# La Quinta Mayor Compare records and positions simply between Lynne Langdon, Suzanne Espinoza-Jimenez, or Linda Evans for La Quinta Mayor at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person is La Quinta's directly elected, citywide Mayor. They preside at City Council meetings. The Mayor also votes as a full member of the five-person council. The council sets city laws, the budget, and land use. This is a Coachella Valley city. The term is two years. Some neighboring Coachella Valley cities rotate the mayor's job among councilmembers each year. La Quinta does not. Voters elect La Quinta's Mayor directly. - Jurisdiction: City of La Quinta - 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/la-quinta-mayor - 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: September 3, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 89 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 - **Lynne Langdon** - **Suzanne Espinoza-Jimenez** - **Linda Evans** — La Quinta Mayor · Incumbent A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. Incumbent Linda Evans, La Quinta's mayor since 2014, is seeking a seventh term against two challengers, Lynne Langdon and Suzanne Espinoza-Jimenez, on the November 3, 2026 ballot. Whoever gets the most votes wins outright -- there is no primary or runoff. This person is La Quinta's directly elected, citywide Mayor. They preside at City Council meetings. They also vote as a full member of the 5-person council. That council sets city ordinances, the budget, and land use for this Coachella Valley city. The term is two years. Some neighboring Coachella Valley cities rotate the title each year among councilmembers. Palm Desert and Banning do that. La Quinta's voters elect the Mayor directly instead. Evans was first elected to the City Council in 2009. She has been Mayor since 2014. She is the Chief Strategy Officer of Community Advocacy for Desert Care Network. That network includes Desert Regional Medical Center, JFK Memorial Hospital, and Hi-Desert Medical Center. She chairs several regional bodies, including the Greater Palm Springs Convention and Visitors Bureau board. Langdon is a real estate agent. They have publicly criticized the city over its code enforcement. They call its handling of a trellis at their home unfair. The Desert Sun reported that. No independent information about Espinoza-Jimenez's background or platform was found. ## Linda Evans Linda Evans is La Quinta's incumbent Mayor, first elected to that office in 2014 after serving on the City Council since 2009. She is the Chief Strategy Officer of Community Advocacy for Desert Care Network and chairs the Coachella Valley Association of Governments' Energy and Environmental Committee, per the city's own biography. **Strengths:** Twelve years as Mayor plus five earlier years on the council -- the most experience of any candidate here; regional leadership roles (CVAG, Greater Palm Springs CVB). **Trade-offs:** No independent reporting on her time in office was found; financial info for this race could not be retrieved in this pass (see note below). **Keep in mind:** Twelve years in the same office is a long tenure -- worth weighing against the continuity it has built. ## Lynne Langdon Lynne Langdon is a challenger for La Quinta Mayor. They are a real estate agent who has publicly criticized the city over what they describe as unfair code enforcement regarding a trellis on their property, per The Desert Sun's own reporting. The city's own candidate roster spells their name "Lynne Landgon" -- a discrepancy from the Desert Sun's "Langdon" that this dataset flags rather than silently resolves. **Strengths:** A specific, publicly stated grievance with city code enforcement voters can weigh directly -- more concrete than most challengers this cycle. **Trade-offs:** No professional or civic background beyond their real-estate work was found; financial info could not be retrieved in this pass (see note below). **Keep in mind:** A candidacy built around one property dispute is a real, if narrow, basis to run on -- whether it generalizes is your call. ## Suzanne Espinoza-Jimenez Suzanne Espinoza-Jimenez is a challenger for La Quinta Mayor. No independent information about their background, occupation, or platform was found in this research pass -- The Desert Sun's own roundup states directly that no information was available on their candidacy. **Strengths:** None could be documented in this research pass. **Trade-offs:** No biographical or platform info was found anywhere in this pass -- a documented gap, not an oversight. Financial info was likewise unavailable. **Keep in mind:** An unusually thin public record this late in the race is itself worth noting. ## Sources 1. [Riverside County Registrar of Voters — 2026 Annual Election Calendar (lists every November 3, 2026 General Municipal Election office by city, including "City of Cathedral City: City Council District 3 / District 4 / District 5 / City Treasurer")](https://voteinfo.net/sites/g/files/aldnop371/files/2026-02/Annual%20Election%20Calendar%202026.pdf) 2. [City of La Quinta -- City Clerk's "Election and Candidate Information" page (captured via the Wayback Machine, 2026-08-28, three weeks after the Aug. 7 nomination deadline): states "Offices & Terms to be Filled: 1 Mayor seat - 2-year term / 2 Council seats - 4-year terms each," and its own randomized-alphabet Roster of Candidates names all seven qualified candidates with filed ballot designations -- For Mayor: Lynne Landgon; Suzanne Espinoza-Jimenez; Linda Evans, La Quinta Mayor. For Member of the City Council: Carene Hensley, Care Provider; Julian Herrera; John Peña, La Quinta Council Member; Deborah McGarrey, La Quinta Council Member.](https://web.archive.org/web/20260828024142/https://www.laquintaca.gov/business/city-clerk/election-information-dates-qualifications) 3. [City of La Quinta -- "Council Member Profiles" page (captured via the Wayback Machine, 2026-07-13): states "The Council is comprised of five members" responsible for appointing the City Manager and City Attorney; gives each sitting councilmember's own biography, including Linda Evans (Chief Strategy Officer of Community Advocacy for Desert Care Network, first elected to the council in 2009, elected Mayor in 2014), Deborah McGarrey (Public Affairs Manager for Southern California Gas Company, first elected 2022), and John Peña (CEO of Desert Cities Consulting, Inc., first elected to the council in 1984, elected Mayor in 1988, retired from public office in 2002, returned to the council in 2014 and has served continuously since) -- and separately profiles Kathleen Fitzpatrick (Mayor Pro Tem) and Steve Sanchez, neither of whom appears on the 2026 candidate roster.](https://web.archive.org/web/20260713231020/https://www.laquintaca.gov/business/city-council/council-member-profiles) 4. [The Desert Sun -- "See who's running for mayor and city council in Coachella Valley" (Tom Coulter and Sam Morgen, Aug. 13, 2026), "Who's running in La Quinta?" section: "Like Coachella, La Quinta elects its mayor every two years, while its at-large council members are elected to four-year terms. All three incumbents are seeking reelection." Names all seven candidates with occupation detail -- Evans, "chief strategy officer of community advocacy for Desert Care Network who has served as La Quinta's mayor since 2014"; Langdon (spelled with a 'g', not the city's own 'Landgon'), "a real estate agent who has criticized the city for what she describes as unfair code enforcement regarding a trellis on her property"; Espinoza-Jimenez, for whom "no information was immediately available"; McGarrey and Peña, matching the city's own biographies; Hensley, "a home care provider"; and Herrera, for whom likewise "no information was immediately available."](https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/politics/elections/2026/08/13/election-2026-whos-running-for-mayor-city-council-palm-springs-area/91221615007/) 5. [City of La Quinta — Campaign Contribution Limits & Disclosure Filings page](https://www.laquintaca.gov/our-city/city-departments/city-clerk/campaign-disclosure-filings/) ## The rest of the ballot La Quinta Mayor 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 Quinta Mayor — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/la-quinta-mayor (sources last retrieved September 3, 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.