City of Lemon Grove · Statewide General Election

Lemon Grove City Council

Draft candidate list — early preview until the state’s official list publishes on August 27, 2026.

This is one contest. Enter your address to see every race on your November ballot, and keep track of your picks.

On the ballot

Krystle Johnson — Special Education Teacher
Joe Smith — Community Engagement Director
Seth Smith — Appointed Councilmember/Businessman · Incumbent
Minola Clark Manson — Planning Commissioner

This person holds one of two at-large seats up this cycle on Lemon Grove's 5-member City Council, alongside a separately, directly elected Mayor: city ordinances, the budget, and land use, with day-to-day operations run by an appointed city manager. A 4-year term.

Four candidates -- including appointed incumbent Seth Smith -- are running for two 4-year, at-large seats on the Lemon Grove City Council. The top two vote-getters on November 3 both win; there's no runoff.

This race is one leg of an unusual three-seat, single-election reshuffle. A third council seat -- a 2-year 'short term' filling out the balance of the late Councilmember Sitivi Faiai's term -- is on the same ballot as a separate contest. The City Clerk's own Notice of Extension of the Nomination Period shows that Seth Smith, the sitting appointed incumbent of that short-term seat, chose to run here instead, for one of the two 4-year seats -- while the sitting 4-year incumbent Jennifer Mendoza filed for the short-term seat rather than this one. A third sitting 4-year incumbent, Yadira Altamirano, didn't file for re-election to either race at all. Because Lemon Grove's council seats are undifferentiated at-large positions with no numbered districts, Smith is marked incumbent here on the strength of his current council membership, not because this is the specific seat he was appointed to.

Seth Smith

The appointed incumbent. A 15-year Lemon Grove resident, architectural designer, and small-business owner, Smith spent 8+ years on the Lemon Grove Planning Commission -- its chair when the council appointed him in December 2025 to fill the seat left vacant by Councilmember Sitivi Faiai's sudden death the previous July. The appointment followed a months-long council deadlock: Councilmembers Altamirano and Heredia had backed Faiai's widow, Lauren, while Mayor Snow and then-Mayor Pro Tem Mendoza backed a candidate named Jay Bass, per the Union-Tribune's reporting; Lauren Faiai eventually withdrew, and Smith won the council's second vote. Smith told the Union-Tribune he learned to "sit and listen" as Planning Commission chair and that finding compromise -- "sometimes we can't all win, sometimes everybody's a little upset, but that's what compromise is" -- is what he hopes to bring to the council. In his own filed candidate statement he credits himself with securing $5.2 million for street repairs, funding restorations for the Recreation and Senior Centers, and proposing a walkable, family-friendly, business-ready downtown Broadway.

Strengths

8+ years on the Planning Commission, a credited $5.2 million street-repair win, and reporting describing him as a compromise-minded voice after visible council infighting.

Trade-offs

Under a year of actual council experience, gained by appointment -- he's seeking a 4-year seat rather than the short-term seat he was appointed to.

Keep in mind

Cal-Access couldn't be re-checked (bot-blocked); the clerk's page shows a filed Form 460, but this pass couldn't read dollar figures from the redacted PDF -- see Financial info.

Minola Clark Manson

A sitting Lemon Grove Planning Commissioner who describes herself as a "community advocate" with over 30 years of leadership experience in the public sector, per her own filed candidate statement. She says she understands "the complexities of municipal budgets and staffing needs" and can "balance fiscal responsibility with long-term commitments," and frames her candidacy around integrity, transparency, inclusion, and accountability -- calling for leadership "that reflects the diversity of our community." Her statement stays thematic throughout; it does not name a specific policy platform (streets, housing, public safety, etc.), and no independent news coverage naming her was found in this pass.

Strengths

30+ years of public-sector leadership experience and current Planning Commission service, giving her direct exposure to city land-use decisions.

Trade-offs

Her statement stays at the level of values -- integrity, inclusion, transparency -- without naming specific policy commitments.

Keep in mind

Cal-Access couldn't be re-checked (bot-blocked); the clerk's page shows a filed Form 460, but this pass couldn't read dollar figures -- see Financial info.

Krystle Johnson

A Lemon Grove special-education teacher of over 13 years and a resident for more than a decade. In her own filed candidate statement she says she's seen the city's food distributions grow from 50 to 300 families served, and lists fixing infrastructure, creating "a vibrant business climate," and building places for residents "to connect and safely enjoy Lemon Grove" as her priorities. She's endorsed, per that same statement, by the Heartland Firefighters, the San Diego & Imperial Counties Labor Council, and the San Diego County Democratic Party -- the most institutionally-backed candidate in this race by her own account.

Strengths

13+ years teaching special education locally, a concrete data point (food distributions nearly sextupling), and labor and party endorsements.

Trade-offs

Like the rest of this field, her platform is sourced only to her own statement -- no independent reporting was found to corroborate it.

Keep in mind

Cal-Access couldn't be re-checked (bot-blocked); the clerk's page shows a filed Form 460 and a later contribution report -- dollar figures unavailable -- see Financial info.

Joe Smith

Listed on the county's candidate list and the city's own election page as a "Community Engagement Director," no employer named in either primary source. Unlike the other three candidates in this race, Joe Smith did not file a Candidate's Statement of Qualifications with the city, and a real search effort in this pass -- news search, the county's and city's own pages, and general web search -- turned up no independent coverage naming him. That is a documented, honest gap in what's reachable about his background and platform, not a claim that he lacks one.

Strengths

None independently verifiable in this pass beyond his listed occupation.

Trade-offs

No filed statement and no news coverage found means voters have less to go on than for the other three candidates.

Keep in mind

The clerk's page shows a filed committee and Form 460; dollar figures unavailable, and Cal-Access couldn't be re-checked -- see Financial info.

Source review: Very strong (92/100) · 11 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with multiple sources checked.

sdvote.com (opens in a new tab)San Diego County Registrar of Voters -- Candidate List, November 3, 2026 General Election (current through the 8/24/2026 2:44pm snapshot): confirms Mayor, City Council Districts 1 and 3, City Clerk, and City Treasurer as Carlsbad's five November 2026 races, and Mayor plus City Council Districts 1 and 3 as Poway's three November 2026 races, each Vote for 1
lemongrove.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Lemon Grove -- Mayor and City Council page: confirms a 5-member City Council elected entirely at-large to 4-year terms, a separately, directly elected Mayor (not a council-selected rotation), and that Lemon Grove is a General Law city; names Mayor Alysson Snow (term to 2028) and lists Jennifer Mendoza, Seth Smith, and Yadira Altamirano's terms as expiring 2026
lemongrove.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Lemon Grove -- 2026 Municipal Election Information page: confirms the Nov. 3, 2026 ballot fills two City Councilmember seats with 4-year terms and one City Councilmember seat with a 2-year term; lists all six qualified candidates by seat with ballot order and designation, and confirms all four 4-year-seat candidates filed nomination papers July 13-Aug. 1, 2026, verified by Aug. 6, 2026
lemongrove.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Lemon Grove, Office of the City Clerk -- Amended Notice of Extension of the Nomination Period, Nov. 3, 2026 General Municipal Election: states the election fills two 4-year at-large Councilmember seats and one 2-year short-term at-large seat; names Yadira Altamirano and Jennifer Mendoza as the incumbents of the 4-year-term offices who did not file by the original Aug. 7 deadline, and Seth Smith as the appointed incumbent of the 2-year short-term office who likewise did not file for that office by Aug. 7 -- extending each office's nomination period to Aug. 12 for other candidates only
lemongrove.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Lemon Grove -- Resolution No. 2026-4200, "Calling the General Municipal Election" (passed 5-0, July 21, 2026): orders the Nov. 3, 2026 election "for the purpose of electing two (2) Members of the City Council for the full term of four (4) years and one (1) Member of the City Council for the short term of two (2) years"
lemongrove.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Lemon Grove, Office of the City Clerk -- Campaign Forms and Statements page: lists each 2026 council candidate's FPPC filings (Form 501, 410, 460, 497, 700); confirms all six candidates organized a 2026 committee (Form 410) and that five of six (all but Yasmin Mendoza) had filed a Jan.-June 2026 semi-annual statement (Form 460) as of this retrieval -- no dollar totals are shown inline, and the linked Form 460 PDFs are redacted, image-flattened scans this pass's tools could not OCR
sandiegouniontribune.com (opens in a new tab)San Diego Union-Tribune (Hannah Elsmore) -- "Could 2026 be a turning point for Lemon Grove's leadership?": in-depth, dated, bylined reporting on the council's history of internal tension, the monthslong deadlock over filling Sitivi Faiai's vacant seat (naming Jay Bass and Lauren Faiai as the two competing picks before Seth Smith's appointment), direct quotes from Smith and Planning Commission Vice Chair Jacquelyn Clark, confirmation of the three seats up in Nov. 2026 (two 4-year, one 2-year), and Jennifer Mendoza's own quoted announcement of her then-plan to retire at the end of her term
sandiegouniontribune.com (opens in a new tab)San Diego Union-Tribune (Blake Nelson) -- "New Lemon Grove council member and high school football coach dies suddenly": reports Sitivi "Steve" Faiai's sudden death in July 2025, less than a year into the 4-year term he won in the Nov. 2024 election -- paywalled; cited for its confirmed headline, publication date, and og:description ("Sitivi 'Steve' Faiai had been elected in November to his first term") rather than full-text quotation
lemongrove.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Lemon Grove -- Minola Clark Manson's filed Candidate's Statement of Qualifications, Nov. 3, 2026 election (occupation: Planning Commissioner/Community Advocate): cites 30+ years of public-sector leadership experience and municipal-budget familiarity; frames her candidacy around integrity, transparency, inclusion, and accountability without naming specific policy commitments
lemongrove.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Lemon Grove -- Krystle Johnson's filed Candidate's Statement of Qualifications, Nov. 3, 2026 election (occupation: Lemon Grove Special Education Teacher; filed 7/30/2026): cites 13+ years teaching special education and over a decade as a resident, food-distribution growth from 50 to 300 families, and lists endorsements from the Heartland Firefighters, the San Diego & Imperial Counties Labor Council, and the San Diego County Democratic Party
lemongrove.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Lemon Grove -- Seth Smith's filed Candidate's Statement of Qualifications, Nov. 3, 2026 election (age 37; occupation: Appointed City Councilmember, Architectural Designer and Small Business Owner; filed 8/1/2026): cites 15 years as a Lemon Grove resident, 8+ years on the Planning Commission, securing $5.2 million for street repairs, and a proposed walkable downtown Broadway vision

Last updated August 31, 2026.