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City of Desert Hot Springs · Statewide General Election

Desert Hot Springs City Council, District 3

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 your district's seat on Desert Hot Springs's 4-member City Council: city ordinances, the budget, and land use. A 4-year term. Desert Hot Springs also directly elects a citywide Mayor to a separate 4-year term (limited to two terms), but that seat and Districts 2 and 4 are not up this cycle -- they were last elected in November 2024 and are next up in 2028, on a staggered schedule with Districts 1 and 3.

Two candidates -- Joseph Erndt and incumbent Jan Pye -- are on the November 3, 2026 ballot for Desert Hot Springs's District 3 City Council seat. Whoever gets the most votes wins a four-year term; there is no primary or runoff.

This person holds your district's seat on Desert Hot Springs's 4-member City Council: city ordinances, the budget, and land use. A 4-year term. Desert Hot Springs also directly elects a citywide Mayor to a separate 4-year term, limited to two terms -- but that seat, along with Districts 2 and 4, is not up this cycle. Districts 1 and 3 were first elected by district in November 2022 and recur every four years; the Mayor and Districts 2/4 were first elected in November 2024 and recur on their own four-year cycle starting 2028.

Pye's incumbency is confirmed by the city's own certified candidate roster, which marks her with an asterisk. Both candidates maintain their own campaign sites, discovered from the reply-to addresses on their filed nomination papers: Erndt (electjoe.org) is a first-time candidate describing himself as an operations professional; Pye (janfordistrict3.com) describes over three decades living in the city. No independent news coverage beyond each candidate's own site was found for either.

Joseph Erndt

Joseph Erndt is a first-time candidate and District 3 resident challenging for the seat. His own campaign site describes him as an operations professional with a background spanning hospitality and spa operations, construction and project coordination, budgeting, marketing, vendor management, and business development. He frames his platform around infrastructure basics (roads, drainage, street safety, lighting), fiscal accountability, and supporting local businesses and entrepreneurship.

Strengths

A stated professional background relevant to city operations (construction, budgeting, vendor management), and specific, itemized policy priorities.

Trade-offs

No independent biography, employment history, or news coverage beyond his own campaign site; his occupational claims are self-reported.

Keep in mind

As a first-time candidate against a sitting councilmember, this is in part a vote on outside operational experience versus continuity.

Jan Pye

Jan Pye is the incumbent District 3 councilmember, seeking reelection after living in Desert Hot Springs for more than three decades. Her own campaign site emphasizes wellness tourism built around the city's mineral-water and spa assets, expanding local retail and entertainment options, and continuing in-progress initiatives including the BLVD and downtown plans and the Pierson Boulevard/Highway 62 gateway project.

Strengths

Incumbency and long-term residency (30+ years), plus specific in-progress city projects she cites continuing rather than only promises.

Trade-offs

Nearly all detail about her record and platform comes from her own campaign site; no independent news coverage of her tenure was found.

Keep in mind

A vote for continuity in a seat she already holds, against a first-time challenger with a differently focused platform.

Source review: Mixed (77/100) · 6 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with multiple sources checked; advocacy or endorsement sources are treated as attributed perspective.

Review note: Joseph Erndt for Desert Hot Springs City Council, District 3 -- campaign site: a District 3 resident and self-described operations professional with a background in hospitality/spa operations, construction and project coordination, budgeting, marketing, vendor management, and business development; platform priorities are infrastructure, fiscal accountability, and local economic development and Jan Pye for Desert Hot Springs City Council, District 3 -- campaign site: a 30+ year city resident and the sitting District 3 councilmember seeking reelection; platform priorities are wellness tourism built around the city's mineral-water and spa assets, expanding local retail/entertainment/dining, and continuing in-progress projects (the BLVD and downtown plans, the Pierson Blvd./Highway 62 gateway) may have more bias because they are advocacy voter guides compared to other formal government and nonprofit journalism sources.

  • cityofdhs.org (opens in a new tab)City of Desert Hot Springs -- City Clerk "General Municipal Election -- November 3, 2026" page: nomination period (July 13-Aug. 6, 2026) and requirements, plus two embedded images -- an office-count table ("FOR CITY COUNCIL": District 1 and District 3, each a 4-year term, each "Currently held by incumbent") and the City Clerk's own "08-10-2026 Final Roster of Candidates," naming all four qualified candidates (District 1: Edouard Boumendil, and incumbent Gary Gardner; District 3: Joseph Erndt, and incumbent Jan Pye) with each one's nomination-paper issued/filed/qualified dates. No Mayor, District 2, or District 4 race appears anywhere on the page.
  • cityofdhs.org (opens in a new tab)City of Desert Hot Springs -- City Council department page: current roster (Mayor Scott Matas; Mayor Pro Tem Dirk Voss, District 4; Gary Gardner, District 1; Daniel Pitts, District 2; Jan Pye, District 3), confirming by-district council elections since November 2022, staggered 4-year terms, an at-large 4-year Mayor limited to two terms, and an annually rotating Mayor Pro Tem selected by the council each December.
  • cityofdhs.org (opens in a new tab)City of Desert Hot Springs -- "District Elections" page: the council adopted Ordinance 754 on April 5, 2022 establishing by-district elections; Districts 1 and 3 were first elected November 2022 and recur every four years (i.e. 2026), while Districts 2 and 4 and the at-large Mayor were first elected November 2024 and recur every four years (i.e. 2028) -- the source for why no Mayor, District 2, or District 4 race is on the November 2026 ballot.
  • voteinfo.net (opens in a new tab)Riverside County Registrar of Voters — 2026 Annual Election Calendar (lists every November 3, 2026 General Municipal Election office by city, including "City of Cathedral City: City Council District 3 / District 4 / District 5 / City Treasurer")
  • electjoe.org (opens in a new tab)Joseph Erndt for Desert Hot Springs City Council, District 3 -- campaign site: a District 3 resident and self-described operations professional with a background in hospitality/spa operations, construction and project coordination, budgeting, marketing, vendor management, and business development; platform priorities are infrastructure ("Better Basics"), fiscal accountability ("Responsible Government"), and local economic development ("Stronger Local Opportunity").
  • janfordistrict3.com (opens in a new tab)Jan Pye for Desert Hot Springs City Council, District 3 -- campaign site: a 30+ year city resident and the sitting District 3 councilmember seeking reelection; platform priorities are wellness tourism built around the city's mineral-water and spa assets, expanding local retail/entertainment/dining so residents don't have to leave the city for them, and continuing in-progress projects (the BLVD and downtown plans, the Pierson Blvd./Highway 62 gateway).

Last updated August 31, 2026.