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City of Anaheim · Statewide General Election

Anaheim City Council, District 3

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 Anaheim's 6-member district-elected City Council: city ordinances, the budget, and land use, alongside the citywide-elected mayor. A 4-year term.

Incumbent Natalie Rubalcava faces challenger Elia Renteria-Garcia for Anaheim City Council District 3. Whichever candidate gets the most votes on November 3 wins outright; there's no runoff.

This person holds District 3's seat on Anaheim's 6-member district-elected City Council, alongside the citywide-elected mayor: city ordinances, the budget, and land-use decisions in central Anaheim. A 4-year term.

Rubalcava is campaigning for a second term on a record built around a business-council and local-media career before office, plus a first term she frames around homelessness, public safety, and fiscal responsibility. Renteria-Garcia, a first-time candidate, brings a nonprofit-sector background -- a different professional lens than Rubalcava's business and media career, though no detailed platform from her was reachable in this pass.

Natalie Rubalcava

The incumbent, elected to District 3 in November 2022 and serving as mayor pro tem in 2023. A fourth-generation Anaheim resident who attended local schools, she previously served as chief operating officer of the Orange County Business Council and as associate publisher at the Southern California News Group, which publishes the Orange County Register. She served on Anaheim's Community Services Board from 2004 to 2014 (chair in 2009) and on the city's Housing and Community Development Commission from June to December 2022, and was appointed to the OC Fair & Event Center board of directors in 2018. She holds a bachelor's in political science from Cal State Fullerton and a law degree from the University of La Verne. She names homelessness, public safety, worker protections, youth safety, mental health, and fiscal responsibility as her priorities.

Strengths

A business-council and regional-media career before office, plus a law degree and years of prior city-board service ahead of her council term.

Trade-offs

A four-year incumbency means her record is the fuller one on this ballot for voters to weigh, for better or worse.

Keep in mind

This dataset could not independently verify her campaign-finance filings -- see Financial info.

Elia Renteria-Garcia

A nonprofit development director, per the city's own certified candidate list. A first-time candidate for elected office. Her registered campaign domain (eliaforanaheim.com) resolves to a parked placeholder page with no content, and no campaign platform, news interview, or further biography was found for her in this pass beyond that stated occupation.

Strengths

A nonprofit-sector fundraising and development background distinct from Rubalcava's business-council and media career.

Trade-offs

No stated platform was reachable in this pass -- an honest gap, not a claim she lacks one.

Keep in mind

This dataset could not independently verify her campaign-finance filings, and her registered campaign domain carries no content as of this retrieval -- see Financial info.

Source review: Very strong (93/100) · 5 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with multiple sources checked.

  • ocvote.gov (opens in a new tab)OC Registrar of Voters — Contest/Candidate Proof List, General Election 11/3/2026 (169 contests, 430 candidates filed)
  • anaheim.net (opens in a new tab)City of Anaheim -- Elections page (anaheim.net/2917): confirms the Nov. 3, 2026 General Municipal Election fills the Mayor (at-large) and City Council Districts 2, 3, and 6, each a 4-year term, and names Ashleigh Aitken, Carlos A. Leon, Natalie Rubalcava, and Natalie Meeks as the incumbents in each of the four races, each "eligible for re-election"
  • anaheim.net (opens in a new tab)City of Anaheim -- 2026 Candidate List: names all nine qualified candidates across the four November 2026 races, including each candidate's stated occupation (Sharief: "Doctor/Businessman"; Rodriguez: "General Manager"; Renteria-Garcia: "Nonprofit Development Director") and flags each incumbent
  • ocregister.com (opens in a new tab)Orange County Register (Laylan Connelly et al.) -- "Candidate fields take shape for City Council elections in Orange County": independently confirms Anaheim's roster and contest status across all 34 OC cities that held filing -- "Incumbent Ashleigh Aitken is facing challenges from Alfredo Rodriguez and Imran Sharief for the mayoral seat and Elia Renteria-Garcia is going up against Natalie Rubalcava for the District 3 seat. Incumbents Carlos Leon and Natalie Meeks are unchallenged for districts 2 and 6"
  • anaheim.net (opens in a new tab)City of Anaheim -- Council Member Natalie Rubalcava (official biography): District 3, elected Nov. 2022, mayor pro tem in 2023; a fourth-generation Anaheim resident and former OC Business Council COO and Southern California News Group associate publisher; JD, University of La Verne

Last updated August 31, 2026.