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City of Huntington Beach · Statewide General Election

Huntington Beach City Attorney

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

Huntington Beach's City Attorney is a directly-elected, at-large legal officer for the city -- distinct from the City Council -- who represents the city in litigation and advises the council on legal matters.

Only one candidate qualified for this seat. Incumbent City Attorney Mike Vigliotta, appointed to the office in February 2025, appears unopposed for his first elected term — so this contest is settled and your vote here does not change the outcome.

Huntington Beach's City Attorney is a directly elected, at-large legal officer for the city — distinct from the City Council — who represents the city in litigation and advises the council on legal matters.

With no opponent, the useful question is what the officeholder has done rather than who to choose. Vigliotta has held the post since a February 2025 council appointment; this November would be his first time winning it directly at the ballot box.

Mike Vigliotta

The incumbent City Attorney, appointed by the council in February 2025 after coming from the neighboring city of Orange (per Wikipedia's sourced government section, citing Orange County Register reporting on the appointment). His filed ballot designation is "Huntington Beach City Attorney."

Strengths

Already in the role for over a year and a half by Election Day, with prior legal experience in a neighboring Orange County city government before this appointment.

Trade-offs

This would be his first time winning the office by election rather than council appointment.

Keep in mind

Running unopposed means his record in the post so far faces no organized counter-argument this cycle.

Source review: Strong (84/100) · 2 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with a narrow source base.

  • ocvote.gov (opens in a new tab)OC Registrar of Voters -- Contest/Candidate Proof List, General Election 11/3/2026 -- City of Huntington Beach section (pages 100-105 of 188): confirms Member, City Council (Vote for 4, 11 qualified candidates -- Andrew Gruel, Casey McKeon, Pat Burns, Brian Burley, Ben Davis, Brenda Glim, Amory Hanson, Taryn Taddeo Palumbo, Rosalind "Roz" Price, Erin Spivey, Brian Thienes) and City Attorney (Vote for 1, 1 qualified candidate -- Mike Vigliotta, appointed incumbent) as the city's only two November 2026 races, with each candidate's filed ballot designation and the council contest's incumbent flags (Gruel, McKeon, Burns, and Gracey Van Der Mark, who does not appear among the 11 qualified council candidates) -- and corrects the local-authoring queue's "11 candidates / uncontested" note, which described two different contests as one: the 11-candidate field is the contested Council race, and the uncontested race is City Attorney
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia's Huntington Beach, California article, government section: describes a council-manager government with a 7-member at-large City Council on staggered 4-year terms, names Casey McKeon as Mayor (appointed by the council Dec. 2025, citing the Orange County Register) and Butch Twining as Mayor Pro Tem, names Mike Vigliotta as City Attorney (appointed Feb. 2025 from Orange, citing the Orange County Register), and documents a June 2026 Orange County Superior Court order requiring proportional ranked-choice voting for all 7 council seats at once -- cited only for structure and officeholder background, never for a candidate-specific claim about this November's ballot mechanics, which follow the county's own Contest/Candidate Proof List instead

Last updated August 31, 2026.