# Costa Mesa City Council, District 5

Compare records and positions simply between Steve Smith or Kelly Brown for Costa Mesa City Council, District 5 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person holds your district's seat on Costa Mesa's 6-member City Council. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use, alongside the citywide-elected mayor. The term is four years, capped at two consecutive terms.

- Jurisdiction: City of Costa Mesa
- 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/costa-mesa-council-5
- 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: August 31, 2026
- Source-objectivity score: 79 out of 100 (Mixed), across 5 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology

## On the ballot

- **Steve Smith**
- **Kelly Brown**

A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot.

Kelly Brown and Steve Smith are running for Costa Mesa City Council District 5's open seat. The incumbent, Arlis Reynolds, is term-limited and can't run again. Reynolds has endorsed Brown. Whichever candidate gets the most votes on November 3 wins outright. There's no runoff.

This person holds District 5's seat on Costa Mesa's 6-member City Council. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use, alongside the citywide-elected mayor. The term is four years, capped at two consecutive terms.

Both candidates already sit on city commissions -- Brown chairs Parks and Community Services, Smith serves on Animal Services -- and both campaign on public safety and fiscal transparency. Brown's platform leans further into housing, small-business support, and the city's Climate Action Plan; Smith's leans further into preserving public access to Fairview Park (including for recreational activities like RC glider flying) and addressing what he describes as the city's structural budget deficit.

## Kelly Brown

She is Director of Media Relations and Communications for UC Irvine's School of Humanities. She also chairs the city's Parks and Community Services Commission. Costa Mesa First, a local PAC, says she helped create the city's first framework for park investments. Her platform centers on thriving communities, public safety, and government transparency. That includes expanding housing options and supporting small businesses. It also includes investing in parks and infrastructure. She backs fully staffed police and fire departments and implementing the city's Climate Action Plan. "Public service is in my DNA," she says. Outgoing District 5 incumbent Arlis Reynolds has endorsed her. Reynolds called her "a thoughtful and persistent problem solver." U.S. Rep. Dave Min of CA-47 has also endorsed her.

**Strengths:** A sitting chairmanship of the Parks and Community Services Commission, with a checkable accomplishment in a park-investment framework. She also has the outgoing incumbent's own endorsement.

**Trade-offs:** She has no prior elected office. Her career is in communications at a public university. That is a less direct fit with budget or land-use decisions than some other candidates' backgrounds.

**Keep in mind:** No CAL-ACCESS record was found for her campaign. See Financial info.

## Steve Smith

He is a technology consultant. He has served on the city's Animal Services Committee since April 2025, per Costa Mesa First's tracking. His own site says his campaign centers on public safety, fiscal responsibility, and government transparency. Costa Mesa First's more detailed accounting adds further priorities. He wants to preserve public access to Fairview Park, including for activities like RC glider flying. He also wants to address the city's structural budget deficit. He would do that through reduced regulatory barriers for businesses and economic growth.

**Strengths:** A specific, narrow policy focus that gives voters a concrete issue to weigh him on. That focus is Fairview Park access and the structural budget deficit.

**Trade-offs:** He has no elected or appointed government experience beyond his 2025 committee seat. His campaign site did not render text. So most platform detail reflects a local PAC's characterization.

**Keep in mind:** No CAL-ACCESS record was found for his campaign. See Financial info.

## Review notes

- Kelly Brown's own campaign site ("Kelly for Costa Mesa"): her own framing of her District 5 candidacy, Parks Commission role, and platform and Costa Mesa First (FPPC #1332564, a registered PAC operating savecostamesa.com) -- Candidates for District 5 page: ages, occupations, and platform detail for Steve Smith (Animal Services Committee since Apr. 2025, Fairview Park public-access position, structural budget deficit) and Kelly Brown; the group describes itself as openly opinionated about candidates, cited here only for independently-checkable factual detail beyond each campaign's own site may have more bias because they are advocacy voter guides compared to other formal government and nonprofit journalism sources.

## 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 Costa Mesa — Mayor & City Council page: term limits (Mayor, 2-year terms, 2-term cap; Council, 4-year terms, 2-term cap) and the sitting roster (Mayor John Stephens; Council Members Mike Buley D1, Loren Gameros D2, Andrea Marr D3, Manuel Chavez D4/Mayor Pro Tem, Arlis Reynolds D5, Jeff Pettis D6)](https://www.costamesaca.gov/government/mayor-city-council)
3. [LA Times/Daily Pilot — "Costa Mesa Council race will see 8 candidates square off for 4 open seats, including mayor": confirms 4 council members terming out in December and 8 total candidates across the 4 open seats, all already serving in city civic roles; retrieved as search-engine snippets, latimes.com itself is not directly fetchable in this pass](https://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/news/story/2026-08-14/costa-mesa-city-council-race-will-see-8-square-off-for-4-open-seats)
4. [Kelly Brown's own campaign site ("Kelly for Costa Mesa"): her own framing of her District 5 candidacy, Parks Commission role, and platform](https://kellyforcostamesa.com)
5. [Costa Mesa First (FPPC #1332564, a registered PAC operating savecostamesa.com) — Candidates for District 5 page: ages, occupations, and platform detail for Steve Smith (Animal Services Committee since Apr. 2025, Fairview Park public-access position, structural budget deficit) and Kelly Brown; the group describes itself as openly opinionated about candidates, cited here only for independently-checkable factual detail beyond each campaign's own site](https://www.savecostamesa.com/distri)

## The rest of the ballot

Costa Mesa City Council, District 5 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, "Costa Mesa City Council, District 5 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/costa-mesa-council-5 (sources last retrieved August 31, 2026).

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