# Carlsbad City Council, District 3 Compare records and positions simply between Wayland T. Lim or Priya Bhat-Patel for Carlsbad City Council, District 3 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person holds your district's seat on Carlsbad's 4-member 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 Carlsbad - 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/carlsbad-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: September 7, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 93 out of 100 (Very strong), across 8 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Wayland T. Lim** - **Priya Bhat-Patel** — Incumbent A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. Incumbent Mayor Pro Tem Priya Bhat-Patel faces challenger Wayland T. Lim for Carlsbad 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 Carlsbad's 4-member City Council, alongside the citywide-elected mayor. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land-use decisions. The term is four years. Bhat-Patel is campaigning for a third term on her record: two terms including service as Mayor Pro Tem, regional leadership roles, and a public-health career she says informs her approach to housing and safety policy. Lim, a first-time candidate, brings a business-consulting background spanning both for-profit and nonprofit work -- a different professional lens than Bhat-Patel's public-health career, though no detailed platform from Lim was reachable in this pass. ## Priya Bhat-Patel The incumbent Mayor Pro Tem, first elected to District 3 in November 2018 and reelected Nov. 8, 2022 (per the city's own certified election-results record), now serving her second term. A public-health professional with a Doctor of Public Health from Loma Linda University, a Master of Public Health from USC, and a bachelor's from UC San Diego, she grew up in Carlsbad and chairs the North County Transit District board. She names safety, housing, economic development, and sustainability as her priorities for a third term, with an emphasis on affordable housing so that "the next generation of business leaders" can afford to stay in the city that raised her. **Strengths:** A public-health doctorate and a policy career built substantially around housing affordability and violence-prevention work, plus a chairmanship of the region's transit board. **Trade-offs:** Like any two-term incumbent seeking a third term, her record over the last eight years is the fullest one on this ballot for voters to weigh. **Keep in mind:** She has an ACTIVE Cal-Access committee for 2026 -- see Financial info. ## Wayland T. Lim A retired business consultant with experience in both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors, per the county's own candidate list and The Coast News' roundup. A first-time candidate for elected office; no campaign website or detailed platform was reachable in this pass. **Strengths:** A business-consulting career spanning both for-profit and nonprofit work, a different professional lens than Bhat-Patel's public-health background. **Trade-offs:** No prior elected or appointed public service, and no detailed policy platform reachable in this pass -- an honest gap, not a claim they lack one. **Keep in mind:** No Cal-Access committee was found under their name as of this retrieval -- see Financial info. ## Sources 1. [San Diego County Registrar of Voters -- Candidate List, November 3, 2026 General Election (current through the 8/24/2026 2:44pm snapshot): confirms Mayor, City Council Districts 1 and 3, City Clerk, and City Treasurer as Carlsbad's five November 2026 races, and Mayor plus City Council Districts 1 and 3 as Poway's three November 2026 races, each Vote for 1](https://www.sdvote.com/content/dam/rov/en/election/nov-3-2026-gubernatorial-general-election/candidate-list.pdf) 2. [City of Carlsbad -- City Council page: an elected mayorplus four district-elected council members, each a 4-year term; names Mayor Keith Blackburn, Mayor Pro Tem Priya Bhat-Patel (District 3), and Council Member Melanie Burkholder (District 1); confirms the Mayor is elected citywide and Council members by district, and that the City Clerk and City Treasurer are also separately elected](https://www.carlsbadca.gov/city-hall/city-council) 3. [City of Carlsbad -- Clerk Services / Election Information page: names City Clerk Sherry Freisinger and states the City Clerk serves an elected 4-year term](https://www.carlsbadca.gov/city-hall/clerk-services) 4. [The Coast News Group -- "Election 2026: A guide to North County races" (Carlsbad City Council section): names all nine qualified candidates across Mayor, Districts 1 and 3, Treasurer, and confirms City Clerk Sherry Freisinger is running unopposed, current as of the Aug. 7, 2026 filing deadline](https://thecoastnews.com/election-2026-a-guide-to-north-county-races/) 5. [San Diego Union-Tribune (Phil Diehl) -- "Carlsbad's mayor, 2 council seats, treasurer and clerk on the ballot in November": independently confirms five incumbents on the ballot against a small field of challengers and reports Blackburn's re-election campaign raised $42,673; the full article is paywalled beyond its opening paragraphs as retrieved](https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2026/08/17/carlsbads-mayor-2-council-seats-treasurer-and-clerk-on-the-ballot-in-november/) 6. [City of Carlsbad -- Mayor Pro Tem Priya Bhat-Patel (official biography): serving her second council term; a public-health professional (DrPH, Loma Linda University; MPH, USC; BS, UC San Diego) who chairs the North County Transit District board and grew up in Carlsbad](https://www.carlsbadca.gov/city-hall/city-council/mayor-pro-tem-priya-bhat-patel) 7. [City of Carlsbad -- "Declaring the Results of the Nov. 8, 2022, Municipal Election" (official City Council record): Melanie Burkholder elected City Council Member District No. 1 for a four-year term; Priya Bhat-Patel elected City Council Member District No. 3 for a four-year term](https://records.carlsbadca.gov/WebLink/DocView.aspx) 8. [California Secretary of State CAL-ACCESS -- filer search: an ACTIVE "Bhat-Patel for City Council 2026; Re-Elect Priya" committee; no committee found under Wayland Lim's name](https://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Misc/filerSearch.aspx?SEARCH=Bhat-Patel) ## The rest of the ballot Carlsbad 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, "Carlsbad City Council, District 3 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/carlsbad-council-3 (sources last retrieved September 7, 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.