# Anaheim City Council, District 3 Compare records and positions simply between Elia Renteria-Garcia or Natalie Rubalcava for Anaheim City Council, District 3 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person holds your district's seat on Anaheim's 6-member district-elected City Council. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use, alongside the citywide-elected mayor. The term is four years. - Jurisdiction: City of Anaheim - Election: November 3, 2026 California general election - Publisher: Vote or Else (https://voteorelse.com) — a free, nonpartisan ballot guide for California voters. No endorsements. - Canonical page: https://voteorelse.com/2026/anaheim-council-3 - Full ballot: this page covers one race. Every contest on a voter's own ballot, by address, with the same breakdown for each: https://voteorelse.com/ - Sources last retrieved: October 6, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 93 out of 100 (Very strong), across 6 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Elia Renteria-Garcia** - **Natalie Rubalcava** — Incumbent A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. 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 City Council. Council seats are elected by district. The mayor is elected citywide. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use in central Anaheim. The term is four years. Rubalcava is running for a second term. She points to a business council and local media career before office. She frames her first term around homelessness, public safety, and fiscal responsibility. Renteria-Garcia is a first-time candidate. They bring a nonprofit background, a different lens than Rubalcava's business and media career. ## 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. She also holds 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. Voters can weigh it, for better or worse. **Keep in mind:** Her stated priorities come from the city's biography. Her campaign finance filings could not be verified. See Financial info. ## Elia Renteria-Garcia A nonprofit development director, per the city's own certified candidate list, and a first-time candidate for elected office. In their Vote411 questionnaire they describe more than two decades of public service, including victim advocacy, work with the Orange County Family Justice Center, experience with the Anaheim Police Department, and leadership in local nonprofits focused on food access and economic opportunity. Their three stated priorities are housing stability and affordability, meaning protection from displacement, more attainable and multigenerational housing, and paths to homeownership; public safety through prevention and accountability, pairing support for first responders with youth programs, job pathways, community policing and oversight of spending and technology; and seniors, accessibility and quality of life, meaning senior transportation and services plus streets, lighting, parks and illegal dumping. On Flock cameras they say they have serious concerns, and want evidence they work, firm limits on data sharing, short retention and independent oversight before the city expands their use. **Strengths:** More than two decades of victim advocacy and nonprofit work, by their own account, and a stated platform on record, distinct from Rubalcava's business and media career. **Trade-offs:** As a first-time candidate they have no record in elected office to weigh, a cost if you want a councilmember who has already voted on city budgets. **Keep in mind:** Renteria-Garcia's background is their own account in a candidate questionnaire, not independently verified. Their campaign finance filings are not verified here; see Financial info. ## Sources 1. [OC Registrar of Voters — Contest/Candidate Proof List, General Election 11/3/2026 (169 contests, 430 candidates filed)](https://ocvote.gov/fileadmin/user_upload/data/candlog/GEN2026/candlog.pdf) 2. [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"](https://www.anaheim.net/2917/Elections) 3. [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](https://www.anaheim.net/3321/2026-Candidate-List) 4. [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"](https://www.ocregister.com/2026/08/14/candidate-fields-take-shape-for-city-council-elections-in-orange-county/) 5. [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](https://www.anaheim.net/3523/Council-Member-Natalie-Rubalcava) 6. [League of Women Voters -- Vote411 voter guide, 'City of Anaheim City Council Member, District 3' race (statewide All Races list): each candidate's self-submitted ballot designation and campaign contacts, plus answers to the League's questions -- 'If elected, what are your top 3 priorities?', 'What background, experience and/or education qualify you for this elected office?' and 'What is your position on the use of Flock cameras or similar devices?'. Answers on file from Elia Renteria-Garcia. Capture in data/nov-2026/sources/vote411/anaheim-council-3.json.](https://www.vote411.org/plan-your-vote) ## The rest of the ballot Anaheim City Council, District 3 is one contest among the many a California voter decides on November 3, 2026 — Congress, the Legislature, county, city, and school board races differ by address. Vote or Else builds the full list for any California address and breaks down each contest the way this page does, with no account and without storing the address: https://voteorelse.com/ ## How to cite this page Vote or Else, "Anaheim City Council, District 3 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/anaheim-council-3 (sources last retrieved October 6, 2026). Link the canonical page above rather than this Markdown file. Coverage is updated as the race develops, so quote it with its retrieval date.