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City of Artesia · Statewide General Election

Artesia City Council

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 one of three at-large seats up this cycle on Artesia's 5-member City Council, elected to staggered 4-year terms: city ordinances, the budget, and land use. The council selects one of its own members to serve as Mayor; day-to-day operations run through an appointed city manager.

Five candidates are running for three at-large seats on Artesia's City Council: incumbents Melissa Ramoso, Ali Taj and Rene J. Trevino against challengers Dan Rocha and Craig Francis. Vote for up to three — no primary.

Council seats carry 4-year terms, staggered so either two or three seats are up each cycle — this year it's three. Winners join two sitting councilmembers not up for election this year to make five votes on city ordinances, the budget, and land use. The council selects one of its own to serve as Mayor; day-to-day operations run through an appointed city manager.

With three incumbents and two challengers competing for three seats in an at-large, vote-for-up-to-three contest, the practical choice is less which incumbent to keep and more whether either challenger should displace one of them: Rocha campaigns on specific neighborhood issues (illegal dumping, neglected properties), while Francis has filed no platform of any kind.

Melissa Ramoso

Melissa Ramoso is the incumbent Mayor Pro Tem, first elected to the council in 2018 as the city's first Filipina and Asian American woman on the body, and its mayor in 2021 (per INQUIRER.net). She's running on her council record — a dedicated Sheriff's Sergeant, license plate readers and roving cameras, the Pioneer Boulevard restriping and e-bike safety ordinance, and LA County's first catalytic converter theft ordinance — plus balanced budgets and citywide townhalls. Professionally she's district director for Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, after nearly a decade as senior adviser to U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu.

Strengths

23 years in public service: the county's first catalytic-converter ordinance, added Sheriff patrol resources, a public Capital Improvement Plan, plus prior staff roles in Congress and the Assembly.

Trade-offs

Her national Democratic Party leadership roles and Sacramento day job sit alongside this nonpartisan seat — a broader profile than a purely local record.

Keep in mind

She was the city's first Filipina and Asian American woman elected to the council in 2018 and has already served one term as mayor; a second council term builds on a record already well established locally and statewide.

Ali Taj

Ali Taj is a sitting councilmember who has also served as Mayor, running under the ballot designation "Grandfather / Businessman / Councilmember." He's campaigning on a record he describes as reduced crime, balanced budgets, completed independent audits, and a new Public Services Station, with priorities of neighborhood safety, local-business support and protecting taxpayer dollars — including the city's future train-station project.

Strengths

A record he describes as reduced crime, completed independent audits and a new Public Services Station, plus prior experience having already served as Mayor.

Trade-offs

His statement doesn't say how long he's served or when he was first elected, leaving voters less of a timeline to weigh than for his running mates.

Keep in mind

His stated priorities — safety, taxpayer protection, business investment — closely track Trevino's and Ramoso's; the three incumbents campaign on a shared record more than distinct individual platforms.

Rene J. Trevino

Rene J. Trevino is the sitting Mayor and, per his own statement, a councilmember since 2018, campaigning under the slogan "Let's Make Change Together." He names public safety as his top priority, crediting the city with year-over-year crime reduction, and points to senior programs, parks, streets and city improvement projects as ongoing work. He is also a business owner.

Strengths

A councilmember since 2018 and this year's Mayor, the longest continuously stated tenure of the three incumbents.

Trade-offs

His statement is the shortest and least specific of the three incumbents' — it names public safety generally but no other single initiative he's led, unlike Ramoso's and Taj's itemized records.

Keep in mind

As this year's Mayor he presides over council meetings but casts one vote like any other member; the title rotates among sitting councilmembers rather than being separately elected.

Dan Rocha

Dan Rocha is a lifelong Artesia resident — a graduate of the city's own Elliott Elementary, Faye Ross Middle and Gahr High schools — running under the ballot designation "Family Caregiver." A business owner and digital project manager, he has served as a Parks and Recreation Commissioner and a Beautification and Maintenance Commissioner, and is president of the Cerritos-Artesia Rotary Club. He's campaigning on public safety, addressing illegal dumping and neglected properties, and transparent government.

Strengths

Local roots and two prior city commission appointments (Parks and Recreation; Beautification and Maintenance) give him appointed-government experience despite never having held elected office.

Trade-offs

No elected experience, and his campaign committee — first registered in 2023, then terminated — was refiled for this cycle; the earlier committee's outcome isn't stated in the city's filing record.

Keep in mind

His platform names more specific neighborhood-level issues (illegal dumping, neglected properties) than any of the three incumbents name directly.

Craig Francis

Craig Francis is a challenger who qualified for the ballot by filing nomination papers, issued August 3 and filed August 6, 2026, per the city's own certified candidate list. He filed no candidate statement — marked "N/A" on the city's list — and no news coverage or FPPC campaign-finance filings turned up for him.

Strengths

No independent source describes any record, background or platform for him beyond his name and contact information on the certified candidate list.

Trade-offs

Voters have no statement, platform or public record to weigh for him at all, unlike every other candidate in this field.

Keep in mind

He has no campaign committee or financial filings of any kind on record, per the city's own FPPC filing index — the only candidate in this field with no financial disclosure whatsoever.

Source review: Very strong (93/100) · 6 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with several source types checked for context.

Last updated August 31, 2026.