Skip to main content

City of Escondido · Statewide General Election

Escondido 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 your district's seat on Escondido's 5-member City Council: city ordinances, the budget, and land use, alongside the citywide-elected mayor. A 4-year term.

Tanner Horsley and Vanessa Valenzuela are running for an open seat on Escondido City Council, District 1 -- incumbent Consuelo Martinez chose not to seek reelection. Whichever candidate gets the most votes on November 3 wins outright; there's no runoff.

This person holds District 1's seat on Escondido's 5-member City Council, alongside the citywide-elected mayor: city ordinances, the budget, and land-use decisions. A 4-year term.

With Martinez stepping aside after two terms, this is a genuinely open race between two Escondido residents with different professional backgrounds: Horsley brings a military and defense-industry career and centers his campaign on public safety and first-responder pay, while Valenzuela brings two decades of nonprofit finance experience and centers hers on housing affordability.

Tanner Horsley

A Marine Corps veteran on active service since 2006, stationed at Miramar Air Station, who has also worked at Qualcomm and the U.S. Department of Defense. A first-time candidate for elected office, he's campaigning on competitive pay for first responders, a balanced approach to homelessness, and smart-growth housing policy.

Strengths

A military and defense/technology-sector career distinct from Valenzuela's nonprofit-finance background, with a public-safety-focused platform to match.

Trade-offs

No prior elected or appointed government experience to point to.

Keep in mind

He has an ACTIVE Cal-Access committee for 2026 -- see Financial info.

Vanessa Valenzuela

A lifelong Escondido resident with about 20 years of financial experience, currently finance director at the nonprofit I Love A Clean San Diego (the county's own candidate list lists her occupation as "Director of Finance"). She ran previously for City Council in 2018. She's campaigning primarily on housing affordability, saying "Escondido deserves leadership who will work for progress."

Strengths

Two decades of finance experience, most recently in the nonprofit sector, plus a prior council campaign that gives her some name recognition in the district.

Trade-offs

Her 2018 council run did not result in election -- context for a second attempt.

Keep in mind

Her only Cal-Access committee on record is a TERMINATED one from that 2018 run; no 2026-specific filing was found under her name as of this retrieval -- see Financial info.

Source review: Very strong (91/100) · 8 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: Consuelo Martinez's own campaign/officeholder site: "I have decided not to seek re-election beyond 2026. My final day in office as your Councilmember will be December 9, 2026" may have more bias because it is an advocacy voter guide compared to other formal government and nonprofit journalism sources.

  • sdvote.com (opens in a new tab)County of San Diego Registrar of Voters — Candidate List, November 3, 2026 General Election (current through the 8/24/2026 2:44pm snapshot): confirms Mayor, City Council District 1, and City Council District 2 as Escondido's three November 2026 races, each Vote for 1 Candidate, and gives each candidate's stated ballot occupation
  • escondido.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Escondido — Elections: names all six qualified candidates across Mayor, District 1, and District 2 for the November 3, 2026 General Election, and states outright that Districts 3 and 4 plus the City Treasurer are not on this ballot -- those seats run on a staggered 4-year cycle and are next up in 2028
  • escondido.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Escondido — City Council: an elected mayor plus four district-elected council members; names Mayor Dane White, Councilmember Consuelo Martinez (District One), Deputy Mayor Joe Garcia (District Two), Councilmember Christian Garcia (District Three), and Councilmember Judy Fitzgerald (District Four)
  • consuelomartinez.com (opens in a new tab)Consuelo Martinez's own campaign/officeholder site: "I have decided not to seek re-election beyond 2026. My final day in office as your Councilmember will be December 9, 2026"
  • thecoastnews.com (opens in a new tab)The Coast News Group — "Election 2026: Escondido City Council": candidate backgrounds, priorities, and platform quotes largely in their own words for all six qualified candidates across Mayor, District 1, and District 2, plus one additional District 1 hopeful (Alisa Nicholson Rice) who does not appear on the county's later certified list or the Times-Advocate's Aug. 13 final-field roundup
  • sandiegouniontribune.com (opens in a new tab)San Diego Union-Tribune (Paul Sisson) — "White seeks second term as Escondido mayor": confirms three positions on the November ballot and frames District 1 as wide open following Consuelo Martinez's departure; the full article is paywalled beyond its opening paragraphs as retrieved
  • times-advocate.com (opens in a new tab)Escondido Times-Advocate (David Ross) — "It's a two-man mayor's race": reports Kathie Phillips' withdrawal ahead of the Aug. 7 filing deadline and lists the final, complete six-candidate field across Mayor, District 1, and District 2 -- matching the county's own certified Candidate List exactly
  • cal-access.sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)California Secretary of State CAL-ACCESS — filer search: an ACTIVE "Horsley for City Council 2026; Tanner" committee; Vanessa Valenzuela's own record carries only a TERMINATED 2018 council-run committee, no 2026-specific filing found

Last updated August 31, 2026.