# Laguna Hills City Council, District 1 Compare records and positions simply between Harry Huggins or Laura Thies for Laguna Hills City Council, District 1 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person holds your district's seat on Laguna Hills's five-member City Council. They vote on the budget, land use, and city laws. An appointed city manager runs daily operations. This is Laguna Hills's first-ever district election. The city adopted by-district voting for the 2026 cycle. It replaces citywide, at-large elections. Districts 1, 2, and 4 vote first. Districts 3 and 5 follow in 2028. The term is four years. - Jurisdiction: City of Laguna Hills - 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/laguna-hills-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: August 31, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 90 out of 100 (Very strong), across 3 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Harry Huggins** — Laguna Hills Non-Profit President - **Laura Thies** A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. Laguna Hills's District 1 City Council seat is on the November 3 ballot for the first time -- the city is switching from citywide, at-large council elections to by-district elections this cycle. Two candidates filed: Harry Huggins, president of a Laguna Hills nonprofit, and Laura Thies, who filed no ballot designation. Whichever candidate gets the most votes wins outright, with no runoff. Whoever wins joins a five-member council that sets the budget, land use, and city ordinances, with an appointed city manager handling day-to-day operations. This is Laguna Hills's first-ever district election: the City Council adopted a district map by ordinance in December 2025, replacing citywide elections in which every voter chose every councilmember. Districts 1, 2, and 4 vote first in 2026; Districts 3 and 5 follow in 2028. The term is four years. Because the district system is brand new, District 1 has no sitting district officeholder -- the county's own candidate filing leaves the incumbent field blank, and the city's current at-large council roster (Mayor Don Caskey, Mayor Pro Tem Jared Mathis, and members Erica Pezold, Joshua Sweeney, and Dave Wheeler) includes neither Huggins nor Thies. This is an open-seat race between two first-time district candidates, not an incumbent defending a district seat. ## Harry Huggins Harry Huggins filed for City Council with the ballot designation "Laguna Hills Non-Profit President." Beyond that filed designation, this dataset could not independently confirm which nonprofit they lead, their background, or their platform within this pass's research window -- no campaign site, city bio, or news coverage was found. A documented research gap, not a claim that no such material exists. **Strengths:** A leadership role in a local nonprofit, per their own filed ballot designation. **Trade-offs:** No independent source describes their platform, priorities, or prior civic involvement beyond that designation. **Keep in mind:** No independent campaign-finance figures could be found for their 2026 committee -- see Financial info. ## Laura Thies Laura Thies filed for City Council with no ballot designation. This dataset could not independently confirm their occupation, background, or platform within this pass's research window -- no campaign site, city bio, or news coverage was found. A documented research gap, not a claim that no such material exists. **Strengths:** A locally filed candidacy confirmed by the county's own official record. **Trade-offs:** This dataset found no platform statement, campaign site, or independent coverage describing their priorities or background. **Keep in mind:** No independent campaign-finance figures could be found for their 2026 committee -- see Financial info. ## Sources 1. [OC Registrar of Voters -- Contest/Candidate Proof List, General Election 11/3/2026 -- City of Laguna Hills section (fetched directly and parsed locally with pypdf across all 188 pages): confirms exactly two "CITY OF LAGUNA HILLS Member, City Council" contests -- District 1 (Vote for 1, 2 qualified candidates) and District 4 (Vote for 1, 4 qualified candidates) -- with every candidate's filing date and filed ballot designation, District 1's incumbent field blank and District 4's marked "Vacant"; no District 2, 3, or 5 contest, and no at-large or Mayor contest, appears anywhere in the section](https://ocvote.gov/fileadmin/user_upload/data/candlog/GEN2026/candlog.pdf) 2. [City of Laguna Hills -- City Council page: confirms the sitting 5-member at-large council (Mayor Don Caskey and Mayor Pro Tem Jared Mathis, both through December 2028; Erica Pezold, Joshua Sweeney, and Dave Wheeler, terms expiring December 8, 2026) -- cited to independently confirm none of the six District 1 or District 4 candidates is a current councilmember](https://www.lagunahillsca.gov/129/City-Council) 3. [City of Laguna Hills districting site (maplh.org, the redirect target of lagunahillsca.gov/603/Districting): the City Council adopted "Map 108" by ordinance effective December 9, 2025, replacing citywide at-large City Council elections with by-district elections starting in 2026; 5 districts total, with Districts 1, 2, and 4 holding their first elections in 2026 and Districts 3 and 5 following in 2028](https://maplh.org/) ## The rest of the ballot Laguna Hills 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, "Laguna Hills City Council, District 1 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/laguna-hills-council-1 (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.