# Irvine City Council, District 1 Compare records and positions simply between Sukhee Kang, John Park, or Melinda Liu for Irvine City Council, District 1 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person holds your district's seat on Irvine's 7-member City Council. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use, alongside the citywide-elected mayor and five other district councilmembers. The term is four years. - Jurisdiction: City of Irvine - 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/irvine-council-1 - 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: October 6, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 93 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 - **Sukhee Kang** — Small Businessman/Educator - **John Park** — City of Irvine Commissioner/Businessowner - **Melinda Liu** — City of Irvine Councilmember/Attorney · Incumbent A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. Incumbent Melinda Liu faces two challengers, John Park and Sukhee Kang, for Irvine City Council District 1. Whichever candidate gets the most votes on November 3 wins outright. There is no runoff. This person holds District 1's seat on Irvine's 7-member City Council, alongside the citywide-elected mayor and five other district councilmembers. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use. District 1 first elected its own councilmember in 2024, to an abbreviated two-year term meant to line the seat up with the city's regular midterm-year election cycle -- this race is for the district's first full 4-year term. Liu is campaigning on a short first term's worth of delivered projects. Park, a city finance commissioner endorsed by the Orange County Sheriff, is campaigning against what he calls City Hall's "costly pet projects" amid a budget shortfall he says is coming. Kang, a two-term former Irvine mayor and councilmember more recently a federal GSA regional administrator, is seeking a return to city government after leading Irvine through the Great Recession. ## Melinda Liu The incumbent is an attorney, elected in 2024 to District 1's first, abbreviated two-year term. She points to opening the district's first community center and library. She also points to expanding the Irvine Connect shuttle to ease Northwood High School traffic. Her list includes pedestrian-safety upgrades citywide and stricter fire standards for new housing. It also includes support for small and start-up businesses and accessible housing for young professionals. She adds a new childcare program. She also adds an AAPI-focused senior nutrition program funded privately rather than by the city. **Strengths:** A single completed term with specific, checkable projects rather than only stated priorities. Those include a new community center and library and an AAPI senior nutrition program. **Trade-offs:** Her term so far has been the two-year abbreviated cycle, not a full four years. This election is the first test of her record over a complete term. **Keep in mind:** See Financial info. Cal-Access could not be independently checked for this race. ## John Park A City of Irvine finance commissioner and its chairman. He has also served as Planning Commissioner and Transportation Commissioner. He has been a District 1 resident for 26 years, first in Northpark and now in Orchard Hills. He is campaigning against what he calls City Hall's "costly pet projects." He says the city faces a nearly $50 million deficit within a few years. He names fiscal responsibility, public safety, traffic relief on Culver, and hillside fire mitigation as priorities. He also names open space and trails, affordability, and educational leadership. He says he is endorsed by Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes. He also says he is endorsed by "numerous elected officials who serve Irvine and Orange County." **Strengths:** Direct committee experience across three different city commissions. Those are Finance, Planning, and Transportation. He also has a specific, named public-safety endorsement from the county sheriff. **Trade-offs:** No prior elected office. His $50 million deficit figure and other statistical claims are his own campaign's framing. They were not independently verified against the city's own budget documents. **Keep in mind:** See Financial info. Cal-Access could not be independently checked for this race. ## Sukhee Kang A more-than-three-decade Irvine resident who served two prior terms as Irvine mayor and councilmember. By Kang's own account they led the city through the Great Recession. They say they maintained balanced budgets without furloughs or service cuts. They also say they secured more than $121 million in transportation funding. They most recently served as a Presidential appointee and regional administrator for the U.S. General Services Administration. In that role they oversaw federal assets and capital projects across eight states, before returning to seek this council seat. Their stated priorities are responsible spending, public safety, public transportation, local businesses, open space, and "thoughtful growth." **Strengths:** The deepest institutional record in this specific race. Kang has two prior terms in Irvine city government. They also have a federal management role overseeing multi-state capital projects. **Trade-offs:** A campaign built substantially on a record from the 2000s and 2010s. Voters weighing Kang against Liu and Park are also weighing how directly it still applies today. **Keep in mind:** See Financial info. Cal-Access could not be independently checked for this race. ## Sources 1. [OC Registrar of Voters — Contest/Candidate Proof List, General Election 11/3/2026 (169 contests, 430 candidates filed)](https://ocvote.gov/fileadmin/user_upload/data/candlog/GEN2026/candlog.pdf) 2. [City of Irvine -- November 3, 2026 General Municipal Election Information page: confirms a Mayor (2-year term) and one Councilmember each for Districts 1, 5, and 6 (4-year terms) as Irvine's four November 2026 races; nomination period closed Aug. 7, 2026, write-in period Sept. 7-Oct. 20, 2026](https://cityofirvine.gov/election) 3. [City of Irvine -- Qualified Candidates for Mayor and City Council (Ballot Order), updated 8/13/2026 (the day of the Secretary of State's randomized-alphabet drawing): the certified nine-candidate roster across Mayor and Districts 1, 5, and 6, with each candidate's filed ballot designation](https://cityofirvine.gov/sites/default/files/legacy-documents/official-candidate-list-ballot-order-2026.pdf) 4. [City of Irvine -- the same Ballot Order document's full first-person candidate statements for all nine qualified candidates, filed with and published by the City Clerk](https://cityofirvine.gov/sites/default/files/legacy-documents/official-candidate-list-ballot-order-2026.pdf) 5. [Orange County Register (Laylan Connelly, with Anita Gosch contributing) -- "Candidate fields take shape for City Council elections in Orange County": staffed, bylined roundup independently naming Irvine's full nine-candidate field across Mayor and Districts 1, 5, and 6, and every incumbency call -- corrects the county candlog's District 5 count from 6 to 5](https://www.ocregister.com/2026/08/14/candidate-fields-take-shape-for-city-council-elections-in-orange-county/) 6. [League of Women Voters -- Vote411 voter guide, 'City of Irvine City Council Member, District 1' race (statewide All Races list): each candidate's self-submitted ballot designation and campaign contacts, plus answers to the League's questions -- top three priorities, qualifying background, and position on Flock cameras or similar devices. No answers were on file at capture. Capture in data/nov-2026/sources/vote411/irvine-council-1.json.](https://www.vote411.org/plan-your-vote) ## The rest of the ballot Irvine City Council, District 1 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, "Irvine City Council, District 1 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/irvine-council-1 (sources last retrieved October 6, 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.