ordinances, the budget, land-use and development approvals, and the city's contracts. Members serve four-year terms and choose one of their own as a rotating mayor.

Andrade-Stadler is running on continuing a two-term record — inclusionary housing, expanded affordable-housing assistance, a local-hire workforce agreement, the city's move to 100% renewable energy. Michelson is campaigning explicitly against developer and PAC money and for more transparency at City Hall. Local reporting reviewed for this contest did not surface a platform from Covarrubias.

Adele F. Andrade-Stadler

This person is Alhambra's first Latina mayor, a former 14-year member of the Alhambra Unified school board, and the sitting District 5 councilmember since 2018, seeking a third term. She is running on continuing her record: the city's Inclusionary Housing Ordinance, expanded affordable-housing assistance programs, a Community Workforce Agreement for local hiring, and Alhambra's transition to 100% renewable energy. She also serves on regional bodies covering San Gabriel Valley transportation, housing and long-range planning, including the region's Housing Trust.

Strengths

Two terms with a concrete legislative record — inclusionary housing, expanded affordable-housing aid, a local-hire agreement, and the city's 100% renewable-energy shift.

Trade-offs

Running as the sitting councilmember means citywide frustrations over housing costs and the long-stalled 710 stub attach to her record more than to either challenger's.

Keep in mind

She frames 2026 as continuing prior work rather than a new agenda — worth asking what a third term would finish that two terms didn't.

Melissa Michelson

This person is a college professor and 18-year Alhambra resident who previously served on the city's Historic Preservation Commission. She is running on supporting small businesses, responsible housing, infrastructure, environmental stewardship, neighborhood preservation and City Hall transparency, and says her campaign will not accept donations from developers, contractors, PACs or corporations. Her prior advocacy includes campaign-finance reform, protecting Alhambra's urban forest, opposing a 1,068-unit development on polluted land, and founding the Altadena Not for Sale movement after the Eaton Fire.

Strengths

A no-developer, no-PAC funding pledge paired with a specific record — campaign-finance reform advocacy, urban-forest protection, and opposition to a 1,068-unit project on polluted land.

Trade-offs

No experience in elected city office; her Historic Preservation Commission seat is her only appointed city role.

Keep in mind

Her funding pledge is a real constraint on how she can run a campaign — worth watching whether it holds through November against an incumbent with more institutional support.

Alejandro Covarrubias

This person is a commercial plumber challenging Andrade-Stadler for the District 5 seat. Local reporting reviewed for this contest did not surface a published platform for his 2026 campaign. He reportedly ran for this seat once before but did not qualify for the ballot, so this is his first time actually reaching a November election for it.

Strengths

A trade background as a commercial plumber, and this is his first time actually qualifying for the ballot after a prior attempt reportedly fell short.

Trade-offs

No published platform found in the coverage reviewed for this contest, and no record in elected or appointed city office to evaluate.

Keep in mind

The absence of a platform is what the record shows right now, not a judgment on him — if a campaign surfaces before November, the weekly refresh should catch it.

Source review: Strong (87/100) · 4 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with multiple sources checked.

Last updated August 31, 2026.