# Mayor of Encinitas (Short Term) Compare records and positions simply between Rimga Viskanta or Bruce Ehlers for Mayor of Encinitas (Short Term) at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. Encinitas's Mayor is directly elected. The Mayor presides over City Council meetings. The Mayor casts one of five votes on the budget and city laws. An appointed city manager runs day-to-day operations. This term is a short two-year term, not the usual four years. It resyncs the Mayor's seat to the city's regular election calendar. - 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-mayor - 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: 90 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 - **Rimga Viskanta** — Trustee, San Dieguito Union High School District - **Bruce Ehlers** — Incumbent A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. Incumbent Mayor Bruce Ehlers faces challenger Rimga Viskanta. Viskanta is a San Dieguito Union High School District trustee. Whichever candidate gets the most votes on November 3 wins outright. There is no runoff. This particular term is a short one. The winner serves only 2 years, through November 2028. Then the office returns to Encinitas's normal 4-year mayoral cycle. Encinitas's directly elected Mayor presides over City Council meetings and represents the city publicly, but votes as one of five members on the budget and city ordinances -- the same as any other councilmember. Day-to-day government runs through an appointed city manager, not the mayor's office. It's the only council seat elected citywide rather than by district. The short term traces back to how Ehlers got here: they were a District 4 councilmember elected to a full 4-year term in 2022, then won the Mayor's seat outright in November 2024, unseating incumbent Tony Kranz. That mid-cycle jump left the Mayor's office one cycle out of step with the city's normal even-year election calendar -- this November's 2-year term resyncs it, and the seat goes back to a standard 4-year term starting in 2028. ## Bruce Ehlers The incumbent, seeking a second term after defeating Tony Kranz in November 2024. Ehlers is a 42-year Encinitas resident from Olivenhain and a Purdue-trained engineer. They founded a company later sold to Blackstone Equity. They spent decades in local civic life before running for office themselves. They managed former Councilmember Maggie Houlihan's campaigns. They served two stints on the Planning Commission, from 2002 to 2004 and from 2017 to 2022, including as chairman. They sat on the Olivenhain Town Council from 1998 to 2003. They were elected to the City Council itself in 2022. They wrote 2013's Proposition A, a growth-management initiative. It requires a public vote on zoning density and height increases. Ehlers later testified in its successful defense when the City Council sued to overturn it. In their first mayoral term they point to 15 miles of roads paved in 2025, with 18 more planned. They also point to Leucadia flood-mitigation work. They point to lowered speed limits with more enforcement. They point to reductions in several categories of crime. They are campaigning for a second term on local control over land use, infrastructure, and public safety. **Strengths:** More hands-on Encinitas government experience than any other candidate. That is seven years on the Planning Commission, a council term, and a first mayoral term with a specific, checkable record. **Trade-offs:** Ehlers has a long incumbency, dating back to their 2022 council election. So their record is also the fullest on this ballot to weigh, including whatever they would want done differently. **Keep in mind:** They have an ACTIVE Cal-Access committee for 2026. See Financial info. ## Rimga Viskanta A San Dieguito Union High School District trustee since 2022. Before that they were an Encinitas Union School District trustee from 2016 to 2020. That is a decade of local school-board service but no prior city office. They live in Old Encinitas. They told The Coast News their campaign centers on safer streets and traffic, housing solutions, and climate resilience. They also want to address homelessness "from a regional perspective." They said they are deliberately holding off on specific campaign promises this early. "I want my campaign to be about bringing together different voices, versus me coming in saying, 'Here's precisely what I think is the solution.'" They have framed their run partly as a response to what they call a divisive online political climate. They contrast it with the more cordial conversations Viskanta says they have with residents face to face. **Strengths:** Ten years of elected school-board experience across two North County districts. They also state an approach of gathering community input before committing to specific fixes. **Trade-offs:** They have no prior city-council or city-executive experience. They have stated priority areas rather than a detailed policy platform on any of them. **Keep in mind:** They have an ACTIVE Cal-Access committee for 2026. See Financial info. ## Review notes - Bruce Ehlers for Encinitas Mayor -- official campaign biography for his 2026 re-election campaign: prior Planning Commission chairmanship, Prop A authorship, and residency history may have more bias because it is an advocacy voter guide compared to other formal government and nonprofit journalism sources. ## 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. [The Coast News Group — Getting to know Encinitas Mayor Bruce Ehlers (2025-03-05)](https://thecoastnews.com/getting-to-know-encinitas-mayor-bruce-ehlers/) 6. [Bruce Ehlers for Encinitas Mayor — About Bruce (official campaign biography, 2026 re-election campaign)](https://bruceforencinitas.com/about) 7. [California Secretary of State — CAL-ACCESS: Ehlers for Encinitas Mayor 2026 (Filer ID 1490175, ACTIVE, no Form 460/461/450 e-filed this cycle as of retrieval)](https://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Campaign/Committees/Detail.aspx?id=1490175&session=2025) 8. [California Secretary of State — CAL-ACCESS: Viskanta for Encinitas Mayor 2026 (Filer ID 1487293, ACTIVE, no Form 460/461/450 e-filed this cycle as of retrieval)](https://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Campaign/Committees/Detail.aspx?id=1487293&session=2025) ## The rest of the ballot Mayor of Encinitas (Short Term) 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, "Mayor of Encinitas (Short Term) — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/encinitas-mayor (sources last retrieved August 31, 2026). Link the canonical page above rather than this Markdown file. 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