# La Habra City Council Compare records and positions simply between Susan Pritchard, James "Jim" Gomez, Miles C. Matias, or Jose Medrano for La Habra City Council at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person holds one of La Habra's five at-large City Council seats. They vote on the budget, land-use decisions, and city ordinances, alongside an appointed city manager who runs day-to-day operations. All five seats are elected citywide, not by district. The council doesn't elect its mayor directly -- each December, members choose one of their own to serve as Mayor and another as Mayor Pro Tem. La Habra is a general-law city. The term is four years. - Jurisdiction: City of La Habra - Election: November 3, 2026 California general election - Seats: 2 - Publisher: Vote or Else (https://voteorelse.com) — a free, nonpartisan ballot guide for California voters. No endorsements. - Canonical page: https://voteorelse.com/2026/la-habra-council - 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: 84 out of 100 (Strong), across 5 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Susan Pritchard** — Retired Teacher - **James "Jim" Gomez** — Businessman/Councilmember · Incumbent - **Miles C. Matias** — IT Analyst/Instructor - **Jose Medrano** — Mayor City of La Habra · Incumbent A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. Two of La Habra's five at-large City Council seats are on the November 3 ballot. Both sitting officeholders are running again. They are Mayor Jose Medrano and Mayor Pro Tem James "Jim" Gomez. They face two challengers. Susan Pritchard is a retired teacher. Miles C. Matias is an IT professional and adjunct college instructor. Voters can back one candidate or two. The top two vote-getters win the seats outright. There is no runoff. Whoever wins joins a five-member council that sets the budget, land-use decisions, and city ordinances, with an appointed city manager handling day-to-day operations. All five seats are elected citywide rather than by district. The council doesn't elect its mayor directly -- each December, members choose one of their own to serve as Mayor and another as Mayor Pro Tem, presiding over meetings but casting only one vote like every other member. La Habra is a general-law city. The term is four years. Both seats are held by sitting councilmembers who filed for another term rather than stepping aside, so this is a genuine incumbents-versus-challengers race rather than an open seat. Medrano and Gomez have served together on the council; the county's own candidate filing confirms neither seat is vacant. ## Jose Medrano Jose Medrano is La Habra's Mayor. They were first elected to the City Council in November 2018 and re-elected in 2022. They served as Mayor in 2022 and again for the 2026 term. Their career has been in public safety and prosecution. They were a Public Safety Officer with the City of Norwalk starting in 1995. They joined the Pasadena Police Department in 1996. There they worked in patrol, vice-narcotics, field training, and tactical roles. Since 2004 they have worked as an Investigator for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office. That work has included juvenile crimes, auto-fraud, and trial support. They were a founding member and Detective on the LA County Sheriff's Regional Human Trafficking Task Force. The Los Angeles Dodgers organization gave Medrano a Community Service Award in 2017 for that work. They have also coached youth sports for years through AYSO and the La Habra Girls Softball Association. Medrano was born in Tecate, Baja California. They came to the U.S. as a child and became a naturalized citizen. They hold a business administration and marketing degree from Cal State Fullerton. Medrano has lived in La Habra with their wife and three daughters for more than 25 years. **Strengths:** Two terms of council experience, current Mayor service, and a two-decade public-safety and investigative career. They were a founding member of the county's Human Trafficking Task Force. **Trade-offs:** A third-term bid mostly continues their existing record. Their city-hosted bio names no specific new priorities beyond general commitments to youth and business. **Keep in mind:** No independent campaign-finance figures were found for their 2026 committee. See Financial info. ## James "Jim" Gomez James "Jim" Gomez is La Habra's Mayor Pro Tem. They are a sitting councilmember seeking re-election. Their filed ballot designation is "Businessman/Councilmember." No independent biography, campaign site, or news profile was found for them. So their business background, length of council service, and platform for this term are not described here. That is a gap in the record, not a claim that no such material exists. **Strengths:** Current service as Mayor Pro Tem. The city's own council roster confirms it, alongside the county's incumbency flag. **Trade-offs:** No independent biography or platform statement was found. Their self-description beyond "Businessman/Councilmember" is not available here. **Keep in mind:** No independent campaign-finance figures were found for their 2026 committee. See Financial info. ## Miles C. Matias Miles C. Matias is an IT professional and adjunct college instructor. They are challenging both incumbents. They have lived in La Habra since age three, when their father joined the LAPD. They hold multiple degrees from Rio Hondo College and Western Governors University. They are married with three young children. Their platform centers on term limits, "so public office remains a temporary opportunity to serve." They also run on fiscal oversight and transparent budgets. They back police and public safety, core infrastructure and city services, and family-friendly community policy. They call for small-business support and government transparency. They have pledged to return their own City Council pay to the city's General Fund if elected. They frame their campaign around "service before salary." **Strengths:** A specific, publicly documented platform with a distinguishing personal pledge. Matias would return their council salary to the city. They also have a lifelong tie to the city. **Trade-offs:** No prior elected office. No independent news profile of their candidacy was found beyond their own campaign site and the county's filing record. **Keep in mind:** No independent campaign-finance figures were found for their 2026 committee. See Financial info. ## Susan Pritchard Susan Pritchard is a retired teacher challenging both incumbents. That occupation comes from their own filed candidate paperwork. It is the extent of what could be confirmed on its own about their candidacy. No campaign site, news coverage, or other independent source was found. That is a gap in the record, not a claim that no such material exists. **Strengths:** A locally filed candidacy with a clearly stated occupation on the official record. **Trade-offs:** No platform statement, campaign site, or independent coverage was found to describe their priorities. **Keep in mind:** No independent campaign-finance figures were found for their 2026 committee. See Financial info. ## Review notes - Miles C. Matias's own campaign site (milesmatias.com): an IT professional and adjunct college instructor, a La Habra resident since age three, married with three young children, degrees from Rio Hondo College and Western Governors University; platform covers term limits, fiscal oversight and transparent budgets, police/public-safety support, core infrastructure services, family-friendly policy, small-business support, and a pledge to return his own council compensation to the General Fund may have more bias because it is an advocacy voter guide compared to other formal government and nonprofit journalism sources. ## Sources 1. [OC Registrar of Voters -- Contest/Candidate Proof List, General Election 11/3/2026 -- City of La Habra section (pages 120-121 of 188, downloaded directly via curl from the public ocvote.gov URL and parsed locally with pypdf): confirms "CITY OF LA HABRA Member, City Council" (District ID 517) as the city's sole November 2026 race, Vote for 2, 4 qualified candidates, incumbent flags for Jose Medrano and James Gomez, and every candidate's filing date and filed ballot designation -- no district number and no separate Mayor contest appear anywhere in the La Habra section](https://ocvote.gov/fileadmin/user_upload/data/candlog/GEN2026/candlog.pdf) 2. [City of La Habra -- City Council page: confirms the sitting 5-member council (Mayor Jose Medrano, Mayor Pro Tem James Gomez, Councilmembers Rose Espinoza, Daren Nigsarian, Delwin Lampkin), that "All Councilmembers serve at-large" on 4-year terms, and that the Council chooses its Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem from among its own members each December rather than by direct citywide election](https://www.lahabraca.gov/153/City-Council) 3. [City of La Habra -- official biography for Mayor Jose Medrano (city-hosted PDF): first elected to the Council in November 2018, re-elected 2022, served as Mayor in 2022 and again for the 2026 term; career law-enforcement/prosecutorial-investigator background (Norwalk Public Safety Officer, Pasadena PD, LA County DA's Office Investigator and founding Detective on the LA County Sheriff's Regional Human Trafficking Task Force); longtime AYSO and La Habra Girls Softball Association youth-sports coach; born in Tecate, Baja California, naturalized citizen, CSU Fullerton graduate, 25+-year La Habra resident](https://www.lahabraca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/15731/Medrano-2026-Bio) 4. [Wikipedia -- La Habra, California article: incorporated under general law in 1925; cited only to corroborate the city's at-large council structure and rotating Mayor/Mayor Pro Tem titles, and the current officeholder roster (Medrano, Gomez, Espinoza, Nigsarian, Lampkin) -- never for a candidate-specific claim](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Habra,_California) 5. [Miles C. Matias's own campaign site (milesmatias.com): an IT professional and adjunct college instructor, a La Habra resident since age three (his father joined the LAPD), married with three young children, degrees from Rio Hondo College and Western Governors University; platform covers term limits, fiscal oversight and transparent budgets, police/public-safety support, core infrastructure services, family-friendly policy, small-business support, and a pledge to return his own council compensation to the General Fund](https://www.milesmatias.com) ## The rest of the ballot La Habra City Council 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, "La Habra City Council — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/la-habra-council (sources last retrieved August 31, 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.