# Encinitas City Council, District 3 Compare records and positions simply between Ed Sprague or Arielle Golden for Encinitas City Council, District 3 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person holds your district's seat on Encinitas's 4-member City Council. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use, alongside the directly elected Mayor. The term is four years. - Jurisdiction: City of Encinitas - 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/encinitas-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: August 31, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 95 out of 100 (Very strong), across 6 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Ed Sprague** — Retired Firefighter/Professor - **Arielle Golden** — Community Organizer A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. Arielle Golden faces Ed Sprague for this open seat on the Encinitas City Council -- incumbent Joy Lyndes did not file for reelection. Whichever candidate gets the most votes on November 3 wins outright; there's no runoff. This person holds District 3's seat on Encinitas's 4-member City Council. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land-use decisions, alongside the directly elected Mayor. The term is four years. With no incumbent running, this is a genuinely open contest between two long-time Encinitas residents with very different professional backgrounds. Golden, a food-systems and community-organizing professional, frames their campaign as a course correction on growth policy; Sprague, a retired firefighter and water-district veteran, frames theirs around pushing back on state mandates that override local planning. Both name the same broad concerns -- growth, infrastructure, and the environment -- but from different starting points. ## Arielle Golden Holds an MBA from UC San Diego and has worked professionally in food systems and community organizing. They chair the North County Food Policy Council, a body bringing together public, private, and nonprofit groups to improve regional food systems, and has represented North San Diego County on the state's Food Policy Council. They told The Coast News they'd prioritize mobility for residents of all ages and all types of road users, plus climate resilience, working collaboratively with the state and other agencies rather than against them. They're critical of the current council's approach to growth: "they got elected by talking about development and stopping development, but that is an issue that's guided by state law and they have approved everything that's crossed their desks... I think we need a fresh approach on our city council... within the framework of state laws." **Strengths:** Direct professional and civic experience in food-systems policy at both the regional and state level, plus a stated intent to work with, not against, state land-use law. **Trade-offs:** No prior elected office, and their platform as reported focuses more on process (a "fresh approach," collaboration with the state) than on specific, named infrastructure or housing commitments. **Keep in mind:** They have an ACTIVE Cal-Access committee for 2026 -- see Financial info. ## Ed Sprague Moved to Encinitas in 1977 and holds a master's degree in public administration from San Diego State. Their career spans the Carlsbad Fire Department and the North County Fire Authority, plus service as president of the Olivenhain Municipal Water District board and, from 2015 to 2019, as a special-districts commissioner on the San Diego Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO), the state agency overseeing municipal annexations and government reorganizations. They named public safety, local control, and the environment as their three priorities, criticizing state policies that they say have overridden local growth plans -- "blown that all up," in their words -- and said they want to "push back on the state mandates." They have framed their run around wanting their grandchildren to have "the same special life" they found in Encinitas. **Strengths:** Decades of hands-on public-safety and special-district governance experience, including a specific, checkable prior role overseeing municipal reorganizations countywide (LAFCO). **Trade-offs:** Their stated approach -- pushing back on state mandates -- is a stance more than a specific local platform on housing or infrastructure, per what was reachable in this pass. **Keep in mind:** They have an ACTIVE Cal-Access committee for 2026 -- see Financial info. ## Sources 1. [County of San Diego Registrar of Voters — Candidate List, November 3, 2026 General Election](https://www.sdvote.com/content/dam/rov/en/election/nov-3-2026-gubernatorial-general-election/candidate-list.pdf) 2. [City of Encinitas — Municipal Elections (November 3, 2026 General Municipal Election: Mayor short-term seat, City Council Districts 3 and 4, current officeholders and term-expiration dates)](https://www.encinitasca.gov/government/municipal-elections) 3. [The Coast News Group — Election 2026: Encinitas City Council (Cameron Adams, 2026-05-19; profiles Ehlers, Viskanta, Golden, Sprague, and Lefkowits with direct quotes on priorities)](https://thecoastnews.com/election-2026-encinitas-city-council/) 4. [California Secretary of State — CAL-ACCESS filer search (Encinitas Mayor and City Council District 3/4 candidates, 2026)](https://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Misc/filerSearch.aspx) 5. [California Secretary of State — CAL-ACCESS filer search: Golden for Encinitas City Council 2026 (Filer ID 1489259, ACTIVE)](https://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Misc/filerSearch.aspx?SEARCH=Golden) 6. [California Secretary of State — CAL-ACCESS filer search: Sprague for City Council 2026 (Filer ID 1491325, ACTIVE)](https://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Misc/filerSearch.aspx?SEARCH=Sprague) ## The rest of the ballot Encinitas 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, "Encinitas City Council, District 3 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/encinitas-council-3 (sources last retrieved August 31, 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.