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City of Burbank · Statewide General Election

City of Burbank — 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 Burbank's 5-member City Council, elected to a 4-year term: the city budget, land use and zoning, and oversight of Burbank Water and Power and the police and fire departments. The council selects one of its own to serve as Mayor each year -- not a separately elected office.

Thirteen candidates are running for three of Burbank's five City Council seats on November 3. Two incumbents, Mayor Tamala Takahashi and Councilmember Nikki Perez, are seeking reelection; a third incumbent, Zizette Mullins, announced she will not seek another term. There's no primary: all 13 go straight to November, and the three highest vote-getters win.

Each winner serves a 4-year term on Burbank's 5-member council, which sets the city budget, land use and zoning, and oversees Burbank Water and Power, the police and fire departments, and other city operations. The council elects one of its own to serve as Mayor each year — a role separate from this election, not a directly elected office — and the two seats not up this cycle, held by Konstantine Anthony and Christopher Rizzotti, continue on their own term schedule.

This cycle turns on how far Burbank leans into new housing and tenant protections: several candidates campaign on rent stabilization and tenant protections, others on preserving neighborhood character and pushing back on state and local housing mandates, and Waltman's platform centers on public safety and fiscal stewardship instead. Because the seats are citywide at-large, every candidate is on every voter's ballot; weigh the full field rather than a single race.

Jackie Waltman

Jackie Waltman spent 30 years in law enforcement and 20 years in Child Protective Services before retiring, and now serves on Burbank's Civil Service Commission after a prior term on its Tenant-Landlord Commission. Her statement centers on safe neighborhoods, funding police, fire and emergency services, fiscal stewardship, infrastructure, and protecting local businesses. “Leadership begins with listening,” she says, “and making decisions based on facts, not politics.”

Strengths

50 years combined in law enforcement and child welfare, plus two prior city commission seats spanning tenant-landlord and civil-service issues.

Trade-offs

No prior elected office; her statement stays general on housing and land use, naming fewer specifics than several rivals on the field's dominant issue.

Keep in mind

No controversies surfaced in this pass's research; this profile draws directly on her own filed candidate statement.

Samantha Wick

Samantha Wick has lived in Burbank more than 23 years and serves on the Planning Commission after two years chairing the Heritage Commission; she holds a bachelor's degree in urban planning and works in nonprofit leadership. She founded the city's original Buy Nothing Group and calls for “listening to our community” and leading “with transparency, integrity, and common sense.”

Strengths

Direct land-use experience via the Planning Commission plus a degree in urban planning — hands-on housing and development background much of the field lacks.

Trade-offs

No prior elected office; her statement emphasizes background and values over naming specific policy positions.

Keep in mind

No controversies surfaced in this pass's research; this profile draws directly on her own filed candidate statement.

Eddy Polon

Eddy Polon is a screenwriter and community advocate who serves on the Transportation Commission and formerly ran Continental Kosher Bakery. He argues Burbank has long offered working people and young families a place to build a future, and campaigns on more housing, paths to homeownership, business support, and “a City Hall willing to act with urgency” on street safety.

Strengths

Transportation Commission experience paired with small-business ownership, and a specific focus on homeownership paths rather than housing in the abstract.

Trade-offs

No prior elected office; his statement is more thematic than several rivals', naming few concrete policy mechanisms.

Keep in mind

No controversies surfaced in this pass's research; this profile draws directly on his own filed candidate statement.

JT Parr

JT Parr is a comedian running on a short, direct platform: build more housing, expand and improve public transportation, and create free places for people to gather. “I am not seeking endorsements,” he says. “I'm running because these issues matter to me, and I want to have skin in the game.”

Strengths

A clear, specific three-point platform — housing, transit, and public gathering space — stated without padding.

Trade-offs

No prior elected office or city commission seat found in this pass's research; his statement is the shortest in the field and names no implementation detail.

Keep in mind

No controversies surfaced in this pass's research. He explicitly declines to seek endorsements, distinctive in a 13-candidate field.

Nikki Perez

Nikki Perez, the incumbent seeking reelection, is a renter, working mother and lifelong Burbank resident recently appointed to the California Film Commission. Her statement credits her term with rent-control work, homeless-services funding, and nonprofit support, and pledges to continue on childcare affordability, park access, emergency-services staffing, and protections for immigrant and LGBTQ+ residents.

Strengths

A sitting councilmember's record to run on directly — cited work on rent control, homeless-services funding, and a statewide Film Commission appointment.

Trade-offs

As the incumbent, her record is also the target: this pass found no independent evaluation of her term beyond her own statement.

Keep in mind

No controversies surfaced in this pass's research; this profile draws directly on her own filed candidate statement.

Jonathan Ontiveros

Jonathan Ontiveros is a civil engineer with over a decade in the field, including three years with LA County Public Works, and a labor union director; his family has been in Burbank more than 40 years. He campaigns on modernizing housing policy while preserving neighborhood character, protecting local jobs, and keeping streets, parks and neighborhoods safe.

Strengths

A civil-engineering career plus labor-organization leadership — technical infrastructure background paired with workforce advocacy.

Trade-offs

No prior elected office or city commission seat found in this pass's research.

Keep in mind

No controversies surfaced in this pass's research; this profile draws directly on his own filed candidate statement.

David Donahue

David Donahue is a small-business owner with more than 35 years of Burbank civic involvement: he has chaired the Crisis House Anti-Slavery Program, led a local Council of Divers, and previously served as president of Vision Burbank and the Burbank Fair Housing PAC. He opposes the Olive Avenue traffic-lane reduction and multistory apartments built without required parking, and wants lower permit fees and easier access to local production tax credits.

Strengths

35-plus years of documented civic leadership across several distinct Burbank organizations, plus current seats on the Chamber of Commerce and the Realtors' legislative committee.

Trade-offs

No prior elected office found in this pass's research; his $1 billion infrastructure-impact figure on multistory-apartment parking is his own claim, not independently verified here.

Keep in mind

No controversies surfaced in this pass's research; this profile draws directly on his own filed candidate statement.

Nolan Southerland

Nolan Southerland is a film editor and member of the Motion Picture Editors Guild (IATSE Local 700) who has lived in Burbank over a decade with children in BUSD schools. He is active in the Burbank Tenants Union and leads Burbank Community Defense, campaigning on rent stabilization, tenant protections, and better transit and youth services, and says he takes no money from landlords, corporations, fossil-fuel companies or law enforcement.

Strengths

Sustained tenant-advocacy organizing (Burbank Tenants Union, Burbank Community Defense) predating this campaign, plus a stated no-corporate-money donor policy.

Trade-offs

No prior elected office or city commission seat found in this pass's research.

Keep in mind

No controversies surfaced in this pass's research; this profile draws directly on his own filed candidate statement.

Robbie Brody

Robbie Brody is an administrative law judge for the State of California and a former Deputy Director of Litigation at Bet Tzedek Legal Services, in Burbank more than 25 years. He currently vice-chairs the Parks & Recreation Board and previously chaired both the Water & Power Board and the Art in Public Places Committee, and campaigns on preserving neighborhood character, city services, and support for parks, libraries and local business.

Strengths

Three separate city commission roles, including two chairmanships, plus a legal-adjudication career built on solving disputes and mediation.

Trade-offs

No prior elected office found in this pass's research, despite extensive appointed-commission experience.

Keep in mind

No controversies surfaced in this pass's research; this profile draws directly on his own filed candidate statement.

Chris Yoosefi

Chris Yoosefi is a small-business owner and U.S. Navy veteran who served as a hospital corpsman and is active with the American Legion. His statement is largely thematic — built around “Dream Burbank” and a “Vision 2030” framing — and does not name specific policy positions on housing, transit or public safety.

Strengths

Military service as a Navy hospital corpsman plus small-business ownership — a record of, per his own statement, “being the person others count on.”

Trade-offs

No prior elected office or city commission seat found in this pass's research; his statement stays thematic rather than naming specific policy positions.

Keep in mind

No controversies surfaced in this pass's research; this profile draws directly on his own filed candidate statement.

Mike Van Gorder

Mike Van Gorder is a housing policy analyst with a master's degree in Housing and Community Economic Development from UCLA, and describes himself, per the Burbank Leader, as “the guy that fights ICE on Instagram” — a self-description his own candidate statement repeats. He cites Burbank's roughly $2,949 average two-bedroom rent, up 13% in two years, and campaigns on renter protections, wages and benefits, and long-term planning.

Strengths

A graduate credential specific to housing policy plus statewide recognition in that field, and a platform citing specific local rent and price figures.

Trade-offs

No prior elected office or city commission seat found in this pass's research.

Keep in mind

No controversies surfaced in this pass's research. His statement is pointedly partisan — he closes by calling to “abolish ICE” — a distinctive tone in this field; read it directly yourself.

Hovanes Tonoyan

Hovanes Tonoyan is a Burbank native and cybersecurity professional with a political-science background, per the Burbank Leader. His own candidate statement, filed with the city and linked from its Nov. 3, 2026 candidates page, could not be read this pass: the underlying document returned a server error on every fetch attempt tried, direct and proxied alike, so no platform detail beyond this occupation and background summary is available.

Strengths

A cybersecurity career and political-science background, plus lifelong roots in Burbank as a native resident.

Trade-offs

No prior elected office or city commission seat found in this pass's research; his filed candidate statement could not be retrieved, so his platform is unknown.

Keep in mind

No controversies surfaced in this pass's research. This is one of the thinner records in the field — weigh that gap as a sourcing limit, not a mark against him.

Tamala Takahashi

Tamala Takahashi is Burbank's Mayor — a title the council rotates among its own members, not a separately elected office — and is seeking reelection to her at-large council seat. Her own candidate statement, filed with the city and linked from its Nov. 3, 2026 candidates page, could not be read this pass: the underlying document returned a server error on every fetch attempt tried, direct and proxied alike, so no platform detail beyond her incumbency is available from this pass's research.

Strengths

A sitting council seat and the council's own current Mayor selection — direct incumbency and institutional standing.

Trade-offs

As the incumbent, her record is the most relevant question for voters, and her filed candidate statement could not be retrieved to evaluate it.

Keep in mind

No controversies surfaced in this pass's research. This is one of the thinner records in the field for a sitting officeholder — weigh that gap as a sourcing limit, not a mark against her.

Source review: Very strong (91/100) · 5 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with multiple sources checked.

  • burbankca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Burbank — November 3, 2026 General Municipal Election Candidates (City Clerk's Office: offices to be elected and the ballot-order candidate roster with occupations)
  • outlooknewspapers.com (opens in a new tab)Burbank Leader (Outlook Newspapers) — "Burbank City Council Hopefuls Begin Campaigns" by Jarret Liotta (confirms City Clerk and City Treasurer are each unopposed, with on-the-record quotes from both, and profiles all 13 City Council candidates)
  • burbankca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Burbank — City Council candidate statements (individually authored, city-hosted PDFs linked from the November 3, 2026 candidates page; each candidate's own words about their record and priorities). Successfully read for 11 of 13 candidates -- Jackie Waltman, Samantha Wick, Eddy Polon, JT Parr, Nikki Perez, Jonathan Ontiveros, David Donahue, Nolan Southerland, Robbie Brody, Chris Yoosefi, and Mike Van Gorder. Hovanes Tonoyan's and Tamala Takahashi's statements are linked from the same page but returned a server error (Cloudflare 522/520/408) on every fetch attempt tried this pass -- direct, and through three different CORS proxies, dozens of attempts spread over more than an hour -- so their content is not represented here.
  • burbankca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Burbank — Council-Manager Form of Government (confirms the 5-member City Council, the current officeholder roster, and that the Mayor and Vice Mayor titles rotate among council members rather than being separately elected)
  • efile.burbankca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Burbank Electronic Filing System — campaign filings by election (the portal page linking each City Council candidate's entity-specific filings record; a JavaScript single-page app whose itemized filing list did not render for any tool used in this pass)

Last updated September 1, 2026.