# Lemon Grove City Council (Short Term)

Compare records and positions simply between Jennifer Mendoza or Yasmin Mendoza for Lemon Grove City Council (Short Term) at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person holds one of three at-large City Council seats in Lemon Grove. Lemon Grove also has a separately elected Mayor. Members vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use. This seat's term is a short two years, not the usual four. It fills the rest of former Councilmember Faiai's term, which runs through 2028.

- Jurisdiction: City of Lemon Grove
- 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/lemon-grove-council-short-term
- 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 7, 2026
- Source-objectivity score: 93 out of 100 (Very strong), across 10 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology

## On the ballot

- **Jennifer Mendoza** — City Councilmember · Incumbent
- **Yasmin Mendoza** — Healthcare Worker

A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot.

Incumbent Jennifer Mendoza faces challenger Yasmin Mendoza (no apparent relation) for a 2-year, short-term seat on the Lemon Grove City Council. Whichever candidate gets the most votes on November 3 wins outright; there's no runoff.

This person holds the third of three at-large City Council seats up this cycle in Lemon Grove. The city also has a separately, directly elected Mayor. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use. Day-to-day operations are run by an appointed city manager. This particular term is a short, 2-year term rather than the usual 4 years. It fills out the balance of the late Councilmember Sitivi "Steve" Faiai's 2024-2028 term.

Faiai was elected in November 2024. He died suddenly in July 2025 while coaching high school football, per the Union-Tribune. That is why this seat exists. After a months-long council deadlock over an appointee, the council seated Seth Smith in December 2025. His appointment came early in Faiai's term. So state law requires the seat go back before voters this November for the balance of that term. Jennifer Mendoza is an incumbent. Her own seat is one of the two 4-year seats up this same cycle. She filed for this short-term seat instead of seeking re-election to her own. The sitting appointed short-term incumbent, Seth Smith, filed for one of the 4-year seats rather than this one. The Union-Tribune reported on her plans in January 2026. She then planned to retire outright at the end of her term. "My star is fading; after 22 years I'm hoping to be out of this pretty soon," she told the paper. Her own filed candidate statement, submitted several months later, frames this run differently. It says the run provides "stability, continuity, and steady leadership." The city is hiring a new city manager and finance director.

## Jennifer Mendoza

The incumbent, a Lemon Grove resident of 25 years with a long local volunteer record: managing a weekly food distribution at St. John's Church, organizing monthly food distributions at the Recreation Center, volunteering with the Soroptimists and Lions Clubs, helping organize Lemon Grove's Relay For Life, and serving on both the LGA (Lemon Grove Academy) school site council and the city's own Planning Commission before her council service. In her own filed statement she points to work on streets and infrastructure, financial stability, grant-seeking, cleanliness, business attraction, homelessness, and restoring recreation services as accomplishments, and frames this run explicitly around continuity during "an important crossroads" for the city -- a new City Manager and Finance Director, and a relatively new council and staff. The Union-Tribune separately reported that Mendoza told the paper in January 2026 she intended to retire from the council altogether at the end of her term, after "22 years" of involvement (a figure that appears to include her pre-council Planning Commission service, since the same reporting elsewhere describes her as having served on the council itself for "over a decade"); she was still an active candidate for this seat by the August 2026 filing deadline. This dataset states both facts as reported rather than resolving the apparent reversal on her own behalf.

**Strengths:** Over a decade of council experience, and decades more of hands-on local volunteering. Plus a stated rationale tied directly to this election's leadership transition.

**Trade-offs:** A publicly reported plan to retire, reversed by the filing deadline, may leave voters wanting an explanation. Her tenure is described as 'a decade' in one place and '22 years' in another.

**Keep in mind:** Cal-Access blocked automated checks, so it couldn't be re-checked. Her Form 410 was only qualified Aug. 7, 2026, and no Form 460 was on file. See Financial info.

## Yasmin Mendoza

A healthcare worker who describes herself in her own filed candidate statement as "a mother and your neighbor running for Lemon Grove City Council because our city deserves accountable leadership focused on residents, not politics." She says she has advocated before the City Council, organized neighborhood cleanups, supported local businesses, led a "Solar Light Initiative" aimed at neighborhood safety, and hosted community events. Her stated priorities are public safety, street and infrastructure repair, supporting local businesses, and transparent government, including reopening the city's Senior Center and strengthening recreation programs. She describes her campaign as "independent" and "community powered, not funded by unions or outside political committees" -- and lists endorsements from three sitting councilmembers who are not on this year's ballot (Seth Smith, Yadira Altamirano, and Vice Mayor Jessyka Heredia) plus former Councilmember Jerry Jones. Three of the council's five current members backing a challenge to a sitting colleague seeking a different seat is a notable fact about this race's internal politics, documented here as reported by the candidate's own filing rather than independently confirmed with each endorser.

**Strengths:** A specific local track record predating this campaign. Plus endorsements from three of five sitting councilmembers, unusual for a first-time challenger.

**Trade-offs:** No prior elected or appointed government experience. Her platform is sourced only to her own statement.

**Keep in mind:** Cal-Access blocked automated checks, so it couldn't be re-checked. No Form 460 was on file for her, the only candidate in either race without one. See Financial info.

## Sources

1. [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](https://www.sdvote.com/content/dam/rov/en/election/nov-3-2026-gubernatorial-general-election/candidate-list.pdf)
2. [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](https://www.lemongrove.ca.gov/our-government/the-mayor-and-city-council/)
3. [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](https://www.lemongrove.ca.gov/our-government/city-clerk-s-office/election-resources/2026-municipal-election-information/)
4. [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](https://www.lemongrove.ca.gov/media/5fpjmhu4/notice-of-extension-nomination-period-amended.pdf)
5. [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"](https://www.lemongrove.ca.gov/media/0vrmr5vu/resolution-no-2026-4200-calling-the-general-municipal-election.pdf)
6. [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](https://www.lemongrove.ca.gov/our-government/city-clerk-s-office/fppc-forms-and-filings/campaign-forms-and-statements/)
7. [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](https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2026/01/05/could-2026-be-a-turning-point-for-lemon-groves-leadership/)
8. [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](https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/07/08/new-lemon-grove-council-member-and-high-school-football-coach-dies-suddenly/)
9. [City of Lemon Grove -- Jennifer Mendoza's filed Candidate's Statement of Qualifications, Nov. 3, 2026 election (occupation: Lemon Grove City Councilmember): cites 25 years as a resident and a long volunteer record (food distributions, Relay For Life, the school site council, the Planning Commission); frames her run for the 2-year seat as providing "stability, continuity, and steady leadership" through the city's city-manager transition](https://www.lemongrove.ca.gov/media/1nspsbdc/mendoza-jennifer-candidate-statement_redacted.pdf)
10. [City of Lemon Grove -- Yasmin Mendoza's filed Candidate's Statement of Qualifications, Nov. 3, 2026 election (occupation: Healthcare Worker/Community Leader): describes a "Solar Light Initiative" for neighborhood safety, neighborhood cleanups, and "an independent, community powered campaign, not funded by unions or outside political committees"; lists endorsements from sitting Councilmembers Seth Smith, Yadira Altamirano, and Jessyka Heredia, plus former Councilmember Jerry Jones](https://www.lemongrove.ca.gov/media/103eybjc/candidate-statement-yasmin-mendoza_redacted.pdf)

## The rest of the ballot

Lemon Grove City Council (Short Term) 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, "Lemon Grove City Council (Short Term) — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/lemon-grove-council-short-term (sources last retrieved September 7, 2026).

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