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City of Garden Grove · Statewide General Election

Mayor of Garden Grove

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 is Garden Grove's directly-elected, citywide Mayor -- the only council seat elected at large rather than by district. Garden Grove is a charter city; the Mayor presides over City Council meetings and represents the city publicly, but votes as one of seven members (the Mayor plus six district councilmembers) on the budget and city ordinances, alongside an appointed city manager who runs day-to-day operations. A 4-year term.

Mayor Stephanie Klopfenstein is running for a second term against Thu-Ha Nguyen, a former Garden Grove Mayor Pro Tem. Whichever candidate gets the most votes on November 3 wins outright; there's no runoff.

Garden Grove's mayor is the only council seat elected citywide rather than by district. Garden Grove is a charter city; the mayor presides over City Council meetings and represents the city publicly, but votes as one of seven members (the mayor plus six district councilmembers) on the budget and city ordinances, alongside an appointed city manager who runs day-to-day operations. A 4-year term.

Klopfenstein is the incumbent, first elected to the council (District 5) in 2016 and elected Garden Grove's first female mayor in 2024. Nguyen is a past councilmember and Mayor Pro Tem, according to a rival campaign's endorsement page -- the only independently-found biographical detail about her in this pass; no campaign site, news coverage, or other primary source naming her prior district, service dates, or current platform could be found despite a real search effort. Her filed ballot designation is 'Cancer Scientist/Teacher.'

Stephanie Klopfenstein

A lifelong Garden Grove resident with family roots in the city dating to the late 1800s, Klopfenstein attended Concordia University, worked in radio broadcasting abroad, and later built a marketing career before her first council win in 2016. She represented District 5 for eight years before becoming the city's first elected female mayor in 2024. She also represents Garden Grove on three regional boards: the Association of California Cities Orange County, the Orange County Sanitation District, and the Orange County Transportation Authority. Her stated goal is representing residents while "ushering in a new chapter of growth and prosperity in Garden Grove, while striving to enhance the safety and family-friendly environment our great city deserves."

Strengths

A decade on the council, including two years as mayor, plus three regional-board seats giving her a hand in county sanitation and transportation decisions that affect the city.

Trade-offs

A long incumbency means her record is a known quantity, for better or worse, rather than a fresh start.

Keep in mind

No CAL-ACCESS record was checked for her 2026 committee in this pass -- the state's filer-search tool returned no usable content on a direct fetch attempt -- see Financial info.

Thu-Ha Nguyen

Filed her candidacy under the ballot designation "Cancer Scientist/Teacher." A rival campaign's own endorsement page (Amanda Nguyen's, a separate District 3 candidate) identifies her as a "former Mayor Pro Tem" of Garden Grove -- meaning she has previously served on the city council and been chosen by her colleagues for that leadership role -- but this dataset could not independently confirm which district she represented, when she served, or her current platform: no campaign site, official bio, or local news coverage naming her could be found despite a real search effort (search engines, Ballotpedia, Voice of OC's own site search, and a direct guess at a campaign-site domain). This is a documented research gap, not a claim that no such material exists.

Strengths

Apparent prior council experience, including a leadership role (Mayor Pro Tem) if the rival campaign's characterization is accurate.

Trade-offs

Without her own statement of why she's running or what she'd prioritize, voters have markedly less to go on for her than for the incumbent.

Keep in mind

No CAL-ACCESS record was checked for her 2026 committee in this pass -- see Financial info.

Source review: Strong (87/100) · 6 cited sources

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

Review note: Amanda Nguyen's own campaign site ("Amanda Nguyen for Garden Grove City Council District 3"): her own framing of her candidacy (Senior Paralegal, OC Alternate Defender), platform, and endorsements -- including naming Thu-Ha Nguyen as a "former Mayor Pro Tem" may have more bias because it is an advocacy voter guide compared to other formal government and nonprofit journalism sources.

  • ocvote.gov (opens in a new tab)OC Registrar of Voters -- Contest/Candidate Proof List, General Election 11/3/2026 -- City of Garden Grove section (pages 94-99 of 188): confirms Mayor (2 qualified candidates), City Council District 1 (3), District 3 (3), and District 4 (4) as the city's four November 2026 races, each Vote for 1, with incumbent flags and every candidate's filed ballot designation
  • ggcity.org (opens in a new tab)City of Garden Grove -- Election Information page: confirms the same four offices up in the November 3, 2026 General Municipal Election ("Mayor at Large; Council District 1; Council District 3; and Council District 4") and links the city's own candidate list and incumbency-information documents
  • ggcity.org (opens in a new tab)City of Garden Grove -- 2026 Official Candidate List (the city clerk's own spreadsheet-to-PDF): every candidate's name, filing dates, ballot designation, and contact email/phone for all 12 candidates across the four contests -- independently matches the county's Proof List exactly
  • ggcity.org (opens in a new tab)City of Garden Grove -- City Council page: the full sitting 7-member roster (Mayor Stephanie Klopfenstein; George S. Brietigam III, Mayor Pro Tem/District 1; Phillip Nguyen, District 2; Cindy Ngoc Tran, District 3; Joe DoVinh, District 4; Yesenia Munoz-Munoz, District 5; Ariana Arestegui, District 6) -- confirms which three districts (1, 3, 4) have terms expiring in 2026 and that District 1's incumbent, Brietigam, is not among the three qualified 2026 candidates for his own seat
  • ggcity.org (opens in a new tab)City of Garden Grove -- official biography for Mayor Stephanie Klopfenstein: Garden Grove's first elected female mayor (2024), District 5 councilmember since 2016, lifelong resident, committee assignments (ACC-OC, OC Sanitation District, OCTA)
  • vote4amandanguyen.com (opens in a new tab)Amanda Nguyen's own campaign site ("Amanda Nguyen for Garden Grove City Council District 3"): her own framing of her candidacy (Senior Paralegal, OC Alternate Defender), platform, and endorsements -- including naming Thu-Ha Nguyen as a "former Mayor Pro Tem," the only independently-found biographical detail about the Mayor's-race challenger in this pass

Last updated August 31, 2026.