# Lake Elsinore City Council, District 1 Brian Tisdale is running uncontested for Lake Elsinore City Council, District 1. Full ballot at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person holds one of five single-member districts on Lake Elsinore's City Council. They vote on the city budget, zoning, land use, and city laws. The council picks a Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem from its own members. Voters do not elect the Mayor directly. An appointed city manager runs day-to-day operations. - Jurisdiction: City of Lake Elsinore - 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/lake-elsinore-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: September 3, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 90 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 - **Brian Tisdale** — Incumbent A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. Brian Tisdale is the only candidate who qualified for Lake Elsinore's District 1 City Council seat, so they run unopposed on the November 3, 2026 ballot. This seat is one of five single-member districts on Lake Elsinore's City Council — the city switched from at-large to by-district council elections on February 1, 2018. The council sets the city budget, zoning and land-use rules, and municipal ordinances; day-to-day operations run through an appointed city manager. The term is four years. A second candidate, Adela Gonzales, pulled nomination papers for this seat but did not qualify for the ballot by the August 7, 2026 filing deadline, per the city clerk's own nomination table — so this is a genuinely uncontested race, not simply a thin field. Registered D1 voters may still file as write-in candidates through October 20, 2026; a qualified write-in's votes would be counted even though they won't appear on the printed ballot. ## Brian Tisdale The incumbent, first elected to this seat in 2022 and running for a second term. In their filed Candidate's Statement they describe serving previously as the council's rotating Mayor, and cites maintaining a balanced budget while prioritizing the Police and Fire Departments, securing regional funding for road projects including the Railroad Canyon Road off-ramp, opening three skate parks, and delivering a new City Hall and Library. They also say they developed the city's 'Lake Elsinore 2040 Vision Plan' for future growth and name addressing homelessness as an ongoing priority. They hold a Master of Science in Emergency Services Administration and a Bachelor of Science in Management/Human Resources, and cite 22 years in the U.S. Marine Corps and 20 years in local government. **Strengths:** A specific, project-by-project record from a full term in office, plus military and emergency-management credentials directly relevant to a council seat's public-safety role. **Trade-offs:** The statement is framed entirely around accomplishments already delivered; it names ongoing priorities (homelessness, growth) without laying out a concrete plan for a second term. **Keep in mind:** Tisdale is unopposed — the only outside check on their account here is that no independent local reporting on their record was found in the sources checked for this page. ## Sources 1. [City of Lake Elsinore City Clerk — "Upcoming Elections" page: states Districts 1 and 3 (full terms) and District 4 (partial term) are up Nov. 3, 2026, with Districts 2, 5 and City Treasurer deferred to Nov. 7, 2028; carries the clerk's own nomination table showing exactly one qualified candidate per district -- Brian Tisdale (D1), Timothy J. Sheridan (D3), Michael Carroll (D4) -- and two non-qualifying filers (Adela Gonzales, D1; Adelina Vega-Velasquez, D4); nomination period July 13-Aug. 7, 2026, write-in period Sept. 7-Oct. 20, 2026](https://www.lake-elsinore.org/249/Upcoming-Elections) 2. [City of Lake Elsinore City Clerk — "Election Districts" page: five single-member council districts, adopted Feb. 1, 2018 (switching from at-large elections), updated for the 2021-2022 redistricting cycle](https://www.lake-elsinore.org/243/Election-Districts) 3. [City of Lake Elsinore — "City Government" page: "Lake Elsinore is a General Law city governed by a five-member City Council"; council members "elected by district" and "the City Treasurer is elected at-large for a four-year term" (no City Clerk election -- the Clerk is appointed by the City Manager, per the Clerk's own department page)](https://www.lake-elsinore.org/27/City-Government) 4. [City of Lake Elsinore — City Council page: sitting roster as of Aug. 2026 -- Mayor Robert 'Bob' Magee (D5), Mayor Pro Tem Timothy J. Sheridan (D3), Councilmembers Steve Manos (D2), Michael Carroll (D4) and Brian Tisdale (D1) -- with each member's term-expiration date; Carroll's listed term ("November 2025 to December 2026") is the source for treating D4 as a short/partial term this cycle](https://www.lake-elsinore.org/216/City-Council) 5. [City of Lake Elsinore — Brian Tisdale's filed Candidate's Statement, City Council District 1: cites service as the council's rotating Mayor, a balanced budget, Police/Fire funding, regional road-project funding (Railroad Canyon Road off-ramp), three new skate parks, a new City Hall and Library, the "Lake Elsinore 2040 Vision Plan," and priorities on homelessness; lists 22 years in the U.S. Marine Corps and 20 years in local government, plus a Master's in Emergency Services Administration](https://www.lake-elsinore.org/DocumentCenter/View/5731/Tisdale-Candidate-Statement) 6. [City of Lake Elsinore NetFile — public campaign-disclosure search](https://netfile.com/public/LES/campaign/search-entities) ## The rest of the ballot Lake Elsinore 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, "Lake Elsinore City Council, District 1 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/lake-elsinore-council-1 (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.