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City of Duarte · Statewide General Election

Duarte City Council, District 1

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 District 1's seat on Duarte's 7-member City Council: city ordinances, the budget, and land use. A 4-year term.

Seven-term Mayor Margaret Finlay, who has represented Duarte's District 1 for 34 years, faces a second challenge from Luz Yesenia Paez, the city's Planning and Economic Development Commission chair who ran for the same seat in 2022. Duarte elects its seven-member City Council directly each November, one district at a time, with no primary.

The winner holds one of Duarte's seven district seats on the City Council: city ordinances, the budget, and land use, for a four-year term. The council appoints the city manager who runs day-to-day operations and also sits as the legislative body for the city's redevelopment successor agency and housing authority.

Finlay's three-decade tenure comes with a long list of regional posts to weigh against her incumbency; Paez's shorter, more recent record comes from Duarte's own appointed commissions rather than elected office. The choice is between extending an entrenched incumbency and handing the seat to a challenger whose public credentials are four years of city-commission service.

Margaret Finlay

The incumbent District 1 councilmember, on the Duarte City Council for 34 years and chosen by her colleagues as Mayor seven times, most recently in the current term. She has built a parallel career in regional government, chairing the California Joint Powers Insurance Authority's executive committee since 2020 and serving as the Southern California Association of Governments' 2017-18 president. She holds a Master's in Public Administration from Cal State Long Beach and sits as an elected commissioner on LA County's Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO).

Strengths

Three-plus decades of institutional memory and a regional network built through SCAG, the National League of Cities, and Cal JPIA.

Trade-offs

Thirty-four years in the same seat is also thirty-four years without a change in District 1's representation.

Keep in mind

Her campaign material leans on accomplishments dating to the 1990s; weigh what she's delivered recently against what a fourth decade would still promise.

Luz Yesenia Paez

A Public Utility Analyst for the City of Azusa, making her second run at the District 1 seat after falling short in 2022. Since that loss she has served as Duarte's Traffic and Safety Commissioner and, since 2024, on the Planning and Economic Development Commission, which she has chaired since 2025. She holds a Master's in Public Administration from the University of La Verne and was named the local state Assemblymember's 2026 Woman of the Year in Public Service.

Strengths

Four years of appointed commission service since her 2022 loss, capped by chairing Planning and Economic Development since 2025.

Trade-offs

No elected record of any kind, and a commission chair does not cast council budget votes or set citywide policy.

Keep in mind

She frames this run as picking up where 2022 left off — weigh four years of commission work against three decades of Finlay's council record.

Source review: Strong (80/100) · 6 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with several source types checked for context; advocacy or endorsement sources are treated as attributed perspective.

Review note: Margaret Finlay for Duarte City Council and Luz Yesenia Paez for Duarte City Council may have more bias because they are advocacy voter guides compared to other formal government and nonprofit journalism sources.

  • cityofduarte.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Duarte — Mayor & City Council (official roster of all seven district officeholders; council structure, terms, and general-municipal-election rules)
  • cityofduarte.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Duarte — Councilmember Margaret Finlay, District 1 (official biography: seven terms as Mayor, 34 years on the council, education, and regional-government experience)
  • ssl.netfile.com (opens in a new tab)City of Duarte — NetFile Public Portal for Campaign Finance Disclosure (committee search confirming active 2026 filers 'Finlay for Duarte City Council 2026' and 'Luz Yesenia Paez Campaign for Duarte City Council 2026,' each with a mid-year Form 460; all filings on record are scanned paper documents, not e-filed transactions)
  • theballotbook.com (opens in a new tab)The Ballot Book — City of Duarte, District 1 candidates ('1 office, 2 candidates': Luz Yesenia Paez, Margaret E. Finlay), independent corroboration of the two-candidate field
  • margaretfinlay.com (opens in a new tab)Margaret Finlay for Duarte City Council — campaign site (Accomplishments and Goals page: three-decade record and stated priorities for a new term)
  • luzyeseniapaez.com (opens in a new tab)Luz Yesenia Paez for Duarte City Council — campaign site ('Meet Luz Yesenia' biography and 'Key Priorities' platform pages)

Last updated August 31, 2026.